London Buses route 16

16
Metroline Alexander Dennis Enviro400H in Victoria in December 2013
Overview
Operator	Metroline
Garage	Cricklewood (W)
Vehicle	New Routemaster
Peak vehicle requirement	18
Night-time	Night Bus N16
Route
Start	Cricklewood
Via	Kilburn Maida Vale Edgware Road Marble Arch Hyde Park Corner
End	Victoria Station
Length	6 miles (9.7 km)
Service
Level	Daily
Frequency	6-10 minutes
Journey time	33-55 minutes
Operates	05:00 until 00:30

London Buses route 16 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Cricklewood and Victoria Station, it is operated by Metroline.

The 16 is a long-standing, high-profile route following a nearly straight route between Victoria Station and Cricklewood Garage, largely along the Edgware Road. Twenty LGOC B-type buses were to be used on route 16 but only three were used after the war had ended. On 4 June 1927, LS (London Six) type buses with six wheels went into service on route 16. On 6 August 1929, LT 1 entered service on route 16A (Victoria to Cricklewood) with new livery, running from Cricklewood (W) garage. The LT 1 bus had 54 seats and had an AEC Renown chassis. Until 1970, the route ran beyond Cricklewood to Sudbury Town Station, although the section between Neasden and Sudbury Town was withdrawn and replaced by route 245. The Northern terminus was altered slightly in 1973, to terminate at Neasden Shopping Centre. In 1985, the route gained a slight extension to Brent Park Tesco, Monday to Saturday shopping hours, running daily by 1992. The section between Neasden and Cricklewood Garage was withdrawn on 11 October 1997 and replaced by new route 316.

Metroline frequently cascade vehicles from one route to another, usually with good reason, varying from passenger loadings and vehicle layouts to economy in engineering. One route which has had more than its share of cascades is the 16, which seemed for a time to be getting new vehicles every summer, though the allocation does now appear to have settled down. First to come were Volvo Olympians), as an upgrade from MCW Metrobuses, in 1998. AV 23-38 later moved to the 260 and were replaced by an equal number of new Dennis Trident 2s. Those were the first of what was destined to be a short run of success with Metroline for Alexander, as opposed to the Plaxton President which had been specified earlier (though by MTL, before takeover by Metroline) and subsequently became standard.