is a
Transport For London contracted bus route in
London ,
United Kingdom . The service is currently contracted to
Travel London .
The 129 began on the 3 June 2006. It's highly uncommon nowadays to get a completely new route starting, much less one that doesn't serve any new bus territory. The 129 however does just that, running just from Greenwich to North Greenwich. This partly duplicates
Route 188 which already does the same (and, it might be added, is very lightly used), but differs in operating via the
Greenwich Millennium Village . Currently 129, and recently re-routed
Route 108 , are the only routes serving the Millennium Village that don't head off in an easterly direction, towards
Woolwich .
There is reasonably frequent at every 12 minutes Monday to Saturday daytimes, 20 evenings and Sundays, but still only needs 4 buses. All stand time is taken at the North Greenwich end. The contract was awarded to Travel London, starting 3 June 2006, which operates it from the reopened Walworth garage.
After speculation that the buses off
Route 315 were going to be used, new vehicles have arrived after all, in the shape of standard Dart/Pointers in Travel London red. They have been numbered in the former
Tellings-Golden Miller numeric sequence, although with the addition of
Connex style class codes.
There is actually an intention to extend the route, which will make it a bit more substantial. This will take in the Convoys Wharf redevelopment (not yet started) and some currently unserved roads in the south Bermondsey area, but is not expected to start until 2008 at least.
The route number 129 had been used once prior to its current use.
