London Buses route 394 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England. Running between

Homerton University Hospital Homerton University Hospital is a teaching hospital in Homerton in the London Borough of Hackney. It is managed by Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. History The hospital has its origins in the Homerton Fever Hospital, which op ...

and Islington, it is operated by

Stagecoach London Stagecoach London is a major bus operator in Greater London. It is a subsidiary of Stagecoach and operates services under contract to Transport for London mostly in East and South East London as well as some services into Central London. It i ...

History

Route 394 originally commenced operating on 15 September 2001 as the ''Shoreditch Hoppa''
Making the Connections: Final Report on Transport and Social Exclusion
', report by

Social Exclusion Unit The Social Exclusion Task Force (SETF) was a part of the Cabinet Office that provided the UK Government with strategic advice and policy analysis in its drive against social exclusion. It was preceded by the Social Exclusion Unit, which was set up ...

HM Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

, February 2003 under a London Service Permit.1997 - 2003
on HCT Group website, retrieved 2009-10-18 It was developed to address the lack of public transport running east to west across Shoreditch and funded as part of the

New Deal for Communities New Deal for Communities was a regeneration programme led by the government of the United Kingdom for some of the England's most deprived neighbourhoods. The programme was established by Tony Blair's Labour Government and was overseen by the Nei ...

(NDC). The NDC appointed Hackney Community Transport to run the service following a competitive tendering process. The service initially ran at a half-hourly frequency between Tolpuddle Street in Islington and Broadway Market. It was operated with two

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufacture ...

minibuses in a unique blue livery and served several roads with no other bus routes. Passenger numbers rose rapidly to 2,200 per week and Transport for London agreed to integrate the Shoreditch Hoppa into the mainstream London Buses network, with a route number and inclusion on network maps. Transport for London awarded

HCT Group HCT Group was a social enterprise providing transport services and community services in several areas of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1982 as Hackney Community Transport in the London Borough of Hackney, to provide transport services f ...

subsidiary CT Plus a contract to operate route 394 from 3 May 2003. Upon being re-tendered, CT Plus retained the route with a new contract commencing on 1 May 2010. At the same time, the route was extended to Homerton and the vehicles on the route changed to low-floor

Dennis Dart SLF The Dennis Dart is a rear-engined single-decker midibus chassis that was introduced by Dennis Specialist Vehicles of Guildford, England in 1989, replacing the Dennis Domino. Initially built as a high-floor design, In 1996 the low-floor se ...

s. The frequency of the route was increased; from initially using just two vehicles, it now requires 10 buses. In October 2009, a baby was born on a bus operating route 394. The baby was given the middle name Dennis after the manufacturer of the bus. On 29 April 2017, route 394 was retained by

with a new fleet of

Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMC The Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMC (sold as the Alexander Dennis Enviro200) is a single-decker city bus produced by Alexander Dennis since 2014, as the successor to the Enviro200 midibus and Enviro300 full-size bus. The first Enviro200 MMC ...

buses introduced. On 27th August 2022, route 394 was included in the sale of HCT Group's ‘red bus’ operations to

Current route

Route 394 operates via these primary locations: *

* Hackney Central station * Broadway Market *

Haggerston Haggerston is a locale in East London, England, centred approximately on Great Cambridge Street (now renamed Queensbridge Road). It is within the London Borough of Hackney and is considered to be a part of London's East End. It is about 3.1 miles ...

''Park'' *

Hoxton Hoxton is an area in the London Borough of Hackney, England. As a part of Shoreditch, it is often considered to be part of the East End – the historic core of wider East London. It was historically in the county of Middlesex until 1889. It li ...

* Shoreditch Park *

Angel station ''Angel Station'' is the ninth album released by Manfred Mann's Earth Band, released in 1979. Several line-up changes were made for this album. Ex-Wings drummer Geoff Britton replaced founding drummer Chris Slade and Steve Waller replaced g ...

* Islington ''Tolpuddle Street'' Route 394 links the busy boroughs of Hackney and Islington, and visits the culturally significant areas of

London Fields London Fields is a park in Hackney, London, although the name also refers to the immediate area in Hackney surrounding it and London Fields station. It is common land adjoining the Hackney Central area of the London Borough of Hackney. The p ...

and

. Its route was featured in ''

Time Out London ''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 328 cities in 58 countries worldwide. In 2012, the London edition becam ...

'' magazine in March 2009.Bus Route 394: Angel Islington to Hackney
''

'', 2 March 2009

References

External links

394 bus route - Transport for London
{{DEFAULTSORT:394, London Buses Route Bus routes in London Transport in the London Borough of Hackney Transport in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Transport in the London Borough of Islington