Route 240 

Introduction to the 240

The 240 is a very quaint little route running through the quieter suburbs of North West London, it also happens to be Londons oldest, least changed route, having not had a single routing change since introduction in 1934.

Routing

The 240 takes the following routing:

Edgware Station

Hale Lane

Mill Hill Broadway Station

The Ridgeway (Also referred to as Mill Hill Village)

Mill Hill East Station

Holders Hill

Hendon Brent Street

Golders Green Station

Brief History

Whilst the routing for this route has always remained the same, it was initially split into 2 sections due to a low bridge at Mill Hill Broadway. The split saw the Mill Hill Broadway to Golders Green section of the route use double deck AEC Regent III RTs, whereas the Edgware to Mill Hill Broadway part used single deck Leyland Tiger TDs. The latter section was initially numbered the 240a and was extended via Page Street & Copthall Sports Centre to Mill Hill East Station, with this section later becoming part of the 221. The 240a is notable for being the only London Buses route to have accepted single London Underground tickets. It was by 1966 that the two sections of the 240 were combined into one, the 240a only remaining on Sundays until 1979 when a Sunday service was introduced on the 221. In 1971 the route went from double decks down to single deck AEC Swifts. This lasted 9 years until 1980 when it was converted back to double deck operation, this time with MCW Metrobuses. In 1989 London Buses broke into several different divisions, the 240 was based at Edgware (EW) garage at the time and fell into the Metroline division. Since privatisation the 240 has remained at Metroline from Edgware (EW) garage, having kept its Ms up until 2003 when they were replaced by new Volvo B7TL/Plaxton President VPL class buses. In 2012 some 4 year old ADL E40D/Enviro TE class buses were introduced to the route and remain the allocation to the present day, despite its current ‘on paper’ allocation of Volvo B9TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 VW class buses, which instead work route 107, with the 240 remaining primarily TE allocated in practice. The route has been retained on 4 separate occasions by Metroline since 1989, and has yet to be lost. Its last contract renewal was in April 2019.

Garage History

1934-1937:

In its beginnings the 240 was primarily run by Edgware (EW) depot, with a Monday to Friday allocation of 4 buses running from here. However there was also a 2 bus allocation from Cricklewood (W) depot on weekdays too. On Saturdays the Edgware (EW) allocation remained at 3 buses, however the Cricklewood (W) allocation would be increased to 3, with Chalk Farm (CF) garage also pitching in 4 buses on Saturdays. On Sundays Cricklewood (W) would provide 3 buses, like on Saturdays, however Holloway Road (J) garage would run the remainder of the Sunday allocation, which was a further 3 buses.

1937-1939

By 1937 the 240 had lost its Saturday Chalk Farm (CF) allocation of 4 buses, with Cricklewood (W) now having the main part of the Monday to Friday allocation now, with 8 buses. Edgware (EW) also still maintained a Monday to Friday allocation of 4 buses. Similarly Holloway Road (J) garage still kept its 3 bus allocation on Sundays.

1939

For a brief spell in summer and autumn 1939 Cricklewood (W) lost the 240 allocation, which was instead run in bulk by Edgware (EW), who had an allocation of 8 buses, and had an allocation of 4 now run by Hendon (AE) garage. This also saw Holloway Road (J) garage now gain a Saturday allocation of 4, to go with its existing allocation on Sundays. Hendon (AE) depot also now had a single bus allocation on Sundays.

1939-1951

For another brief spell the reins of the route were fully handed back to Cricklewood (W), with the full allocation of 13 now run from there between December 1939 and November 1940 when a 6 bus allocation was handed back to Edgware (EW), meaning the route is once again split between the 2 garages.

1951-1966

The 240 is once again now solely operated by Cricklewood (W) garage, all be it this time for a longer spell of 9 years. This lasted until 1959 when a Sunday allocation of 6 was regained by Hendon (AE) garage. This was joined by a Saturday allocation of 5 in 1965.

1966-1980

In 1966 a weekday allocation from Edgware (EW) depot was regained, with the allocation now being split with 4 buses from Edgware (EW) and 6 from Cricklewood (W) on a Monday to Friday basis. The Saturday allocation was also now split between Edgware (EW) and Hendon (AE), with both having an allocation of 3. The Sunday allocation remained to solely be operated by Hendon (AE). In 1980 the route also converted to single deck buses from double decks.

1980-1982

The service was once again made double deck, gaining MCW Metrobus M class buses. At the same time the Hendon (AE) allocation was dropped, now solely being run from Edgware (EW) and Cricklewood (W).

1982-Present

Since 1982 the route has been fully operated from Edgware (EW) garage, with a brief year spell in 1985/1986 of a 2 bus Hendon (AE) allocation on Sundays. Other than allocation not much has changed with the route ever since its re-decking in 1980.

Present Day:

The present day 240 is a route that brings in roughly 2 Million passengers (1,994,840 as of 2019 usage reports) and almost solely uses 2009 LK59 plate ADL E40D/Enviro 400 TEs, with odd strays from 2011 LK61 plate ADL E40H/Enviro 400s. Here are the fleet numbers of these batches:

TE977/979/981/983-991 & TEH1217-1221/1223-1227/1229-1238

Photos:

TE981 LK59DZE

TE986 LK59DZL

TE983 LK59DZG