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This is a list of Transport for London (TfL) contracted
bus routes in London This is a list of Transport for London (TfL) contracted bus routes in London, England, as well as commercial services that enter the Greater London area (except coaches). Bus services in London are operated by Abellio London, Arriva London, ...
, England, as well as commercial services that enter the
Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...
area (except
coaches Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...
). Bus services in London are operated by
Abellio London Abellio London is a bus company operating services in Greater London. A subsidiary of Abellio, it operates services under contract to Transport for London (TfL). Until September 2018, services were operated in Surrey under the Abellio Surrey ...
,
Arriva London Arriva London is a major bus company operating services in Greater London. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus and operates services under contract to Transport for London. It was formed in 1998 from a fusion of previously separate Arriva s ...
,
Go-Ahead London Go-Ahead London is the trading name used collectively for the London bus operations of the Go-Ahead Group. The name first appeared in August 2008, before which the company had traded under separate names and brands. It is currently (as of 2021 ...
(
Blue Triangle Blue Triangle is a bus company operating services in East London. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group and operates most services under contract to Transport for London. It is the operator of the East London Transit service. History ...
,
Docklands Buses Docklands Buses is a bus company operating in East London. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group and operates services under contract to Transport for London. History Docklands Buses was formed by Harry Blundred's Transit Holdings in 1988 ...
,
London Central London Central is a bus company operating in South London. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group and operates services under contract to Transport for London. History London Central commenced operating on 1 April 1989 when London Buse ...
, and
London General London General is a bus company operating in Greater London. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group and operates services under contract to Transport for London. The company is named after the London General Omnibus Company, the principal ...
),
Metroline Metroline is a bus company operating services in Greater London and south Hertfordshire. It is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Corporation and operates services under contract to Transport for London. As at March 2021, the fleet consisted of 1,5 ...
,
RATP Dev Transit London RATP Dev Transit London is a joint venture between RATP Dev and Kelsian Group in London. It owns the London bus companies of London Sovereign, London United and London Transit. It commenced on 11 December 2021. History In September 2021, RATP D ...
(
London Sovereign London Sovereign is a bus company in North London. It is a subsidiary of RATP Dev Transit London and operates buses under contract to Transport for London. Company history London Sovereign can trace its roots back to independent Borehamwood ...
, London United and
London Transit The London Transit Commission (LTC) is responsible for the operation of the public transit system on behalf of the City of London, Ontario, Canada. It operates transit bus service and para-transit service. In 2014, annual ridership totaled 24.1 ...
)
Stagecoach London Stagecoach London is a major bus operator in Greater London. It is a subsidiary of Stagecoach and operates services under contract to Transport for London mostly in East and South East London as well as some services into Central London. It i ...
( East London,
Selkent Selkent (an acronym of South East London & Kent) is a bus company operating in central and south London and some parts of north-west Kent. It is a subsidiary brand of Stagecoach London and operates services under contract to Transport for London ...
, and Thameside), Sullivan Buses and Uno. TfL-sponsored operators run more than 500 services. Non-TfL-sponsored operators include Arriva Shires & Essex,
Arriva Southern Counties Arriva Southern CountiesCompanies House extract company no 20314 ...
, Carousel Buses,
Diamond South East Hallmark Connections Ltd, trading as Diamond South East, is a bus operator in South East England and, through the Hotel Hoppa operation, in Greater London. It is a subsidiary of Rotala. In addition to local bus services, Diamond South East opera ...
,
Go-Coach Go-Coachhire Ltd is a bus operator running a total of 40 bus services (including school services) across Kent and Sussex. The majority of these services are operated on behalf of Kent County Council from their depot in Swanley. History Go-Coa ...
,
First Berkshire & The Thames Valley First Beeline Buses, trading as First Berkshire & The Thames Valley, is a bus operator providing services in and around Slough. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup. History In January 1986 Alder Valley North Limited, later renamed, The Berks B ...
, Metrobus,
Southdown PSV Southdown PSV Limited, trade name, trading as Southdown Buses, is a medium-sized country bus operator, with 18 routes across East Surrey, West Sussex, South London and Kent, 9 of which are school bus routes. Most of their routes are operated on ...
,
Stagecoach South Stagecoach South is a bus operator providing services in South East England. It is a subsidiary of Stagecoach. It operates services in Hampshire, Surrey, and Sussex with some routes extending into Brighton and Wiltshire. It operates 487 buses fr ...
and
Trustybus Centrebus is a bus company based in Leicester operating services in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland. Centrebus have a 51% shareholding in High Peak Buses and since December 2019 through c ...
.


Classification of route numbers

In Victorian times, passengers could recognise the owner and the route of an omnibus (Latin: "for everyone") only by its livery and its line name, with painted signs on the sides showing the two termini to indicate the route. Then, in 1906, George Samuel Dicks of the
London Motor Omnibus Company London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...
decided that, as the line name 'Vanguard' had proved to be very popular, he would name all lines 'Vanguard' and number the company's five routes 1 through to 5. Other operators soon saw the advantage, in that a unique route number was easier for the travelling public to remember, and so the practice of using route numbers soon spread.


Historic classification

Bus routes run by London Transport were grouped as follows. The
London Traffic Act 1924 The London Traffic Act 1924 (14 & 15 Geo.5, C. 34) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The purpose of the Act was stated to be the ''facilitating and improving the regulation of traffic in and near London''. Background The Londo ...
imposed numbering known as the Bassom Scheme, named after
Superintendent Superintendent may refer to: *Superintendent (police), Superintendent of Police (SP), or Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), a police rank *Prison warden or Superintendent, a prison administrator *Superintendent (ecclesiastical), a church exec ...
(later Chief Constable)
Arthur Ernest Bassom Arthur Ernest Bassom Order of the British Empire, OBE Queen's Police Medal, KPM (14 June 1865 – 17 January 1926) was a British police officer and one of the main pioneers of Road policing unit, traffic policing with the London Metropolitan Pol ...
of the
Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...
who devised it. For many decades, variant and short workings used letter suffixes (e.g. "77B"). The numbers reflected the company that operated the route. The numbering was revised in 1934 after London Transport was formed:


Current classification


List of routes

All routes operate in both directions unless detailed.


1–99


100–199


200–299


300–399


400–499


500–599


600–699

The majority of buses numbered between 600 and 699 are school services, running once on each weekday peak period during school term time. The exception to this is route 607, a limited stop express route.


900–999

Route numbers from 900 to 999 represent Mobility Buses; these provide a once-a-week return journey to a local shopping centre from relatively low-density neighbourhoods where there is no alternative route in the main bus network. The number of Mobility Buses routes has declined because low-floor and wheelchair-accessible buses run on all London Buses routes.


Letter prefixes


Night only routes (N-prefixed)

Night bus routes are often related to the day numerical equivalent, normally running the same route but with an extension at either end of the service. This is normally to provide a night service to destinations served by tube or train during the day. However, there are a few N-prefixed route numbers that have no relation to their daytime equivalents: the N5, N20, and N97 all operate in a different part of London to their respective day routes, and the N550 and N551 (which provide night service on parts of the DLR network) have no corresponding daytime routes. There are also 24-hour routes, which run day and night but usually with a lower frequency during the night hours. The vast majority run the same route at all times. With the introduction of the
Night Tube The Night Tube and London Overground Night Service, often referred to simply as Night Tube, is a service pattern on the London Underground ("Tube") and London Overground systems which provides through-the-night services on Friday and Saturday ni ...
, some day routes have been extended to run during Friday and Saturday nights to serve the stations.


Non-TfL bus routes in Greater London

These bus routes are not contracted to TfL and are therefore not 'London Buses', all but three run from villages and towns outside
Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...
to destinations within. They are painted in a colour chosen by the operator, so are not necessarily red like London Buses, and most of them do not accept Oyster cards. These routes are operated with a ''London Service Permit'' issued by TfL so they are recognised by TfL bus maps and appear on TfL bus stops.


Former routes


Planned routes


Temporary routes

There are three special TfL express routes which only run during the Notting Hill Carnival: 2X, 36X and 205X. Route 23A operates on one day per year to
Imber Imber is an uninhabited village within the British Army's training area on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England. It lies in an isolated area of the Plain, about west of the A360 road between Tilshead and West Lavington. A linear village, i ...
using heritage vehicles.


See also

* : London bus operators


References


Bibliography

* Atkin, Michael
"THIS SCEPTRED ISLE"
''The Guardian'' * Carr, Ken, ''The London Bus Guide''. Boreham: Visions International Entertainment, 2011. .


External links


London Buses
{{London Bus Routes
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
Bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
Transport in Epsom and Ewell Transport in Epping Forest District Transport in Thurrock