London Buses route 19

19
London General Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TL on Shaftesbury Avenue in December 2013
Overview
Operator	London General
Garage	Northumberland Park (NP)
Peak vehicle requirement	28
Night-time	Night Bus N19
Route
Start	Battersea Bridge
Via	Chelsea Piccadilly Circus Holborn Islington
End	Finsbury Park bus station
Service
Level	Daily

London Buses route 19 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Battersea Bridge and Finsbury Park bus station, it is operated by London General.

Route 19 began operating in 1906 between Highbury and Clapham Junction. In 1934 route 19 operated from Finsbury Park to Tooting Bec station with a Sundays only extension to Streatham Common. By 17 October 1956 the Sunday extension had been withdrawn between Streatham and Tooting, although it was reintroduced the following year on 1 May 1957 for a short period until its withdrawal on 16 October 1957.

On 23 January 1966, the route was one again given a Sunday extension, this time to Streatham Bus Garage and by 15 February 1969 the Sunday route was renumbered 19A, which was reverted to 19 by March 1971. The Sunday extension was finally withdrawn on 8 January 1972. Later that year, on 15 July, the Sunday service was cut back to Clapham Junction. During August 1972, the AEC Regent III RTs were replaced by AEC Routemasters. It was not until 5 October 1974 that the Sunday service reverted to Tooting Bec, following the withdrawal of route 19A. During 1975 garage journeys were extended to Tufnell Park, with the whole route being extended further to Archway by 1984. On 3 August 1985, the route was withdrawn between Finsbury Park and Archway.

On 24 April 1993, route 19 became the first Routemaster operated service to be awarded to a company that was not a subsidiary of London Buses Limited following the route being awarded to Kentish Bus after a competitive tender. Kentish Bus painted their Routemasters in a cream and maroon livery with route branding. Following nearly five years with Kentish Bus, operation transferred to Arriva London South in January 1998, with the Sunday service operated by sister Arriva company Grey-Green. A departure from the cream and maroon livery saw a return to the traditional London Bus red to comply with a contractual requirement for London buses to be 80% red.