Buses Routes in London Wikia

Welcome to the Buses Routes in London Wikia
Bus Routes in London Wiki is an information repository about The '''London Bus. The London Bus''' is one of London's principal icons, the archetypal red rear-entrance Routemaster being recognised worldwide. Although the Routemaster has now been largely phased out of service, with only two heritage routes still using the vehicles, the majority of buses in London are still red and therefore the red double-decker bus remains a widely recognised symbol of the city.

Transport for London (TfL) contracted bus routes in London, United Kingdom. The major operators in the London area are Go-Ahead London, Arriva London, Metroline and Stagecoach London. Other operators in London are London United, Abellio London, Tower Transit, Sullivan Buses, Arriva The Shires, Arriva Kent Thameside, London Sovereign, Quality Line, Arriva Southern Counties and CT Plus.

There are also several operators based outside London that run services either wholly or partly within the area. These services connect London with parts of Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Kent, Surrey and Grays.





Classification of route numbers
In Victorian times, passengers could only recognise the buses of different fleets and routes by the coaches' distinctive livery colours and 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 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 different 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
Historically, bus routes run by London Transport were grouped by the type of service that they provided.

The 1924 London Traffic Act imposed a numbering scheme known as the Bassom Scheme, named after Chief Constable A. E. Bassom of the Metropolitan Police who devised it. Variant and short workings used letter suffixes. The numbers reflected the company that operated the route.

The numbering was revised in 1934 after London Transport was formed:

Former routes
This list shows some old routes that used to operate but do not exist any more.