London Buses route 43 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

Friern Barnet Friern Barnet is a suburban area within the London Borough of Barnet, north of Charing Cross. Its centre is formed by the busy intersection of Colney Hatch Lane (running north and south), Woodhouse Road (taking westbound traffic towards North ...

and

London Bridge station London Bridge is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Southwark, south-east London. It occupies a large area on three levels immediately south-east of London Bridge, from which it takes its name. The m ...

, it is operated by

Metroline Metroline is a bus company operating services in Greater London and south Hertfordshire. It is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Corporation and operates services under contract to Transport for London. As at March 2021, the fleet consisted of 1,5 ...

History

London Buses route 43 Muswell Hill Rd (1)

Route 43 commenced operating in August 1912 as a daily route between Archway station and

via

Holloway Road Holloway Road is a road in London, in length. It is one of the main shopping streets in North London, and carries the A1 road as it passes through Holloway, in the London Borough of Islington. The road starts in Archway, near Archway Under ...

Upper Street Upper Street is the main street of the Islington district of inner north London, and carries the A1 road. It begins at the junction of the A1 and Liverpool Road, continuing on from Islington High Street which runs from the crossroads at Penton ...

Angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...

City Road City Road or The City Road is a road that runs through central London. The northwestern extremity of the road is at Angel where it forms a continuation of Pentonville Road. Pentonville Road itself is the modern name for the eastern part of Lo ...

Moorgate Moorgate was one of the City of London's northern gates in its defensive wall, the last to be built. The gate took its name from the Moorfields, an area of marshy land that lay immediately north of the wall. The gate was demolished in 1762, b ...

Bank station Bank and Monument are interlinked London Underground and Docklands Light Railway, Docklands Light Railway (DLR) stations that form a public transport complex spanning the length of King William Street, London, King William Street in the City of ...

and

London Bridge Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It r ...

, and was quickly extended to Muswell Hill Broadway via

East Finchley East Finchley is an area in North London, immediately north of Hampstead Heath. Like neighbouring Muswell Hill it straddles the London Boroughs of Barnet and Haringey, with most of East Finchley falling into the London Borough of Barnet. It ha ...

and Fortis Green Road. The route along which the 43 operates was designated as London's first Red Route bus priority scheme in 1992. In late 1999 the route became one of the first in London to be operated by low-floor double-deck buses, when new

Plaxton President The Plaxton President was a low floor double-decker bus body built at Northern Counties plant in Wigan, England and branded as a Plaxton product for its main production run. It was first unveiled in 1997 on the longitudinal Volvo B7L chassi ...

bodied

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 introduced. In July 2019,

Alexander Dennis Enviro400EV The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 City is a low-floor double-decker bus produced by the British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis since 2018, produced as an alternative to the standard Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC bodywork. The Enviro400 City is ...

battery electric bus A battery electric bus is an electric bus that is driven by an electric motor and obtains energy from on-board batteries. Many trolleybuses use batteries as an auxiliary or emergency power source. In 2018, the National Renewable Energy Laborator ...

es entered service on the route, making it the first route served solely by zero emission double-decker buses. In 2021, the frequency of the service was reduced from 9 buses per hour to 7.5 during Monday-Friday peak times, and from 8 buses per hour to 7.5 during Monday-Saturday daytimes.

Variants

In 1992 a peak hour route X43 was introduced to supplement route 43 in connection with the Red Route bus priority scheme introduced at the time. It used specially liveried

Scania N113 The Scania N113 was a transverse-engined step-entrance and low-floor city bus chassis manufactured by Scania between 1988 and 2000. History The Scania N113 was designed as a successor to the N112. Most of the single-decker buses and the ...

double-deckers branded as ''Red Express''. London Northern, the subsidiary of London Buses which had taken over operation of the route in 1989, stated that passenger numbers along the route increased by 8,700 in the year following its introduction.

In popular culture

Alexander Dennis Enviro400 The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 is a twin-axle low-floor bus, low-floor double-decker bus that was built by the United Kingdom, British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis between 2005 and 2018. It replaced the Alexander ALX400, Dennis Trident 2, ...

operating on route 43 was used in the 2007 film '' The Bourne Ultimatum''. Route 43 is mentioned in the song ''Bros'' by North London

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band

Wolf Alice Wolf Alice are an English rock band from London, England. Formed in 2010 as an acoustic duo comprising singer Ellie Rowsell and guitarist Joff Oddie, Wolf Alice have also featured bassist Theo Ellis and drummer Joel Amey since 2012. Wolf Ali ...

. A route 43 bus is shown at the very end of the

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for the song.

Current route

Route 43 operates via these primary locations:Route 43 Map
Transport for London *

''Library'' * Muswell Hill Broadway *

Highgate Wood Highgate Wood is a 28 hectare (70 acre) area of ancient woodland in North London, lying between East Finchley, Highgate and Muswell Hill. It was originally part of the ancient Forest of Middlesex which covered much of London, Hertfordshire and Ess ...

Highgate station Highgate is a London Underground station and former railway station in Archway Road, in the London Borough of Haringey in north London. The station takes its name from nearby Highgate Village. It is on the High Barnet branch of the Norther ...

* Archway station *

Upper Holloway station Upper Holloway railway station is in Holloway, north London (N19). It is on the Gospel Oak to Barking Line, from (measured via Kentish Town and Mortimer Street Junction) and is situated between Gospel Oak and . It is operated by London Overg ...

* Holloway Road station * St Mary Magdalene Church *

Highbury & Islington station Highbury & Islington is a London Underground and National Rail interchange station in the London Borough of Islington, north London. It is served by the London Underground's Victoria line and the Great Northern's Northern City Line, as well as ...

Islington Town Hall Islington Town Hall is a municipal facility in Upper Street, Islington, London. The town hall, which is the headquarters for Islington London Borough Council, is a Grade II listed building. History The building was commissioned to replace the ...

* St Mary's Church *

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 ...

Moorfields Eye Hospital Moorfields Eye Hospital is a specialist NHS eye hospital in Finsbury in the London Borough of Islington in London, England run by Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Together with the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, which is adjacent ...

Old Street station Old Street is a National Rail and London Underground station at the junction of Old Street and City Road in central London, England. The station is on the Bank and Monument stations, Bank branch of the Northern line between Angel tube station, ...

Finsbury Square Finsbury Square is a square in Finsbury in central London which includes a six-rink grass bowling green. It was developed in 1777 on the site of a previous area of green space to the north of the City of London known as Finsbury Fields, in the pa ...

* Moorgate station *

* Monument station *

London Bridge bus station London Bridge bus station serves the London Bridge area of the city of London and is situated at the London Bridge tube and rail station. There are three stands at the station which are situated on the station forecourt. London Buses routes ...

for

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:043, London buses route Bus routes in London Transport in the London Borough of Barnet Transport in the London Borough of Hackney Transport in the London Borough of Haringey Transport in the London Borough of Islington Transport in the London Borough of Southwark Transport in the City of London