SW11simon
388. The history of route 388
Route 388 was one of the new routes proposed when the congestion charge was being introduced in the early 2000's. It was proposed that it would run from South Hackney to Mansion House to relieve route 8 and demand on services along Hackney Road. It was also adding a bus service to Victoria Park Road, which did not previously have one.
It was introduced on 25th January 2003 running from Hackney Wick to Mansion House. CT Plus won the contract and bought a batch of East Lancs Myllennium bodied Dennis Tridents to operate the service. It was extended to Blackfriars Station in 2004, although the peak vehicle requirement remained unchanged at 11 buses.
In August 2008 it was further extended to Temple Station via Victoria Embankment. From Temple the buses ran out of service to and from Northumberland Avenue to stand and these stand journeys were livened up three months later. The peak vehicle requirement rose to 13 buses. In March 2012 it was withdrawn from that extension and the southern terminus returned to Blackfriars - I believe this came with a frequency increase as the vehicle requirement was not changed.
The next change was in December 2013. After the Olympics the Queen Elizabeth Park in Stratford was made a public space and new roads, initially built in the Olympic Park, became public. Route 388 was extended along these from Hackney Wick to terminate at Stratford City Bus Station.
Most of those original Tridents are still in service but they were topped up with some Scania N230UD Omnicities in early 2010. Fleet number SD5 is seen here in Waterden Road in the former Olympic Park. Those original Tridents (and maybe the Scanias) are not likely to be around for too much longer as the contract on the route runs out in January and an announcement is awaited. I would suggest it may be a candidate for some more ADL E400H Cities if CT Plus retain it, but we will see.
388. The history of route 388
Route 388 was one of the new routes proposed when the congestion charge was being introduced in the early 2000's. It was proposed that it would run from South Hackney to Mansion House to relieve route 8 and demand on services along Hackney Road. It was also adding a bus service to Victoria Park Road, which did not previously have one.
It was introduced on 25th January 2003 running from Hackney Wick to Mansion House. CT Plus won the contract and bought a batch of East Lancs Myllennium bodied Dennis Tridents to operate the service. It was extended to Blackfriars Station in 2004, although the peak vehicle requirement remained unchanged at 11 buses.
In August 2008 it was further extended to Temple Station via Victoria Embankment. From Temple the buses ran out of service to and from Northumberland Avenue to stand and these stand journeys were livened up three months later. The peak vehicle requirement rose to 13 buses. In March 2012 it was withdrawn from that extension and the southern terminus returned to Blackfriars - I believe this came with a frequency increase as the vehicle requirement was not changed.
The next change was in December 2013. After the Olympics the Queen Elizabeth Park in Stratford was made a public space and new roads, initially built in the Olympic Park, became public. Route 388 was extended along these from Hackney Wick to terminate at Stratford City Bus Station.
Most of those original Tridents are still in service but they were topped up with some Scania N230UD Omnicities in early 2010. Fleet number SD5 is seen here in Waterden Road in the former Olympic Park. Those original Tridents (and maybe the Scanias) are not likely to be around for too much longer as the contract on the route runs out in January and an announcement is awaited. I would suggest it may be a candidate for some more ADL E400H Cities if CT Plus retain it, but we will see.