Running between Clapton Pond and Victoria bus station, it is operated by Arriva London.

Route 38 was withdrawn between the Bakers Arms and Woodford and re-routed to Walthamstow (Hoe street station).

This situation remained until 3 October 1934, when the newly constituted London Passenger Transport Board instituted its own numbering system.

[1] Following the opening of the first section of the Victoria line between Walthamstow Central and Highbury & Islington; on 7 September 1968 a large scale re-organisation of London Buses took place.

[2] On 29 Oct 2005, route 38 was converted to one man operation with the AEC Routemasters replaced by 46 Mercedes-Benz O530G articulated buses.

[16] Connan Mockasin expressed similar sentiments in his song "Forever Dolphin Love" with the lyrics "The 38 that took too long to Dalston".

An AEC Routemaster bus with route 38 blinds is displayed in the Falkland Islands capital of Port Stanley.

[17] The bus and its route is central to the children's book Gaspard's Foxtrot by Zeb Soanes and James Mayhew, listing many of its stops and landmarks along the way.