Hendon-Golders Green was reduced to Monday to Friday peak hours and Saturday afternoons only during World War II, then withdrawn completely by the 1950s.

[2] In January 1970 the route acquired a Muswell Hill allocation and was cut back from London Bridge to Aldwych, before being extended from Golders Green to North Finchley in 1978, replacing 2B.

Sovereign was persuaded to put in a bid and when the new contract commenced on 1 September 2001 the route continued largely unchanged.

The new mayor Ken Livingstone had been elected on a manifesto that included increasing the number of Routemasters in service in the capital.

Route 13 was converted back to Routemaster operation on the change of tender with buses that had been rebuilt by Marshall.