London Bus Route 156 - Vauxhall - Battersea Park - Clapham Junction - Wandsworth - Southfields - Wimbledon. (7 Miles)
Operated By
Abellio London Garage: Battersea QB
Past Timetables: Sep 2002 To View The Current Timetable
Click Here History: The 156 began on the 23rd April 1983, the route served between Morden Station and Clapham Junction (Grant Road), the route can into action as parts of the
77A and
M1 were withdrawn. The 156 was operated at Merton Garage (AL) and it was operated by DMS. The PVR was Monday to Saturday 12DMS and Sunday 6DMS. In October 1984 after 7:45pm the 156 terminated at Northcote instead of Grant Road, the PVR also changed in this year Monday to Friday 9DMS, Saturday 11DMS and Sunday stayed the same at 6DMS.
By August 1985, the 156 was extended from Clapham Junction to Vauxhall (Monday- Friday Peaks only). The Monday to Friday PVR was increased to 18DMS, Saturday and Sunday was unchanged. 2 years later in July 1987, the Monday to Saturday service between Rayners Park to Morden was withdrawn and replaced by a new
route 163. The route was Monday to Saturday Rayners Park to Clapham Junction. Monday to Friday Peaks Rayners Park to Vauxhall Station. Sunday journeys ran between Morden to Clapham Junction. Monday to Saturday allocation was transferred to Stockwell Garage (SW). The PVR changed again, Monday to Friday 16DMS, other days were not changed.
2 years on, AL Sunday service was transferred to SW so the 156 was operated daily from Stockwell Garage, the PVR for Monday to Friday was decreased by 1 bus to make it 15DMS. By March 1991 the Sunday operation at AL was transferred back, but the Monday to Friday service was still at SW, they also started to introduce Metrobuses on the 156. The PVR was currently Monday to Friday 11DMS/M, Saturday 10DMS/M and Sunday 6DMS/M. 2 months later in May the allocation was back at AL full time, and was operated by DR’s. It was withdrawn between Clapham Junction and Vauxhall, also between Wimbledon and Morden. So the 156 only operated from Clapham Junction to Wimbledon. The PVR was now Monday to Saturday 9DR and Sunday 7DR.
In 1994 AL allocated a Metrobus to the 156 for school journeys, also MRL’s started appearing on the 156 with the DR’s still operating. By 1996 the Metrobus was still going on the 156 but the DR buses were withdrawn so it was only operated by MRL’s.
When late 1997 came the contract was reassigned to Limebourne, it was being operated by Battersea Garage QB and the double decker school journey was being operated by Nostalgia Bus. The PVR was now Monday to Saturday 8SD, and Sunday 5SD, also 1 double decker Monday to Friday. In April 1999 the school journey double decker was transferred to Limebourne. Later on in 2001 Limebourne were taken over by Connex this was still operated at QB and a lot of the buses from Limebourne were now with Connex. The PVR was now 8DCL Monday to Saturday, Sunday 6DCL. A year later Connex converted the 156 to Double Deck which was being operated by Trident Alexander’s (TA’s). The PVR was now increased 13TA Monday to Friday, Saturday 12TA and Sunday 10TA, from the end of 2002 the route was extended from Clapham Junction to Vauxhall.
During 2004 Travel London took over Connex and they used the same garage and buses (TA’s). The PVR is currently 13TA Monday to Friday, 12TA Saturday and 8TA Sunday’s. The average journey time is between 35 and 65 minutes. The frequency for Monday to Saturday is every 10 minutes, Sunday and evenings are between every 15-20 minutes.
