London Buses route 16

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16
London Buses

Management
Operated by	Metroline
Garage	Cricklewood
Vehicle	Dennis Trident 2/Alexander ALX400 Dennis Trident 2/Plaxton President
PVR †	26
Route
Start	Cricklewood
Via	Kilburn Marble Arch Hyde Park Corner
End	Victoria
Length	6 miles (9 km)
Service
Level	Daily
Frequency	About every 6 minutes
Journey time	33-55 minutes
Day	5:00am until midnight
Night	Night bus N16
Adult single fares
Oyster	90p
Cash	£2.00
† peak vehicle requirement Transport for London • Performance
London Transport Portal

London Buses route 16 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to Metroline.

1 History
2 Current route
- 2.1 Route departing Cricklewood
- 2.2 Route departing Victoria
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] History

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (February 2008)

Metroline are great fans of cascading vehicles around from one route to another - usually with good reason, varying from passenger loadings and vehicle layouts to economy in engineering. One route that has had more than its share of cascades is the 16, which seemed for a time to be getting new vehicles on an annual basis each summer, though the allocation does now appear to have settled down.

First to come were Volvo Olympians (AVs), as an upgrade from MCW Metrobuses, in 1998. AV 23-38 later moved to the 260 and were replaced by an equal number of new Tridents. Those were the first of what was destined to be a short run of success with Metroline for Alexander, as opposed to the Plaxton President which had been specified before (though by MTL, before takeover by Metroline) and subsequently became standard.

But in 2000 those were in turn cascaded, and replaced by the last Alexander bodied buses ordered by Metroline, TAL 118-134. This batch of TALs was thus unique. The TAs moved to route 32, but have subsequently drifted back partly to cover an increase in service on the 16. The 16 also suffered the indignity of a large number of Dennis Dart single deckers in early 2003, to free up double deckers for the much needed conversion of routes 139 and 189 to double deck. However, full double-deck operation was re-achieved by 17 February 2003, when the Mayor's congestion charge began.