Know Your Routes: Route 18

Know Your Routes is back again with route 18, which recently lost its First London heritage in a shock £10.2m move to the RATP Group.

© Steven Hughes.
Route 18 is the second busiest in London, used by over 16 million passengers annually. From Euston and Sudbury, via Regents Park, Baker Street, Marylebone, Harrow Road, Harlesden and Wembley, a peak vehicle requirement of 44 buses allows for a frequency of up to every 4 minutes to meet the highly demanded west London service.

TN-classed Plaxton Presidents under First Centrewest branding and abundant Les Misérables advertisements were my initial image of the bus route growing up in Harrow Road before bendy-buses were introduced in 2003. These high-capacity buses dominated the allocations of London's high-frequency routes throughout the noughties, although fare evasion on them became a controversial trend costing TfL double that of fare evasion on double-deckers. Yet the 18m articulated Mercedes-Benz was the standout vehicle type of the decade right until its withdrawal in November 2010 as part of Boris Johnson's antipathetically driven policy to remove them from London.

The 18 has since reverted to double-decker operation, starting with an influx of Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 buses with Volvo B9TL chassis. The B9TLs, originally fleet-coded VNs before Metroline's partial takeover of First London in 2013, exemplified the high quality service Willesden Junction (WJ) provided for the bus route. Aside from the litter, which is to be expected of a high-frequency route, the vehicles themselves were unmatched by other examples of their kind in that they had a smoothness to their drive as if mechanically engineered to withstand the busiest of journeys with consistent efficiency and expedition. They had pace, the comfortable seating did not seem to age in colour or material quality like First's older 59-reg examples and the engines never had the grumbling undertones of the 61-reg B9TLs at Metroline. So considering the buses had to, day in and day out, opera to a high frequency, WJ - at least from my point-of-view - managed to preserve a simply outstanding standardised fleet of buses and a remarkably reliable service for the 18, especially throughout the duration of their last contract to the route. So why the change?

Transport for London's tendering programme allows privatised companies registered under their London Buses subsidiary to bid for the routes they want to operate. To provide the most cost-efficient bus network, it is mostly the case that the cheapest bidder wins, even if the result does not make sense logistically. Take route 159 as the most controversial example of this: running for decades out of the on-route Brixton (BN) garage, it was taken over by Abellio and allocated to the considerably off-route site of Battersea (QB) in late 2015. The contentious £10.2m move from Metroline West (formerly First London) to RATP Group: London United on 11 November 2017 makes route 18 yet another route to move away from its operational heritage in this questionable fashion.

©RandomBusesAlisha.
Park Royal (PK) were initially expected to house the new buses for the 18 until RATP purchased Atlas Road (AS) from Tower Transit, a former outstation for Westbourne Park (X) until its backyard was fully re-acquired earlier this year following the completion of Crossrail works there. AS is now Park Royal (RP) under RATP, with London United transferring routes 220, 283, 440 and E11 to RP to keep the 18/N18 company at its new home.

Mostly new Wright bodied Volvo hybrid buses, VH45216-251, have introduced route 18 to London United, with (we assume to make the service cheaper to run) existing VHs primarily sourced from Edgware (VH45156-61, VH45184 and VH45201-02) but also Fulwell (VH45185-86) and Tolworth (VH45162) additionally housed at RP for the 18, a few ADEs included as surplus.

And none of these buses were in sight as I walked around Paddington Green for my first surveying of the service under RATP a few days after the move. However, despite London United's gain being overshadowed by other contractual gains announced at the same time (but starting in September), to my pleasant surprise, many enthusiasts seemed more concerned on the day with flooding Flickr with photos of route 18 under new RATP branding than the highly talked about swaps in south London also taking place on the same weekend. My review starts off with the N18 which I caught up with that weekend and ended up spending all night getting to know a night bus driver.

I started off at Paddington Green and was met by a triad of new VHs: one of them the last 18 of the day, two the first N18s of the night. The humongous gap in the service likely to follow meant it would have been best to have just got on one of them or go back home. But the photo opportunity just seemed too good, although by my standards I might have wasted it (see photo on the left). Anyway, it only took two minutes for yet another N18 to arrive! I jumped on it, then briefly monitored the service on the London Vehicle Finder. This was at around 1am, by which time buses should have reached both ends of the route by now. But no, there were no buses on the N18 beyond Wembley. At this time, the nearest bus towards Harrow Weald was at Willesden Junction with its leader at Wembley Central ... going to Trafalgar Square.

Unsurprisingly, then, my N18 was quite slow, to most likely moderate headway. Although, the driver was not being helped by the bunch of 18/N18s ahead as they were not making much of an extension to their lead nor did they seem to be creating much of a gap between themselves either, still only a few minutes ahead of us by Kilburn Lane. And then our driver's efforts to maintain whatever headway he could zoomed completely out of recognition with yet another N18 that overtook us with no care in the world at Kensal Green. Still, I wouldn't have minded being on that bus: the way it manoeuvred past us, it was as if its driver was on a mission to fill in the aforementioned gap between Wembley and Harrow Weald. Then, to add to this monotonous first journey under London United, we actually had a driver changeover at Willesden Junction. On a night route. I do not know if it is common for night buses to have driver changeovers mid-service, but either way I found this imprudent considering the lack of fluidity of the service without the interruption. Although this pause might have helped create a bit more headway for us; that, I can't remember, so onto the buses themselves.

London United's former saloon colours are perhaps most stunningly displayed by the ADHs on route 27. The operator's new saloon, however, first showcased on route 94 in March 2016, has impressed me less. The moquette of the seat covers have taken an artistic step back with their lazily chequered patterns and the grey-coloured flooring gives a miserably plastic atmosphere to RATP's new buses, almost resembling the bland characteristics of a warehouse. Otherwise, the VHs are decent buses which drive very smoothly and are good fun with fast drivers. Yet I find myself stuck with this same boring conclusion for most new buses nowadays, reflecting either a declining enthusiasm for the London bus scene or an overabundant injection of B5LH-Gemini 3s into it. The B5LH-Gemini 3 is a quality bus type, but a lack of competitive alternatives for comparison and variety no longer makes it stand out as much as it once might have done. Having said that, even if Metroline West had retained route 18, there is no doubt they too would have opted for Gemini 3 hybrids, already fairly common on the night route, to further expand their VWH-class. Therefore, the move to London United has perhaps given the 18 a bit more of a fresh new look than Metroline would have provided.


An N18 goes to Harrow Weald every half an hour, with most duties only going as far as Sudbury. My N18 terminated at Sudbury and after a few minutes of having eventually reached there I was back on one towards Trafalgar Square. As I tapped in, my driver was adjusting himself after exchanging some friendly banter with a colleague parked across the road at the stand. This sort of energy at a time when most people are sleeping made me feel he was a driver you could courteously acknowledge before moving down the bus to grab a seat without getting blanked so I did, receiving a bubbly smile and even a greeting in return. I then addressed his Metroline uniform to which he proudly expressed his content on keeping it on, at least until London United had their own gear ready for their new recruits.

We went on to talk about his favourite bus routes, bus types and his family's experience of the bus industry on an international scale, making comparisons between different bus networks across Europe but ultimately concluding that there is nothing like London and its buses. Abroad, driving for a coach firm, he talked about how he could allow passengers to get off at certain points to take photos of his bus or the scenery and the friendly spirit drivers had between themselves and their passengers back then, contrasted with one or two experiences of racism he had had in other countries which made him even more accepting of the London bus network for the strong diversity and multiculturalism represented by its staff and users alike. We reminisced of a time where passengers could talk to their drivers (or conductors) and how a bus service could be central to a strong sense of community, a feeling nowadays limited to low-frequency suburban routes from my experience. It was also good to touch on how a driver should have enough understanding of his route to moderate it himself when necessary - for example, my driver mentioned how sometimes it is better to arrive at a bus stop a few minutes early because the timetable lacks correspondence with other bus routes which, without the shrewd service provided by the driver, interchanging passengers would otherwise miss. (Something autonomous driving could never replace.) At Trafalgar Square, after having a smooth drive called to a halt in traffic for around 15-20 minutes within walking distance from the landmark and the route's terminus, we formerly introduced ourselves before a quick final drive to Willesden Junction, where his shift was complete for the day.

It was a true privilege getting to know a night bus driver. The experience served as a reminder of the great characters behind-the-wheel of our buses, and the determined and sometimes intense role they perform in order to keep London Buses running to a high standard against the inherently inconsiderate and stereotypical expectations of them to be designated like robots into the cab of a bus to drive and tolerate the overlooked occupational and social demands of their job.


An Enviro400 on the 18 has been a hyped up prospect by enthusiasts for many years, the body of a Wright bus all too commonplace on the route for those who like a good odd-working. With nothing other than WrightBus double-deckers at WJ, though, VWs were all that could go on the 18 ... or a single-decker. But come on. So when the first picture of an ADE blinded for the 18 emerged you can imagine the excitement it brewed up for the service change. And as per usual, due to the late delivery of new buses, the surplus ADEs were not shy of getting the 18 started under RATP alongside some existing and a few new VHs. I have been on an ADE on the 18 once or twice ... and have nothing to add.

However, I did have some mad double diversion on the 18 one evening. We were diverted straight after the first stop - Sudbury and Harrow Road Station - via Alperton and the North Circular Road, rejoining the normal line of route at Stonebridge Park. Then we were diverted at Kilburn Lane via Kilburn Lane, Queen's Park and Maida Hill before rejoining Harrow Road at Sutherland Avenue. It was interesting to zigzag aboard a route that is naturally straight and as for the first diversion, it was fun to be on an 18 on the motorway, only somehow I felt this would have been more fun aboard a VW. The acceleration of a hybrid is, given the road space, reasonably quicker than that of a diesel which funnily enough makes the drive of a diesel bus feel more rewarding when the gears and revs have to undergo a greater effort to reach higher speeds. Perhaps it is the high benchmark set by route 116 for motorway bus rides that made the North Circular Road experience on an 18 that little bit less enjoyable.


Route 18 has established a strong presence along Harrow Road for many decades, connecting the environs of The City with the Afro-Caribbean hubs of Maida Hill and Harlesden and the Asian communities of Wembley. It continues, unlike other routes in the area, without diversion during the Notting Hill Carnival to annually fuel the connectivity of its diverse users who have a shared demand for its direct and frequent service.

From 1939, it has been Alperton, Westbourne Park and Willesden Junction - significant First garages from the privatisation era onwards - who have established the route as well-known to the communities it serves, particularly the latter who housed various bus types for the route which established an image for the 18 as a leading route of First London. So we will miss WJ and its VWs, the last indicators of the route's First London heritage, with our close-knit nostalgia for this straightforward yet culturally complex and widely appreciated bus route.

As for the service change, London United have achieved an ergonomic step forward for route 18, as should be expected from buses made seven years after their predecessors. However, with the high standards set by Willesden Junction for so many years, I have pretty much from the off been unsure as to whether London United can match or better them. The frequency remains quite noticeably high, however the reliability of this frequency has quite noticeably declined, gaps in the service becoming more and more common. And with more curtailment points observed under RATP than I have ever seen only a few months into their new contract, I am not sure this has been a cost-efficient service change after all.

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