London Buses route 52

London Buses route 52 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. It runs between Willesden garage and Victoria bus station, and is operated by Metroline.

52
Overview
OperatorMetroline
GarageWillesden (AC)
Night-time24 hour service
Route
StartVictoria
ViaHyde Park Corner
Knightsbridge
Kensington Palace
Notting Hill
Ladbroke Grove
Kensal Rise
EndWillesden bus garage
Service
LevelDaily

History
Metroline Plaxton President bodied Volvo B7TL at Knightsbridge station in June 2011

Route 52 began on 28 March 1923, running from Raynes Park to Ladbroke Grove. The service was changed many times, on 13 Feb 1924 it ran from Wormwood Scrubs to Tooting and later on, on 9 April 1924 the route was revised to run Ladbroke Grove to Victoria. It was extended to Mill Hill in 1932. Later, some services were extended on to Borehamwood on Monday to Saturday peak journeys where it was changed several times: in 1951, it was withdrawn from Warwick Road and Drayton Road to Elstree Way Hotel, but extended back on 3 February 1953, and further extended to Brook Road on 3 February 1954.[1]

Another extension took the route to Rossington Avenue on Sundays from 1956. Seven years later this was extended to include Monday to Friday peak workings. In 1967 the Mill Hill terminus was changed from Mill Hill Green Man to the then new Mill Hill Broadway Station. The route was then withdrawn beyond Mill Hill Broadway in 1969, the Borehamwood - Mill Hill section being replaced by route 292. Frequency cuts led to over 2,000 passengers signing a petition for the improvement of route 52 in the same year.[1][2]

In December 1993 the contract to run the route was won by London Coaches, who in July 1994 transferred the route to its Atlas Bus & Coach subsidiary as it had a garage in Willesden, close to the route's terminus.[3] Atlas operated the route with Leyland Titans in a route-specific livery.[4] In November 1994, route 52 was included in the sale of Atlas Bus & Coach to Metroline.[3]

On 8 December 2012, route 52 was retained by Metroline.[5]

On 17 November 2016, 14 people were injured as a bus on route 52 mounted a pavement and crashed into Kensal House on Ladbroke Grove. [6]

Current route

Route 52 operates via these primary locations:[7]

References
  1. Warren, Kenneth (1986). The Motorbus in Central London. Shepperton: Ian Allan Publishing. pp. 37–38. ISBN 0 7110 1568 6.
  2. London Transport (Bus Route 52) (Hansard, 25 July 1969)
  3. McLachlan, Tom (1995). London Buses 1985-1995: Managing The Change. Venture Publications. p. 67. ISBN 978-1-898432-74-6.
  4. McLachlan p.68
  5. "Route 52/N52 - award announced 26 April 2012". TfL. 26 April 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  6. "Several injured as bus hits wall". BBC News. 17 November 2016.
  7. Route 52 Map Transport for London
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