London's next dead bus 118: Morden to Brixton Location: south London Length of journey: 9 miles, 55 minutes
This weekend another London bus route bites the dust - yes, another one - as TfL cuts slack from the network to save more cash. But the bus they're cutting isn't the bus they claim they're cutting because this is another exercise in numerical sleight of hand, and as usual it's all been fairly badly explained. Farewell to the 118.
The 118 runs from Morden to Brixton via Mitcham and Streatham and has been following a similar-ish route for decades. The 45 by contrast has been repeatedly beheaded over the years, most recently a significant chop in 2019 lopping off the northern end from King's Cross to Elephant and Castle. Its route is now just five miles long and follows several overbussed roads, hence it's become a prime candidate for extinguishment. The plan is thus to tack the 45's only useful section (Brixton to Camberwell) onto the northern end of route 118, starting on Saturday. And because the public tend to complain more when lower-numbered routes are withdrawn they've decided to call the extended route 45 instead of 118. Here's a useful graphic I've knocked up from diagrams in the consultation.
TfL have form in pretending they haven't killed off lower-numbered routes. In 2015 they threatened to withdraw route 13 and residents of North London threw up their arms in horror. Then in 2017 they came back and withdrew it anyway but having renumbered route 82 as route 13, and everyone thought that was great. More recently in 2023 they binned the 16, a route with a century-long heritage, but got away with it by renumbering the 332 as the 16. Now the 45 goes the same way, which means TfL have successfully managed to kill the 13, 16 and 45 by pretending they've killed the 82, 332 and 118.
One other route has got caught up in the kerfuffle which is the 59, which has been drafted in to cover the 45's southern dogleg to Clapham Park. The 59 is no stranger to Slight Terminus Tweaking having been diverted at its northern end in 2023 to cover for the withdrawal of route 521. Now its southern end also gets to endure STT, but only for three stops so it's relatively minor in the grand scheme of things and existing 59 passengers won't be generally inconvenienced.
There is of course a map to help explain the changes which has been posted up at all affected bus stops. It's from TfL's Let's Make This Bus Map Unnecessarily Complicated department and I'd like to imagine the conversation which led to its rollout.
Boss: We've made this map to show the upcoming bus changes which I'd like you to post up everywhere. Minion: It's not a very good map though is it? Boss: It's an excellent map, it contains all possible necessary information. Minion: But it's so complicated. Boss: It is LMTBMUC policy to differentiate between withdrawn, extended and unchanged sections of all individual routes. Minion: But it shows both the before and the after and uses three different kinds of line in several different colours. Boss: Yes, we always do this, whether it's helpful or not. Minion: Also you've only shown the central section of the changes between Streatham and Camberwell. Boss: Yes, we only ever make one map and then we stick it up everywhere. Minion: It's going to confuse the hell out of passengers. Boss: It ticks all relevant policy boxes. Minion: In particular it's going to baffle passengers at the 35 bus stops south of Streatham on existing route 118. Boss: It's an excellent map, it contains all possible necessary information. Minion: But we're not truly withdrawing their bus, only renumbering it. Boss: All the information they need is plainly displayed in a tiny box at the bottom of the map. Minion: I've made a better poster for these people, look.
Boss: We can't possibly use that poster, it does not contain all possible necessary information. Minion: But it's all the information these people need... use the 45 instead. Boss: We cannot afford to make two maps, we only ever make one and use it everywhere. Minion: It's still not a very good map though is it? Boss: Please go and post it up everywhere, there's a good chap.
I have of course been for a ride on London's next dead bus, even though it isn't actually being withdrawn only renumbered. Starting in Morden.
The 118 starts outside Morden station amid a maelstrom of reversing spaces and folk off the tube. The first stop has no poster saying the route's being withdrawn, instead the timetable panel flaps in the wind as if someone failed to close it properly. We head off down the main street, then turn right past the National Trust tearoom and dive into suburbia. Wandle Road backs onto the river of the same name and is lined throughout by quintessential bay-windowed semis. Our driver has to negotiate several sets of triple speedbumps and occasionally holds back while traffic attempts to drive the other way. The 118 has been the only (daytime) bus route down this backroad since 1936 so it's going to be a shock on Saturday when the 45 rolls through instead.
Now for the grand tour of Mitcham. First we pass the fire station and the tram stop, then the abandoned White Hart and the charred timbers of the Burn Bullock. Beyond the cricket green we thread slowly round the gyratory between Lidl and Iceland, past the extraordinary four-armed clocktower that looks like a character from Beauty and the Beast. It's worth saying that if you really wanted to go to Streatham you'd catch the 201 which runs direct rather than take a deviating dawdle on the 118, so that map posted up at all the bus stops here is properly unnecessary.
For our next solo jaunt we are the only bus to run along the northern edge of Mitcham Common, starting by the pond with all the ducks. I imagine foxes are an issue for the houses facing directly onto the woods. We then head up Manor Road and studiously avoid Pollards Hill, perhaps because the enormous estate hadn't been built when this route originally ran. I won't go on about the next mile through Lonesome and Streatham Vale because that's also on route 60 and I have to write about that for my birthday in a few weeks' time. What I will say is that I spotted a 'Not in Service' bus coming the other way with several people sitting up top and I think they were doing route knowledge for the new company taking over on Saturday, Transport UK.
It's taken over 30 minutes to reach Streatham Common station and we still haven't reached the section of route depicted on TfL's bus changes map. The common itself is two stops away. Here we join Streatham High Road, allegedly Europe's longest high street and still brimming with retail opportunity. Here too we join an entire fleet of buses heading north, this being one of TfL's busiest double decker arteries, and by the time we reach St Leonard's we are but one of six routes heading Brixton-wards. That said only one route passes all three of Streatham stations and that's the 118, thus of course next week the 45.
OK, we're finally on that map. First comes the bus garage where the 59 will no longer terminate, then the turnoff to Clapham Park where it'll go instead. Now at last the existing 45 joins us and sticks with us all the way down Brixton Hill, where there are a mere seven stops overlap between the two routes to be merged. I understand all the tiles have now been switched, a few days prematurely, though they hadn't when I came earlier in the week. On this heavily overbussed descent into Brixton the 118 will not be missed. For now it terminates opposite the tube station amid a veritable jostlefest, assuming the driver can find space to pull up in the crowded queue of vehicles by the kerb.
Next week the ex-118, now the 45, will continue to Camberwell so I then did that too. A slow crawl towards the police station, then back under the railway onto Coldharbour Lane. It says a lot about passenger demand that TfL chose to keep three buses on this busy corridor - conveniently the 35, 45 and 345 - rather than simply binning the 45 outright. Coldharbour Lane has a typical Lambeth mix of dense Victorian buildings, grey flats and multiple barber shops, plus a call at Loughborough Junction for those who prefer a train. I alighted at the new final stop at Camberwell Green, and thus ironically the only section of route 45 I didn't ride is the one section that's being truly withdrawn. Because London's next dead bus is the 45, not the 118, whatever the inadequate publicity might claim.
