The 521 Bus Route Withdrawal

Operation of the 521 bus route began on the 18th of July 1992.

The 521 bus was once a very busy route during rush-hour which primarily serviced workers at Holborn and St. Pauls.

The frequent arrivals of the 521 not only allowed it to accommodate for its small single decker space, but also to keep up with high demand during rush-hour.

However, due to the change in the amount of work-related journeys made in the city of London involving the 521 bus, an overall of 3 million journeys were lost from the years 2011/2012 to the years 2021/2022.

As a result, the 521 bus route was withdrawn entirely after the 29th April 2023 due to its lack of utility in central London.

This meant that there would be no buses which used the Strand Underpass to bypass Aldwych.

Complete Withdrawal

Whilst the 521 bus route has been withdrawn entirely, its service hasn’t been replaced by a singular bus.

Instead it has been replaced with a re-route of the 59 bus route, which had been withdrawn from Holborn to Euston, and instead now operates between Streatham Hill and St. Bartholomew's Hospital via Brixton, Lambeth North, Waterloo, Aldwych, Holborn and St. Paul’s.

Furthermore, on the 1st February 2025 a withdrawal of the 59 bus route between Brixton and Streatham Hill will take place due to the reroute of the 45 bus route from Clapham Park to Morden.

Whereby, the 59 bus route will terminate at Clapham Park.

This will be done to compromise for the complete withdrawal of the 118 bus route, which currently has a short route from Brixton to Morden.

As as a result of this, less bus changes from Brixton to Morden will be facilitated, forming a direct route between Morden and Elephant & Castle.

Additionally, to compensate for the bus disconnection between Holborn and London Bridge, the 133 bus route no longer operates between London Bridge and Liverpool Street and has been re-routed to Holborn via Bank, St. Pauls and Holborn Circus.

This eliminates the need to change buses at London Bridge for journeys to the West End, two busy destinations by which there are few underground connections between, making bus fares shorter.