London Buses route 13

13
London Sovereign Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B5LH in Aldwych in May 2014
Overview
Operator	London Sovereign
Garage	Edgware (BT)
Vehicle	Volvo B5LH 10.4m / Wright Eclipse Gemini 2
Peak vehicle requirement	21
Night-time	Night Bus N13
Route
Start	Golders Green station
Via	Swiss Cottage Oxford Street Picadilly Circus
End	Aldwych
Length	7 miles (11 km)
Service
Level	Daily
Frequency	7-12 minutes
Journey time	34-66 minutes
Operates	05:30 until 00:30

London Buses route 13 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Golders Green station and Aldwych, it is operated by London Sovereign.

In the 1930s route 13 ran from Hendon to London Bridge with STD-type buses allocated to Hendon (AE) garage. The allocation was split between Cricklewood and Hendon garages. Hendon-Golders Green was reduced to Monday to Friday peak hours and Saturday afternoons only during World War II, then withdrawn completely by the 1950s. New AEC Routemaster buses were introduced to the route in 1963, by which time it was shared between Hendon and Rye Lane garages. In January 1970 the route acquired a Muswell Hill allocation and was cut back from London Bridge to Aldwych, before being extended from Golders Green to North Finchley in 1978, replacing 2B.

On 4 December 1993, independent operator BTS Coaches of Borehamwood took over the operation of route 13 after a competitive tender process. The route became one of two AEC Routemaster routes to pass to a private operator in advance of the privatisation of London Buses (the other being route 19, which passed to Kentish Bus earlier the same year). This resulted in the closure of Finchley garage, as route 13 was by then its main route. Route 13 was cut back to Golders Green. The change of operator re-introduced Sunday crew operation to the capital, as BTS did not have sufficient driver-only vehicles to cover the Sunday service. A fleet of Routemasters was leased from London Transport and painted in a poppy red livery.

Subsequently BTS sold out to Sovereign Bus & Coach, a Hertfordshire operator and formerly part of London Country Bus Services (and later London Country North East. Although other BTS buses gained Sovereign's blue and cream livery the Routemasters remained in poppy red; route 13 was the last route in London to be operated using Routemasters in a colour other than London Transport red. The depot in Borehamwood was sold with BTS moving to the old London Transport garage at Edgware.