Route 5

## History

Route 5 commenced operation on 11 November 1959 in stage 4 of London Transport's "buses for trolleybuses" conversion scheme. It was a direct replacement for trolleybus routes 567 and 665 and ran between Bloomsbury (Red Lion Square) and Barking Garage via Clerkenwell, Aldgate, and Canning Town. There was also a supplementary Monday to Friday route 5A between Clerkenwell Green and West India Dock. London's Docks were still in use at this time, making routes along the Commercial Road very busy. The combined allocation of buses to the 5 and 5A on Mondays to Fridays was 36 buses.

This was the ninth incarnation of route number 5 as a motorbus route in London. It was, along with Routes 5A, 48 and 238, also the first trolleybus replacement route, on which brand new production Routemasters were used.

The 1960s was a very turbulent period for London buses, and by 1966 the 5 groups of routes had grown to encompass routes 5, 5A, 5B, and 5C. Serving an area from Bloomsbury in the west, West India Dock, Canning Town to Becontree Heath in the east. In 1968 in connection with the opening of the Victoria Line, a large scale re-organisation of London's buses was implemented, the first stage of which occurred on 7 September 1968. The 5A, 5B, and 5C all disappeared at this time, leaving only route 5 surviving, although severely reduced, now only running between Bloomsbury and East Ham. On 17 April 1971, the 5 was converted to one-person operation. This event foreshadowed a decade of decline for the route, which at its nadir only needed 14 vehicles to cover the much-shortened route.

1981 saw the beginning of the revival of the 5. On 31 January 1981, It was extended to Waterloo in replacement for the 55. From 25 April of the same year, it was converted back to Routemaster crew operation, as well as being extended eastwards again to Becontree Heath, replacing this section of route 23 which was cut back to East Ham. Routemaster operation only lasted for four years, and in 1985 one-person operated vehicles were back on the 5.

From 1989, the retreat away from the western end of the route began. As a partial replacement, a Red Arrow route 505 was introduced.

However, as from 21 April 1990, the section west of Canning Town was later deemed redundant, except on Sunday mornings when it continued to run as far as Old Street in order to serve the famous Shoreditch Market. A partial replacement for the link to the north of the city was maintained by the new Docklands route D3 (East Ham - Old Street), but only on Mondays to Saturdays except evenings. The Sunday 5 extension no longer exists now, and the D3 runs between Crossharbour and London Chest Hospital.

On 22 August 1998, the route was retained by Stagecoach East London.

On 1 May 1999, the route was converted to low floor operation using Alexander ALX400 bodied Dennis Tridents.

On 30 August 2003, the route was retained by Stagecoach London.

On 25 March 2006, the route was extended from Becontree Heath to Romford Market via withdrawn Route 87. The Romford (NS) allocation was introduced at the same time.

On 18 July 2009, the Romford (NS) allocation was transferred to Barking (BK) garage.

On 28 August 2010, the route was again retained by East London.

On 3 March 2012, the West Ham (WH) allocation was transferred back to Bow (BW) garage and the Alexander ALX400 bodied Dennis Tridents were replaced by Alexander Dennis Enviro 400Hs.

On 26 August 2017, the route passed to Blue Triangle operating from their River Road (RR) garage using existing Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TLs, and brand new Enviro 400 MMC bodied Alexander Dennis E40Hs. The route was rerouted in Romford via Queen's Hospital instead of direct via South Street.

On 17 July 2021, part of the allocation was transferred to Henley Road (DS) garage.

In May 2022, existing New Routemasters were introduced to replace the Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TLs.

## Current Route

Route 5 operates via these primary locations:

* Romford Market *St Edward's Way*
* Romford Station
* Queen's Hospital
* Becontree Heath
* Barking Station
* East Ham
* Plaistow
* Canning Town *Bus Station*