is a
Transport For London contracted bus route in
London ,
United Kingdom . The service is currently contracted to
Travel London .
The London tendering process has had its ups and downs, but the 188 is said to have one of the most interesting histories of any route in the tendering process. The route has not been changed too much, having survived a proposal to cut it back to
Elephant & Castle . Having been extended from
Greenwich to
North Greenwich in
1999 , it seemed that the
Jubilee Line would cut off the only direct bus link between
Central London and
The Dome , but fortunately this was not to be. Only a small section was lost, with the central terminal revised from
Euston to
Russell Square ; this was due to lack of stand space when the 59, the intended replacement for the final section of the 188, was introduced.
For many years, the route had been operated by
Camberwell Garage , latterly using then-new
Leyland Titans .
Around
1982 , a
New Cross allocation was introduced, initially using a mixture of Titans and
DMS-class Fleetlines .
In the mid-1980s the 188 was designated as a 'tourist' route, because it connected central London with
Tower Bridge and
Greenwich , and buses were fitted with yellow-on-blue blinds, and a few Titans got yellow waistbands. By the time of the first tendering of the 188, New Cross had the route to itself, using just Titans.
The first tender for the 188 was in
1988 , and the contract was awarded to , the Maidstone borough operator which was starting up a London operation, from November that year. Along with
London Buses Route 24 awarded to
Grey Green two weeks earlier, this was one of the first central London routes to pass to the private sector. Initially hired
Ipswich Atlantean s and
Nottingham Fleetline s were used, until the
Alexander -bodied
Volvo Citybus es that had been ordered were delivered. Boro'line operated from
Crayford , the base used for its other LT routes, although there were plans for a new base in the
North Greenwich area for the
108 and 188.
In November
1990 , Boro'line surrendered the route, which consequently passed to
Selkent , part of
London Buses at that time. L-class
Leyland Olympian s from
Plumstead were used, while the Citybuses moved to the 272, another Boro'line route.
In November
1993 , the route was tendered again, and awarded this time to , which used second hand Titans from
Walworth Garage . Soon after, London & Country was purchased by '''British Bus''', which also owned '''Kentish Bus''', which in turn had in
1992 purchased the remaining London operations of Boro'line.
In
1995 British Bus re-organised its operations in
London and the surrounding area, and the London operations of London & Country were transferred to a new unit called which was controlled by '''Kentish Bus'''. The elderly Titans on the 188 were disposed of to '''Clydeside 2000''' in
Glasgow (now
Arriva Scotland West ) and were replaced by the
Volvo Citybus es that were used before, transferred in from Kentish Bus.
British Bus was itself purchased by the
Cowie Group , which in
1997 rationalised the London operations, leading to the run-down of the Londonlinks operation. The 188 transferred to
Cowie South London at Norwood garage that August, together with the 176 and 36 East Lancs bodied Volvo Citybuses. The rest went back to Kentish Bus, 11 of them being put on the 78, initially at
Ash Grove . When that operation was wound up, these 11 moved with the 78 to fellow Cowie subsidiary at Stamford Hill, joining that firm's large fleet of similar vehicles. The other three (102/111/114) were moved back to Kent.
Subsequent reshuffling in June
1998 took the Monday-Saturday 188 allocation to
Arriva London North East , the former Grey-Green, Cowie having by now re-styled itself as Arriva. Here, it was re-united with the early Volvo Citybuses again.
The Sunday allocation soon followed suit, and the route was converted to
DLA Operation to meet
TfL 's requirement for low-floor vehicles to be used on services to the Dome, to which the 188 had been extended. Later, Stamford Hill garage was closed, with its routes, including the 188, and vehicles passing to Arriva London North at the expanded Tottenham garage from March
2000 .
The route was re-tendered again in 2000, in the more normal run of things, and the award went to
London Central that December. However, lack of space at its garages has resulted in sister company
London General taking responsibility for the route from the outset, from
Stockwell Garage , where it conveniently took the place of route 295 which had just been lost. The allocation was moved around a few times in order to suit staffing requirements, which is quite common with this operator, and London Central did indeed get it back with a Camberwell allocation appearing later in the contract, although it reverted to all Stockwell operation from October
2004 .
Re-tendering in 2005 resulted, as before, in the route being lost, and this time the successful bidder was
National Express 's
Travel London operation. Travel London run this route from the ex-London Transport Walworth garage (the same place LondonLinks ran the route from).
TfL spent a considerable sum bringing it up to standard and handed it over to
Travel London (having laid dormant for nearly 10 years). However, Travel London had no routes to operate from it.. They have now won a number of routes, mainly at the expense of
London Central /
London General , the 188, 381, and P13 being the latest.
From Saturday, July 28 2007, the 188 route between central London and North Greenwich was scheduled to run for 24 hours a day with a half-hourly service running throughout the night, seven days a week, passing through Bermondsey, Canada Water and Greenwich before terminating next to the O2 arena. The timetabling had been amended in order to meet the needs of visitors to the 02 where concerts continued until after the tube had closed. The amended timetable came just days before Prince began his London tour at the O2 arena on Wednesday 1 August which (given his late performances) would have otherwise rendered commuters no option to travel via the bus.
Eastbound services were ammended to finish at 1am and westbound ones at 1.30am, except on nights where after-show parties are held at the IndigO2 venue. On those evenings, services finish at 4am and 4.30am respectively.
John Barry, head of network development for London buses, said: "The new 24-hour service on route 188 is another accessible transport connection for late-night travellers in the capital. London's night bus network has expanded dramatically in recent years with passenger numbers more than doubling since 2000.
