London Buses route 45 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

Clapham Park Clapham Park is an area in the Borough of Lambeth in London, to the south of central Clapham and west of Brixton. History The original Clapham Park Estate was a speculative development by Thomas Cubitt, who bought of Bleak Hall Farm in 1825 ...

and Elephant & Castle, it is operated by

Abellio London Abellio London is a bus company operating services in Greater London. A subsidiary of Abellio, it operates services under contract to Transport for London (TfL). Until September 2018, services were operated in Surrey under the Abellio Surrey ...

History

Route 45 was introduced on 1 October 1950 as a replacement for

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or trol ...

route 34 between Battersea and

Farringdon Street Farringdon Road is a road in Clerkenwell, London. Route Farringdon Road is part of the A201 route connecting King's Cross to Elephant and Castle. It goes southeast from King's Cross, crossing Rosebery Avenue, then turns south, crossing C ...

via

Clapham Junction Clapham Junction is an urban locality around Clapham Junction railway station in London, England. Despite its name, it is not located in Clapham, but forms the commercial centre of Battersea. Clapham Junction was a scene of disturbances during ...

Clapham Common Clapham Common is a large triangular urban park in Clapham, south London, England. Originally common land for the parishes of Battersea and Clapham, it was converted to parkland under the terms of the Metropolitan Commons Act 1878. It is of g ...

, Stockwell, Brixton, Camberwell Green,

Elephant & Castle The Elephant and Castle is an area around a major road junction in London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark. The name also informally refers to much of Walworth and Newington, due to the proximity of the London Underground stati ...

and

Blackfriars Bridge Blackfriars Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, between Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Railway Bridge, carrying the A201 road. The north end is in the City of London near the Inns of Court and Temple Ch ...

. It was operated by

AEC Routemaster The AEC Routemaster is a front-engined double-decker bus that was designed by London Transport and built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) and Park Royal Vehicles. The first prototype was completed in September 1954 and the last one ...

s. On 17 January 1951 it was extended from Battersea to South Kensington station. On 1 February 1961, the route was extended from Farringdon Street to Hampstead Heath via

Grays Inn Road Gray's Inn Road (or Grays Inn Road) is an important road in the Bloomsbury district of Central London, in the London Borough of Camden. The road begins at the City of London boundary, where it bisects High Holborn, and ends at King's Cross and ...

and King's Cross replacing trolleybus route 513. On 8 January 1972, it was withdrawn between King's Cross and Hampstead and replaced by route 46. On 28 October 1978, the route was extended from King's Cross to Archway station. On 3 August 1985, route 45 was converted to

one man operation One-person operation (OPO), also known as driver-only operation (DOO), one-man operation (OMO), single person train operation (SPTO), or one-person train operation (OPTO), similarly to Driver Controlled Operation, is operation of a train, bus ...

with the AEC Routemasters replaced by Leyland Titans. Having been operated by

London Central London Central is a bus company operating in South London. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group and operates services under contract to Transport for London. History London Central commenced operating on 1 April 1989 when London Bus ...

out of Camberwell garage since first tendered in 1987, on 11 November 2017 it was taken over by

's Walworth garage with Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMCs introduced. On 15 June 2019, the route was withdrawn between King's Cross and Elephant & Castle. In June 2022 Transport for London launched a consultation with a view to withdrawing route 45, with route 35 and a re-routed 59 continuing to serve its length. However, it decided not to go ahead with the proposals and so no changes to route 45 were made.

Current route

Route 45 operates via these primary locations:Route 45 Map
Transport for London *

* Brixton station * Loughborough Junction station * Camberwell Green * Elephant & Castle station *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:045, London buses route Bus routes in London Transport in the London Borough of Camden Transport in the London Borough of Lambeth Transport in the London Borough of Southwark Transport in the City of London