London Bus Route 168 - Hampstead Heath - Camden Town - Holborn - Waterloo - Elephant & Castle - Old Kent Road, Tesco. (7 Miles)
Operated By
MetrolineGarage: Cricklewood W
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Click Here History: The route 168 began on the 25th June 1986 and provided a Monday to Saturday service between Hampstead Heath and Waterloo, which replaced the withdrawn section of
route 68. The route was operated at Chalk Farm Garage (CF) by Titans (T). The current PVR was Monday to Friday 8T and Saturday 6T. On the 26th March 1988 the evening service was withdrawn on the 168. The current PVR was Monday to Friday 8T and Saturday 5T. On the 22nd March 1989 the route was converted to Single Deck operation using Leyland Nationals. (LS). The current PVR was Monday to Friday 8LS and Saturday 5LS. On the 22nd September 1990 Grey Green won the contract from London Transport and they operated the route from Stamford Hill Garage (SH). The evening service was reintroduced and also the route was converted back to Double Deck operation. The current PVR was Monday to Friday 8DD and Saturday 5DD. On the 12th March 1994 the route was extended from Waterloo to Elephant and Castle, and Grey Green decided to introduce a Sunday service. The current PVR was Monday to Friday 8DD, Saturday 5DD and Sunday 3DD.
On the 26th September 1998 Grey Green lost the contract to Arriva London and they operated the route from SH still. The PVR was increased to Monday to Friday 8DD, Saturday 6DD and Sunday 4DD. On the 30th January 1999 the 168 was converted to Low floor double deck operation using DLA type buses. The current PVR was Monday to Friday 9DLA, Saturday 8DLA and Sunday 5DLA. On the 25th March 2000 the allocation was transferred to Tottenham Garage (AR) as a Sub Contract to Arriva London North, and the Sunday PVR was increased to 7DLA. On the 6th January 2001 the contract was reassigned with Arriva London North which ended the sub contract. On the 27th September 2003 the route frequency had a dramatic increase to Monday to Saturday 14LFDD, Sunday 13LFDD. On the 15th January 2005 the 168 was extended from The Elephant and Castle to The Old Kent Road. The current PVR is Monday to Friday 16VLW, Saturday 15VLW and Sunday 10VLW you still get the odd VLA type running on the 168. The average journey time is between 35 and 56 minutes. The frequency Monday to Saturday is every 8 minutes, Sunday and evenings every 12 minutes.
Last Updated 21st February 2007