London Buses route 20 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Walthamstow Central and Debden, it is operated by Stagecoach London.
History
Route 20 commenced operating on 7 September 1968 between Walthamstow Central Station and Loughton Station via Leyton - Whipps Cross - Woodford - Woodford Wells. The route was introduced as a replacement for route 38A between Loughton and Leyton. The route was initially operated by London Transport from their Loughton (L) garage using AEC Regent III RTS.
On 14 June 1969, the route was converted to One Person Operation using AEC Merlins and the route was extended from Loughton to Epping via former route 20B.
On 24 April 1976, the route was converted back to double deck operation using Daimler Fleetlines.
On 9 October 1976, the route was re-routed at Loughton via Chester Road to Debden Broadway.
On 28 January 1982, the Daimler Fleetlines were replaced by Leyland Titans.
On 4 September 1982, the route was converted to single-deck operation using Leyland Nationals.
On 24 May 1986, the route passed to Eastern National operated from their Walthamstow (EN) garage using Leyland Nationals and Bristol VRs. The loop working between Golding's Hill and Debden Station was withdrawn at the same time.
On 7 March 1992, the route passed to Grey-Green operating from their Barking (DX) garage using East Lancashire bodied Volvo B10Ms.
In 1997, the route was converted to low floor operation using Alexander ALX200 bodied Dennis Dart SLFs.
On 1 June 1998, school journeys operated by Capital Citybus from their Northumberland Park (NP) and Hackney (H) garages were introduced.
On 23 April 2001, the Hackney (H) allocation was withdrawn.
On 9 March 2002, the school journeys were transferred to Arriva London operating from Barking (DX) garage.
On 26 April 2003, the route was converted back to double deck operation using Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B7TLs.
On 29 January 2007, the terminal at Debden was changed to Vere Road instead of Burton Road.
On 24 March 2007, the route was retained by Arriva London and the allocation was transferred to Edmonton (EC) garage. At the same time, The Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B7TLs were replaced by Alexander ALX400 bodied DAF DB250LFs.
On 24 March 2012, the route passed to Blue Triangle operating from their Rainham (BE) garage with brand new Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TLs introduced.
On 22 June 2013, the operation was transferred to London General operating from their Northumberland Park (NP) garage.
In January 2019, the Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TLs were replaced by existing Alexander Dennis Enviro400s.
On 23 March 2019, the route passed to CT Plus operating from their Walthamstow Avenue (AW) garage using brand new Enviro400H City bodied Alexander Dennis E40Hs and existing Alexander Dennis Enviro400s (on loan from Stagecoach London).
On 15 June 2019, the route was converted to full Enviro400H City bodied Alexander Dennis E40H operation.
From 24 June 2020 until 8 July 2020, an existing Enviro400 EV City bodied BYD DD demonstrator was trialled on the route.
On 27 August 2022, the route was included in the sale of the HCT Group to Stagecoach London.
On 15 October 2022, the vehicles were renumbered to Stagecoach London fleet numbers.
On 5 February 2024, a new variant of the route named 20U was temporarily introduced due to a shortage of trains on the Central Line operating as a weekday peak-hours only service. It was initially operated by Arriva London from their Palmers Green (AD) garage using existing Wright StreetDecks.
On 12 February 2024, the route variant 20U passed to Abellio London operating from their Battersea (QB) garage using brand new and existing Wright GB Kite Electroliner EVs.
On 2 March 2024, Abellio London was rebranded to Transport UK London Bus.
On 11 March 2024, existing Enviro 200 MMC bodied Alexander Dennis E20Ds were introduced alongside the existing Wright GB Kite Electroliner EVs.
On 23 March 2024, the regular route 20 variant was retained by Stagecoach London using existing Enviro 400H City bodied Alexander Dennis E40Hs.
The 20U service will be withdrawn from TBC.
Current Route
Route 20 operates via these primary locations:
- Walthamstow Central Bus Station
- Leyton
- Whipps Cross
- Woodford Green
- Loughton Station
- Burton Road for Debden Station
Previous route 20s in London
The route number 20 had been used at least seven times prior to its current use.
- From 1908 - 1914 for a Hammersmith (later Turnham Green) - West Norwood route.
- In 1919 for a Ladbroke Grove-Pimlico/Ebury Bridge Route.
- From 1921 - 1922 for a Camden Town - Moorgate route.
- From 1922 - by 1924 for a Moorgate (later Liverpool Street) - Elephant and Castle route.
- From 1 December 1924 - 3 October 1934 for a Wood Green (later Turnpike Lane) - Shooters Hill (later Welling) route.
- From 3 October 1934 - 3 December 1939 for a Kingston - Guildford route.
- From 30 June 1948 - 31 December 1966 for a Leytonstone - Epping route.