Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied
Volvo B7TL in June 2008
Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied
Volvo B9TL on
Waterloo Bridge in April 2014 In the early period of motor omnibus travel, before
World War I, number 68 was not in use as a route for the
London General Omnibus Company, even though higher numbers up to 93 were active in 1912, for example. The route was active at the start of
World War II, its usual peacetime lighting of a pale blue colour was removed because of the risk of aerial bombing, and the buses were
blacked-out. By 1952, after the last trams stopped running, the route ran from the
Earl of Eldon public house in
South Croydon to
Chalk Farm tube station in what is now
Camden. This was a long 15 mile journey via places such as
Thornton Heath,
Norwood,
Herne Hill,
Camberwell,
Elephant & Castle,
Waterloo and
Euston station, which nowadays would require two changes of bus. The route started operating
AEC Routemaster buses on Sundays in 1963 and switched to full Routemaster operation in 1970. The buses at this time were based in garages in
Chalk Farm,
Norwood and
Croydon. On 25 October 1986, the route was split in two with
route 168 introduced between
Hampstead Heath and Waterloo. Route 68 now operated from West Norwood to Euston being converted to
one man operation on the same day with
Leyland Olympians. On 27 October 1986, a parallel peak-hour express service numbered
route X68 from
West Croydon bus station to
Russell Square was introduced, running express from
Waterloo to
West Norwood. As part of the
privatisation of London bus services, in January 1995 route 68 was taken over by
Arriva London. Upon being re-tendered, on 1 April 2006 routes 68 passed from
Arriva London to
London Central with the southern terminus amended from
Norwood bus garage to
West Norwood station. London Central operated it out of
Camberwell bus garage. London Central successfully tendered to retain the route, with a further contract commencing in 2011. On 5 February 2016,
New Routemasters were introduced on the route. When next tendered, it was awarded to
Abellio London who commenced operating it out of
Walworth bus garage on 31 March 2018. The journalist Peter Watts reviewed his experiences of the current service for
Time Out. He traveled regularly from Herne Hill to
Great Russell Street, near the Time Out offices in
Tottenham Court Road. The journey takes between 40 and 90 minutes depending upon the congestion in traffic bottlenecks like
Camberwell Green. Often, when the service is running poorly, it will terminate short of the final destination, unloading at a stop like Aldwych, or it will pass by Herne Hill without stopping, forcing passengers to take the shorter
route 468 instead. Such incidents commonly occur three times a week and so cause him much frustration. Author and journalist
Simon Jenkins on the other hand described the 68 bus as the "Queen of buses" for its stately progress through the bustling shopping streets of South London. Travelling on this bus route has been suggested as a cure for
agoraphobia. Travelling for 2-5 stops during the day was considered a medium level exercise, while travelling from Camberwell Green to the Elephant & Castle alone during the rush hour, was considered the most challenging exercise - more terrifying than walking down the high street or shopping in a supermarket. In October 2021, the frequency of the service was reduced from seven or eight buses per hour to six. ==Notable passengers==