London Buses route 6 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 Willesden Garage and

Aldwych Aldwych (pronounced ) is a street and the name of the area immediately surrounding it in central London, England, within the City of Westminster. The street starts east-northeast of Charing Cross, the conventional map centre-point of the city ...

, 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

Routemaster RML2690 (SMK 690F), August 1998

In 1934, route 6 operated from

Willesden Willesden () is an area of northwest London, situated 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Charing Cross. It is historically a parish in the county of Middlesex that was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Willesden in 1933, and has forme ...

Leyton Leyton () is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It borders Walthamstow to the north, Leytonstone to the east, and Stratford to the south, with Clapton, Hackney Wick and Homerton, across the River L ...

via

Marble Arch The Marble Arch is a 19th-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London, England. The structure was designed by John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the cour d'honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near the site of what is toda ...

, Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus,

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson comm ...

and

. On 14 January 1942 it was withdrawn between Willesden and

Kensal Rise Kensal Green is an area in north-west London. It lies mainly in the London Borough of Brent, with a small part to the south within London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Kensington and Chelsea. Kensal Green is located on the Harrow Road, a ...

. In May 1949,

AEC Regent III RT AEC may refer to: Organizations * Catalan Space Agency (Agència Espacial de Catalunya) * Ars Electronica Center, Linz, Austria * Art Ensemble of Chicago, US Governance * African Economic Community * African Energy Chamber * Alaska Engineer ...

buses were introduced. On 25 October 1969, it was withdrawn between

Hackney Wick Hackney Wick is a neighbourhood in east London, England. The area forms the south-eastern part of the district of Hackney, and also of the wider London Borough of Hackney. Adjacent areas of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets are sometimes a ...

and Leyton. On 18 July 1992, it was further cut, with the section between Aldwych and Hackney Wick replaced by new route 26. On 27 March 2004, route 6, along with route 98, was converted to one man operation, with the

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 replaced by

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 chas ...

bodied Volvo B7TLs. It was decided to run all journeys to Willesden garage, to provide a more consistent service along this corridor. However, the residents of Staverton Road, along which route 6's garage journeys passed (along with buses on route 52 and 302) objected to the increase in bus traffic. So the number of through journeys had to be limited to the previous level. The service has since been re-routed via Donnington Road and Pound Lane. Throughout June 2015, new

Volvo B5LH The Volvo B5LH (initially known as the Volvo B5L Hybrid, also known as the Volvo BRLH) is a low-floor hybrid electric bus chassis for both single-decker buses and double-decker buses manufactured by Volvo since 2008. It is the basis for Volvo's ...

bodied

Wright Eclipse Gemini The Wright Eclipse Gemini is a Low-floor bus, low-floor double-decker bus body that was built by Wrightbus since 2001, based on the single-deck Wright Eclipse design. The second-generation Eclipse Gemini 2 was launched in 2009, followed by the ...

3s were allocated to the route. On 17 June 2017, route 6 was altered to operate via

Park Lane Park Lane is a dual carriageway road in the City of Westminster in Central London. It is part of the London Inner Ring Road and runs from Hyde Park Corner in the south to Marble Arch in the north. It separates Hyde Park to the west from ...

and Piccadilly in lieu of

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and Regent Streets. Since the introduction of

tendering An invitation to tender (ITT, otherwise known as a call for bids or a request for tenders) is a formal, structured procedure for generating competing offers from different potential suppliers or contractors looking to obtain an award of business ...

, it has always been operated by Metroline from Willesden Garage. On 23 November 2022, it was announced that route 6 would be rerouted to run to

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

instead of Aldwych, following a consultation that proposed that it would run to

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its root ...

. This change will be implemented by the end of 2023.

Current route

Route 6 operates via these primary locations:Route 6 Map
Transport for London * Willesden Garage *

''Sport Centre'' * Kensal Rise station * Queens Park station *

Maida Hill Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district consisting of the northern part of Paddington in West London, west of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn. It is also the name of its main road, on the continuous Edgware Road. Maida Vale is p ...

* Warwick Avenue station *

Edgware Road station Edgware Road is the name of two London Underground stations near the junction of Edgware Road and Marylebone Road in Central London: * Edgware Road tube station (Bakerloo line) * Edgware Road tube station (Circle, District and Hammersmith & City l ...

* Marble Arch station *

Hyde Park Corner Hyde Park Corner is between Knightsbridge, Belgravia and Mayfair in London, England. It primarily refers to its major road junction at the southeastern corner of Hyde Park, that was designed by Decimus Burton. Six streets converge at the j ...

* Green Park station * Piccadilly * Piccadilly Circus station *

Charing Cross station Charing Cross railway station (also known as London Charing Cross) is a central London railway terminus between the Strand and Hungerford Bridge in the City of Westminster. It is the terminus of the South Eastern Main Line to Dover via Ashfo ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:006, London Buses Route Bus routes in London Transport in the City of Westminster Transport in the London Borough of Brent