 In August 1994, the route—at the time operated by Leaside Buses—was used to test satellite monitoring of buses in an effort to reduce bunching.On 4 September 2004, route 73 was converted to one-man operation, with the AEC Routemasters replaced by Mercedes-Benz O530G articulated buses.This change was intended to improve peak capacity and decrease boarding times; however, a Transport for London advertising campaign to this effect was prohibited by the Advertising Standards Agency as the claims were misleading.