Route 189 commenced operation on 11 October 1997 running between Kilburn Park Station and Brent Cross Shopping Centre. The route was introduced to partially replace the withdrawn route 16A (which ran from Brent Cross to Oxford Circus).[citation needed] On 28 March 1998, the route was extended to Oxford Circus, still starting at Brent Cross.[2]
On 1 April 2017, the route was withdrawn between Orchard Street/Portman Street and Oxford Circus, and diverted to Marble Arch.[3][4] The route was proposed to be withdrawn between Marble Arch and Belsize Road, furthermore, the route would have been extended to Camden Town replacing route 31.[5] The night service would have been renumbered to N189 and would continue to run to Marble Arch. The suggested change was subject to lots of controversy as it would have deprived certain areas of direct bus access to Central London.[6][7] On 23 November 2022, TfL decided to suspend the plans until further notice, keeping the initial Brent Cross-Marble Arch service.[8]
_Marble_Arch_09.04.2023.jpg)
Media related to London Buses route 189 at Wikimedia Commons
