London Buses route 343

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.

343
Go-Ahead London Alexander Dennis Enviro400H MMC near Tower Gateway station
Overview
Operator	Go-Ahead London
Garage	New Cross
Predecessors	Route P3
Night-time	N343
Route
Start	New Cross Gate
Via	Brockley Peckham Elephant & Castle London Bridge City Hall
End	Aldgate bus station

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On 25 June 2019, the route received an extension from City Hall to Aldgate bus station to replace part of the now withdrawn route RV1.^[10][11]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

• New Cross Gate Jerningham Road
• Brockley
• Peckham Rye station
• Elephant & Castle station
• Borough station
• London Bridge station
• St Thomas Street for Guy's Hospital
• City Hall Queen Elizabeth Street
• Tower Gateway station
• Aldgate bus station

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^[usurped]
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.

External links

• Media related to London Buses route 343 at Wikimedia Commons