London Buses route 343

343
Go-Ahead London Alexander Dennis Enviro400H MMC near Tower Gateway station
Overview
OperatorGo-Ahead London
GarageNew Cross
PredecessorsRoute P3
Night-timeN343
Route
StartNew Cross Gate
ViaBrockley
Peckham
Elephant & Castle
London Bridge
City Hall
EndAldgate bus station

London Buses route 343 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between New Cross Gate and Aldgate bus station, it is operated by Go-Ahead London.

History

London Central Plaxton President bodied Volvo B7TL on route 343 in January 2004

When re-tendered, the route passed to Travel London's Walworth garage on 21 September 2005 with Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B7TLs introduced.[1][2]

Route 343 was included in the May 2009 sale of Travel London to Abellio London.[3][4] Abellio London successfully tendered to retain the route with a new contract commencing on 5 May 2011.[5]

In June 2010, the route was revealed to be amongst the ten worst performing in London.[6] Two additional morning peak journeys were introduced on 12 June 2010 with the intention of solving the problems; performance improved as a result, although the route continued to receive complaints.[7]

A proposal to increase the frequency of the route was announced by Transport for London in November 2010.[8]

At 08:22 on 17 March 2012, a bus on route 343 caught fire on Pepys Road, New Cross. The fire was put out by 09:20 and there were no injuries.[9]

On 25 June 2019, the route received an extension from City Hall to Aldgate bus station to replace part of the now withdrawn route RV1.[10][11]

Current route

Route 343 operates via these primary locations:[12]

References

  1. ^ Bus tender results Route 343/N343 Transport for London 9 March 2005
  2. ^ Aldridge, John (May 2005). "Another change as NatEx gains the 188". Buses (602). Ian Allan Publishing: 20.
  3. ^ National Express Group plc agreement to sell Travel London Archived 2 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine National Express 21 May 2009
  4. ^ NedRailways acquisition reinforces long term commitment to UK transport market Archived 18 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine NedRailways 9 June 2009
  5. ^ Bus tender results Route 343/N343 Transport for London 2 June 2010
  6. ^ 262 London's worst performing bus route - top 10 revealed Archived 17 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine London Daily News 11 June 2010
  7. ^ Val Shawcross: TfL insist 343 improving as passengers still left waiting Archived 29 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ C10 retains its place in league table of most complained about bus routes in London London-se1 26 November 2010
  9. ^ "Passengers escape double decker bus fire". BBC News. 17 March 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  10. ^ 343 Bus Route Transport For London 25 June 2019
  11. ^ Munro, Vicky (16 April 2019). "The London bus routes TfL has decided to scrap". MyLondon. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  12. ^ "Route 343 Map". Transport for London. Retrieved 4 January 2023.