London Buses route 453

Route 453 commenced operating on 15 March 2003 as part of a reorganisation of routes in preparation for the introduction of the London congestion charge. Operating between Deptford Bridge and Marylebone stations,^[1] it parallels route 53 as far as Lambeth North station. It was initially operated by Stagecoach London's Plumstead garage with Mercedes-Benz O530G articulated buses. Night route N453 was introduced at the same time.^[2]

Route 453 originally started from the first busy single stop on route 53, at Deptford, outside Addey and Stanhope School, then duplicated the 53 via New Cross, New Cross Gate, Old Kent Road, Bricklayers Arms, Elephant & Castle, St George's Circus, Westminster, to Whitehall, then Regent Street, Oxford Street, Great Portland Street, Regent's Park and to Marylebone station. The section north of Oxford Circus was a new service designed to create a new south–west link at Regent's Park station.^[2]

New Routemasters were introduced on 18 October 2014. The rear platform remains closed at all times except for when the bus is at bus stops.^[3] On 29 July 2017, the route transferred to New Cross (NX) garage as Mandela Way (MW) garage closed.^{[citation needed]}

Route 453 operates via these primary locations:^[4][5]

• Marylebone
• Baker Street station
• Regent's Park station
• Great Portland Street station
• Oxford Circus station
• Piccadilly Circus
• Trafalgar Square
• Westminster station
• St Thomas' Hospital
• Lambeth North station
• Elephant & Castle station
• Bricklayers Arms
• Old Kent Road
• New Cross Gate station
• New Cross station
• Deptford Bridge station