Hackney Wick - History of Bus Services

History of Bus Services

Before the reopening of the railway station, good bus services were vital for the functioning of Hackney Wick as a place of work or of residence. A bus station existed in Eastway, now the bus park, and several famous routes bore the name Hackney Wick as their destination through central London: the 6 from Kensal Rise and the 30 from Roehampton. The 6 route was instigated by the Vanguard Omnibus in 1906 from Kensal Green to Liverpool Street. London General gradually extended it eastwards to reach Hackney Wick by 1914. A peak hour 64 service, later numbered 26, was introduced in the 1920s to connect with Waterloo, later becoming the 6A. In the 1929 General map of London, the 30 route is shown connecting Putney Heath and Hackney Wick. Traffic congestion and privatisation caused the loss of most long-distance cross-city routes by the 1990s. The present 26 is a derivative of the 6A. In addition the circuitous single-deck 236 service, established in inter-war period between Leyton and Finsbury Park still travels to Finsbury Park as it did in the 1930s. The 208A was the first ever to travel along Carpenters Road (closed on 2 July 2007 for construction of the 2012 Summer Olympics), running as a single-deck route between Clapton Pond and Stratford from 1941. Many journeys terminated at Hackney Wick, serving the numerous factories there. In 1959 the 208A was converted to double deck, and renumbered 178, but a low bridge under the Great Eastern Railway necessitated the use of a special low-height London Transport vehicle through Hackney Wick, the RLH, which ran until April 1971. This bus also served the works of Lesney Products in Lee Conservancy Road. It was partly replaced by the single-deck S3 route which only ran initially as far west as Hackney Wick. This transient service was subsequently extended to Hackney Central and later Stoke Newington, to mutate into the 278 between Stoke Newington and Victoria and Albert Docks in 1982, via Carpenters Road. This service itself became the 276 in late 1984, serving variously Beckton and the Woolwich Ferry (including midibus operation) until settling on Newham Hospital as the terminus. The 208 service dating from 1933 connected Cadogan Terrace with Bow and Clapton Pond until 1970 when it was replaced by the present S2. The new N11 night bus was introduced in 1984 from Turnham Green and Trafalgar Square with its eastern terminus gradually reaching Hackney Wick. This service has also disappeared to be partly replaced by the N26 to Chingford, although a night bus still terminates at the Wick, the 236.