London Buses route 450 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between West Croydon and Lower Sydenham, it is operated by Metrobus.
History
Route 450 commenced operation on 9 October 1993 between Purley Old Lodge Lane and Crystal Palace Parade via Purley Cross - Pampisford Road - Haling Park Road - Warham Road - South End - Park Lane - Wellesley Road - West Croydon - Whitehorse Road - Windmill Road - Queen's Road - Bensham Lane - Brigstock Road - Parchmore Road - Beulah Road - Beulah Crescent - Osborne Road - Northwood Road - Spa Hill - Harold Road - Chevening Road - Hermitage Road - Central Hill - Westow Hill as a Monday to Saturday service. The route was initially operated by South London Buses from Thornton Heath (TH) garage using MCW Metroriders. The route was introduced to replace the withdrawn section of route 412 between Old Lodge Lane and Purley Centre.
On 28 September 1996, the route was retained by Cowie South London. At the same time, the route was withdrawn between Purley and West Croydon but extended from Crystal Palace to Lower Sydenham and the MCW Metroriders were replaced by Plaxton Pointer bodied Dennis Darts.
On 29 September 2001, the route was retained by Arriva London using 8.8m Plaxton Pointer 2 bodied Dennis Dart SLFs and a Sunday service was introduced.
On 30 September 2006, the route was retained by Arriva London using 9.3m Plaxton Pointer 2 bodied Dennis Dart SLFs.
On 10 March 2007, the allocation was transferred from Thornton Heath (TH) to Beddington (CN) garages.
On 1 October 2011, the route was retained by Arriva London and the allocation was transferred back to Thornton Heath (TH) garage.
On 27 August 2016, the allocation was transferred to Norwood (N) garage and the Plaxton Pointer 2 bodied Dennis Dart SLFs were replaced by Wright Cadet bodied DAF SB120s.
On 23 September 2016, the Wright Cadet bodied DAF SB120s were replaced by brand new Wright StreetLites.
On 1 October 2016, the route was retained by Arriva London. At the same time, the PVR increased to 19 from 14.
On 30 September 2023, the route passed to Metrobus from their Croydon (C) garage using brand new Enviro200 MMC EV bodied BYD D8URs. At the same time the PVR decreased from 19 to 15.
On 4 February 2024, brand new 10.2m Enviro200 MMC EV bodied BYD D8URs were temporarily introduced alongside the existing 9.7m versions.
The route will convert back to a full 9.7m Enviro200 MMC EV bodied BYD D8UR operation from TBC.
Current Route
Route 450 operates via these primary locations:
- West Croydon Bus Station (for West Croydon Tramlink & West Croydon Station)
- Thornton Heath Station
- Beulah Hill
- Upper Norwood
- Crystal Palace Bus Station
- Dulwich Wood Park
- Kingswood Drive / College Road (for Sydenham Hill Station)
- Sydenham Station
- Lower Sydenham Sainsbury's