London Buses route 2 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Norwood bus garage and Marylebone station, it is operated by Arriva London.

History

Route 2 was the last West End bus route that was operated by step-entrance buses other than AEC Routemasters. Ironically, it was also the first London bus route to use the Routemaster. In the 1950s, the route was run using AEC Regent IIIs. On 8 February 1956, the first prototype AEC Routemaster ran on route 2 between Golders Green and Crystal Palace and after undergoing modifications the following year, it passed to route 260. On 29 January 1994, route 2 was converted to one man operation with the AEC Routemasters replaced by Leyland Olympians and MCW Metrobuses. In 2003, brand new Alexander ALX400 bodied Volvo B7TLs were introduced. Conversion to the type took place a few months before the contract was renewed. In 2015, the route received a part allocation of Enviro400s from route 341. Some of its longer 10.6 metre Volvo B7TL's were transferred to Edmonton bus garage for use on route 123. It is operated out of Norwood bus garage with a peak vehicle requirement of 21 buses. In 2021, the peak frequency of the service was reduced from eight buses per hour to seven.

Current route

Route 2 operates via these primary locations: