Bus 40 route change

Does anyone know the reason why Bus 40 no longer connects Elephant & Castle to the City of London?
I find it a bit odd at a time when the number of City workers in E&C is on the increase.

Hi Marco, bus route 40 normally goes from Walworth Road to the Elephant, then onto Clerkenwell Green near Farringdon. It just doesn’t continue into Kings Cross like the 45 route used to.

The 40 used to go Walworth, borough then over London Bridge. I did jump on the 40 a few months ago on the Walworth road and thats when I found out the route had been changed.

I've been taking Bus 40 for years and it definitely used to go to London Bridge and onto Gracechurch Street up until this summer. Perhaps TFL wants more people to use the Northern Line since it's not crowded enough...

This was part of the same major changes to bus-routes as the withdrawal of the RV1. Unfortunately, concern in SE1 about the RV1 seems to have detracted attention from the other changes.

MarcoC: 'Perhaps TFL wants more people to use the Northern Line since it's not crowded enough...' may be right - if you look at the various changes they seem to designed to stop south Londoners taking a direct bus across central London's crowded bridges to places north of the river!

Why the new 40 route should terminate at Clerkenwell Green instead of extending to King's Cross I don't know. Perhaps it's due to TfL's fond belief that once (eventually) Crossrail/Elizabeth Line opens, Farringdon will become a central traffic hub.

If you want to know the history of London bus routes, there's a fascinating website https://www.londonbuses.co.uk/

What you realise when you look at it is that there were once a large number of cross-town bus routes running from the suburbs on one side through the centre to the suburbs on the other. (Or even further - does anyone remember the old Green Line coach that ran all the way from Dorking to Luton via Victoria?) Gradually, as traffic increased, LT realised it was impossible for these routes to keep to timetables through the congested central area, and cut them short or turned them into two overlapping sections (like 453 and 53).

Their argument now seems to be that with current types of ticket and payment options you can change buses without paying twice. Doesn't help the inconvenience, of course, or the stress on those using major changing points like the Elephant and Castle - confusing unless you're a regular user and know exactly which bus-stop your connecting bus goes from!

Thank you John, that was very interesting