London Buses route 60 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in

London London is the capital and 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 down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England. Running between

Old Coulsdon Old or OLD may refer to: Places * Old, Baranya, Hungary * Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, M ...

and

Streatham Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey ...

, it is operated by

Arriva London Arriva London is a major bus company operating services in Greater London. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus and operates services under contract to Transport for London. It was formed in 1998 from a fusion of previously separate Arriva s ...

History

Route 60 was introduced in September 1982 as a replacement in part for routes 118 and 130, linking

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 gr ...

with

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

. In 1998, the route was extended south to

, replacing route 50 and curtailed northbound to

Capital Logistics Capital Logistics was a bus and coach operator in London. History Capital Logistics was formed in August 1997 following the merger of Whyte's Airport Services and Capital Coaches the previous April. It operated a variety of coach and contract ...

was due to start operating route 60 from September 1998, however the new low floor buses specified were not ready in time. Stagecoach Selkent had lost work at the same time and was able to step in to operate most of the service.

Blue Triangle Blue Triangle is a bus company operating services in East London. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group and operates most services under contract to Transport for London. It is the operator of the East London Transit service. History ...

of Rainham was subcontracted to provide the balance of four buses. This arrangement lasted until 25 January 1999, when Selkent had other commitments in the

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...

and

Plumstead Plumstead is an area in southeast London, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich, England. It is located east of Woolwich. History Until 1965, Plumstead was in the historic counties of England, historic county of Kent and the detail of mu ...

areas. It was intended that the route would then be taken on by

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

based Omnibus London, but two days before this could take place the company announced that it would not be able to cover most of its journeys. An emergency 15-minute frequency timetable was drawn up by Blue Triangle, and the duties were covered by whoever could supply buses and drivers. Companies operating on the route included Blue Triangle, Omnibus London, Stagecoach Selkent, Stagecoach East London, Capital Citybus, Nostalgiabus of

Mitcham Mitcham is an area within the London Borough of Merton in South London, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross. Originally a village in the county of Surrey, today it is mainly a residential suburb, and includes Mitcham Common. It ha ...

, Classic Coaches of

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, south-southeast of Ayl ...

and Sidney Road Travel of

Potters Bar Potters Bar is a town in Hertfordshire, England,in the historic County of Middlesex Hertsmere Borough Council – Community Strategy First Review (PDF) north of central London. In 2011, it had a population of 21,882. In 2022 the population was ...

. This continued until 11 March 1999, when Capital Logistics was able to take the route over in full using

DAF DB250LF The VDL DB250 (originally the DAF DB250) was a twin-axle double-decker bus chassis manufactured by VDL Bus & Coach. DB250 The DAF DB250 was launched in October 1991 and originally only available with Optare Spectra bodywork with 260 built, mai ...

s. Buses were operated from a new base in Commerce Way and the route's frequency restored to every 12 minutes. Route 60 was included in the sale of Capital Logistics to the Status Group, (owner of

Tellings-Golden Miller Tellings-Golden Miller is a charter coach operator in England. It was a subsidiary of Arriva twice previously, but once again has returned to family ownership. The company is now a subsidiary of Falcon Coaches based in Byfleet, Surrey. History ...

), on 1 June 1999. The new owner was unhappy with the terms of the contract on the route, and withdrew from it in early 2000. The route passed back to

on 4 March 2000 on an interim basis. Upon being re-tendered, route 60 passed to Connex on 1 September 2001. New

Dennis Trident 2 The Dennis Trident 2 is a 2-axle low-floor double-decker bus chassis originally manufactured by Dennis, which was unveiled in 1997 and replaced the Dennis Arrow. It was built by TransBus after Dennis was incorporated into the group in 2001, th ...

s were ordered for the route, but a slight delay in their delivery meant that similar buses were hired from Stagecoach Selkent for the first few weeks of operation. Route 60 was included in the sale of Connex to

Travel London Travel London was a bus company operating services in Greater London. It was a subsidiary of National Express before being sold in May 2009 to NedRailways. In October 2009, it was rebranded as Abellio London.

in February 2004 It was retained by Arriva London when re-tendered in 2006. In April 2009, the reliability of the route was criticised by some residents in Coulsdon. In October of the same year a bus operating on the route was involved in a minor accident in West Croydon. Upon being re-tendered on 31 January 2013, it was retained by Arriva London.

Current route

Route 60 operates via these primary locations: *

Coulsdon South Coulsdon South railway station serves Coulsdon in the London Borough of Croydon, and is in Travelcard Zone 6, on the Brighton Main Line. It is measured from . The station is served by Southern (Govia Thameslink Railway), Southern and by ThamesL ...

* Coulsdon Town * Purley *

South Croydon South Croydon in south London is the area surrounding the valley south of central Croydon and running as far south as the former Red Deer public house on the Brighton Road. It is bounded by Waddon to the West and Selsdon and Sanderstead to the ...

* West Croydon * Broad Green * Thornton Heath Pond *

Pollards Hill Pollards Hill is a small residential district straddling south London boroughs of Croydon and Merton between Mitcham, Norbury and Thornton Heath. The boundary of the two boroughs is a street named Recreation Way. No roads directly cross the Cro ...

* Streatham Vale *

Streatham Common Streatham Common is a large open space on the southern edge of Streatham in the London Borough of Lambeth. The shallow sloping lower (western) half of the common is mostly mowed grass, and the upper (eastern) half is mostly woodland with some s ...

References

External links

*
Timetable
{{DEFAULTSORT:060, London buses route Bus routes in London Transport in the London Borough of Croydon Transport in the London Borough of Lambeth Transport in the London Borough of Merton