On Saturday (February 1), Transport for London (TfL) will be making significant changes to bus services in south London, including the withdrawal of route 118.
Instead, a revised route 45 will take over much of its route, running between Camberwell Green and Morden.
As part of these changes, route 45 will be extended from Brixton Hill to Morden, following the same path that route 118 previously covered.
However, it will no longer run between Elephant & Castle and Camberwell Green, or between Brixton Hill and Clapham Park.
The updated service will operate every 12 minutes during peak hours and throughout the daytime from Monday to Saturday, while in the evenings and on Sundays, buses will run every 15 minutes.
Route 59 will also be revised and will now operate between St Bartholomew’s Hospital and Clapham Park.
It will no longer serve the stretch between Brixton Hill and Streatham Hill at Telford Avenue.
Instead, it will follow the existing route of the 45 to Clapham Park. Despite these route alterations, the 59 will continue to run at the same frequency as before.
With route 118 being withdrawn, TfL has outlined alternative travel options for affected passengers.
Those travelling between Camberwell Green and Elephant & Castle can use routes 12, 35, 40, 68, 148, 171, 176, or 468.
Passengers needing to get between Brixton and Streatham Hill can take routes 45, 59, 109, 159, 250, or 333.
Journeys between Streatham Hill and Morden via Streatham Hill and Telford Avenue can be made using the restructured 45, while those travelling between Streatham Hill and Clapham Park can use the revised 59.
The decision to withdraw route 118 follows a public consultation that took place between September and October 2024.
TfL’s monitoring found that some sections of route 45, particularly between Brixton Hill and Streatham and between Camberwell and Elephant & Castle, had more buses running than necessary to meet passenger demand.
In response, TfL decided to restructure several routes to improve efficiency.
According to TfL, these changes are intended to better align bus services with passenger numbers, as demand for buses in inner London has declined in recent years.
In response to the objections on the changes, TfL said: “We continuously review and adapt the bus network to reflect changing customer needs.
“This includes proposing adjustments to existing bus routes, to ensure services can continue to operate efficiently in areas where our customers need them most.
“These proposals aimed to provide some new and improved local bus connections between Morden and Camberwell, including important trips to medical settings.
“Customer demand for buses has fallen in inner London in the last few years. For example, peak demand on routes serving Brixton Hill in 2023/24 was about 70 per cent of the level of demand in 2019/20.
“Reducing the frequency on bus routes where demand has fallen frees up resources to be spent elsewhere on the bus network where demand is increasing.
“We considered these proposals represent a better match of bus capacity with passenger demand, that will help encourage more use of public transport, while continuing to provide regular and reliable bus services to popular destinations in the area.”
