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Bus route 42

Transport
42
Usually an Alexander Dennis Adl Enviro 400H Mmc.

60% on timeof departures in the week ending 31 October 2026, leaving no more than 2.5 minutes early or 5 minutes late. Half of London's timetabled routes managed 71% or better.

The last week, day by day
Share of departures leaving on time.

Watch a day of route 42’s buses: every bus, replayed on the map. Or click a day on the chart.

The weekly figures

The share of departures that left on time.

Week endingEast Dulwich Sainsbury'sPrimrose Street
21 Jun 2025no datano data
28 Jun 202548%68%
5 Jul 202546% thin62% thin
12 Jul 202560% thin73% thin
19 Jul 202559%59%
26 Jul 202544%67%
2 Aug 202542%62%
9 Aug 202562%83%
16 Aug 202575%76%
23 Aug 202552%78%
30 Aug 202560%73%
6 Sept 202558%71%
13 Sept 202547%43%
20 Sept 202557%61%
27 Sept 202556%70%
4 Oct 202565%76%
11 Oct 202559%74%
18 Oct 202555%60%
25 Oct 202570%79%
1 Nov 202565%76%
8 Nov 202546%67%
15 Nov 202552% thin71% thin
22 Nov 202582% thin70% thin
29 Nov 202556%66%
6 Dec 202550%59%
13 Dec 202542%59%
20 Dec 202549%68%
27 Dec 202581% thin75% thin
3 Jan 202686%87%
10 Jan 202662%83%
17 Jan 202650%68%
24 Jan 202665%67%
31 Jan 202664%72%
7 Feb 202648%66%
14 Feb 202658%71%
21 Feb 2026no datano data
28 Feb 2026no datano data
7 Mar 202661%70%
14 Mar 202654%70%
21 Mar 202653%60%
28 Mar 202655%54%
4 Apr 202668%65%
11 Apr 202681%79%
18 Apr 202665%69%
25 Apr 202648% thin59% thin
2 May 202639%49%
9 May 202683%65%
16 May 202688%68%
23 May 202677%63%
30 May 202685%75%
6 Jun 202685%66%
13 Jun 202640%64%
20 Jun 202634%56%
27 Jun 202642%49%
4 Jul 2026no datano data
11 Jul 202659%62%
18 Jul 202641%66%
25 Jul 202656%69%
1 Aug 2026no datano data
8 Aug 2026no datano data
15 Aug 2026no datano data
22 Aug 2026no datano data
29 Aug 2026no datano data
5 Sept 202645%74%
12 Sept 202654%48%
19 Sept 202647%58%
26 Sept 202642%57%
3 Oct 202643%57%
10 Oct 202642%53%
17 Oct 202679%57%
24 Oct 202677%58%
31 Oct 202653%67%

A passenger going by the timetable at East Dulwich Sainsbury's would find about five departures in ten leaving more than 2.5 minutes early or 5 minutes late.

East Dulwich Sainsbury's
On time
53%
Cut short
2.2%
Primrose Street
On time
67%
Cut short
5.0%

85 minutes was the longest gap between buses this week, at Goose Green towards East Dulwich Sainsbury's, on Thursday 29 October from 04:38 to 06:03. This excludes any gaps caused by holes in our own data. Watch it happen →

Journeys cut short

Last week: 6.3% of journeys were turned back before the end of the line in the week ending 31 October 2026. Everyone on board has to get off; for anyone waiting further along the route it's effectively a cancellation.

towards East Dulwich Sainsbury's

Last week, 31 of 454 journeys (7%) were turned short.

  • King's College Hospital4.2 km short of the end 15
  • Denmark Hill / Camberwell Green4.6 km short of the end 8
  • Medlar Street5.1 km short of the end 2
  • Sunray Avenue2.7 km short of the end 2
  • Abbey Street8.6 km short of the end 1
  • Elsewhere along the route 3

towards Appold Street

Last week, 20 of 361 journeys (6%) were turned short.

  • Tower Gateway Station2.0 km short of the end 10
  • Duke's Place1.1 km short of the end 5
  • Albany Road / Wells Way5.9 km short of the end 1
  • Bricklayer's Arms4.4 km short of the end 1
  • Druid Street3.1 km short of the end 1
  • Elsewhere along the route 2

Each place is the last stop the bus was timed at before it turned round, with the typical distance it fell short of the end of the line. The five busiest are named; the rest are counted together.

Compared with TfL's own figures

QuarterTfLOurs
2025/26 Q313 Sept – 2 Jan 202665% on timeno figure
2026/27 Q11 Apr – 26 Jun 202670% on timeno figure

TfL's figures come from its own tracking equipment and its own timetable; mine are computed from the buses' public position feed. They are the same calculation on independent data, so they should broadly agree and move together rather than match exactly.

About this data
Data collected, week ending 31 October 2026
100% of the week. This is the share of the week for which we hold bus location data at all, across the whole of London rather than for this route. A week under 60% is not published; under 90% it is marked as thin.
Departures observed
  • East Dulwich Sainsbury's: 284 departures seen
  • Primrose Street: 268 departures seen
A guide to how much evidence sits behind this week's figures, not a measure of the service.
How it is measured
Every day, 05:00–23:59. On time means leaving no more than 2.5 minutes early or 5 minutes late. A day with less than four hours of data collected shows no daily figure. How these figures are made.
Gaps in the record for this period (39)

Most recent first. Hover a week on the chart and it will name the gap behind it. Most are a few missing hours on an otherwise ordinary day.

  • 17 Sept 2026 partial day, no data 12:00-12:59: our collector was down (machine off or power cut)
  • 28 Aug 2026 partial day, no data 20:00-23:59: our collector was down (machine off or power cut)
  • 29 Jul – 26 Aug 2026 no collection: the volunteer BODS archive was down and our own collector had not yet started
  • 28 Jul 2026 partial day, no data 11:00-23:59: no collection: the volunteer BODS archive was down and our own collector had not yet started
  • 7 Jul 2026 partial day, no data 15:00-15:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 5 Jul 2026 partial day, no data 06:00-11:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 4 Jul 2026 partial day, no data 06:00-21:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 2 Jul – 3 Jul 2026 gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 8 Jun 2026 partial day, no data 07:00-08:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 7 Jun 2026 partial day, no data 12:00-12:59, 18:00-19:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 6 Jun 2026 partial day, no data 12:00-12:59, 16:00-16:59, 18:00-18:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 27 Apr 2026 partial day, no data 12:00-12:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 21 Apr 2026 partial day, no data 06:00-11:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 20 Apr 2026 partial day, no data 15:00-23:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 16 Apr 2026 partial day, no data 12:00-15:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 28 Feb 2026 partial day, no data 06:00-18:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 16 Feb – 27 Feb 2026 gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 15 Feb 2026 partial day, no data 16:00-23:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 30 Jan 2026 partial day, no data 20:00-23:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 25 Dec 2025 no bus service on Christmas Day
  • 23 Dec 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-07:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 5 Dec 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-08:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 24 Nov 2025 partial day, no data 17:00-17:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 17 Nov 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-09:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 15 Nov – 16 Nov 2025 no London vehicles in the national feed — TfL's export to BODS was down (the volunteer archive itself was collecting)
  • 14 Nov 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-07:59, 13:00-23:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 31 Oct 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-07:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 17 Oct 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-07:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 10 Oct 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-08:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 3 Oct 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-11:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 19 Sept 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-08:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 5 Sept 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-09:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 1 Aug 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-09:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 18 Jul 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-09:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 8 Jul 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-08:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 6 Jul – 7 Jul 2025 gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 5 Jul 2025 partial day, no data 18:00-23:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 4 Jul 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-14:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)
  • 25 Jun 2025 partial day, no data 06:00-11:59: gap in the volunteer BODS archive (its collector was down)

For latest timetable and route information, see TfL's official page.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0; bus data via the DfT Bus Open Data Service and Transport for London. Figures are computed from observed bus positions, every day, 05:00–23:59. How these figures are made. Bus positions from the Department for Transport’s Bus Open Data Service (BODS); the Department for Transport cannot warrant the accuracy or quality of the data published there. Positions before September 2026 come from the Bus Open Data archive generously built and kept by Open Innovations, with thanks. Route lines and stops: Powered by TfL Open Data. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2016. Geomni UK Map data © and database rights [2019]. These pages and the bus replay are built independently from open data: Transport for London, the Department for Transport and the bus operators had no part in making them, and none of them endorses them. Not for planning a journey.