article

This article is a general one on buses in London. For a specific article on the organisation responsible for running most buses in London, see London Buses.

The London Bus is one of London's principal icons, with the archetypal red rear-entrance double-deck Routemaster bus being recognised world-wide.

History

Organisation

Buses have been used on the streets of London since 1829, when George Shillibeer started operating his horse drawn omnibus service from Paddington to the city. The London General Omnibus Company or LGOC was founded in 1855 to amalgamate and regulate the horse-drawn omnibus services then operating in London. LGOC began using motor omnibuses, in 1902, and manufactured them itself from 1909.

The last LGOC horse-drawn bus ran on 25 October 1911, although independent operators used them until 1914.

In 1912 the Underground Group, which at that time owned most of the London Underground, bought the LGOC. In 1933 the LGOC, along with the rest of the Underground Group, became part of the new London Passenger Transport Board. The name London General was replaced by London Transport, which became synonymous with the red London bus.

During the 1980s a decision was made by the government of Margaret Thatcher to privatise the bus operating industry in the United Kingdom, which at that time was dominated by London Transport in London, large municipally-owned operators in other major cities and the government-owned National Bus Company and Scottish Bus Group elsewhere. For largely political reasons a completely different model was followed in London as compared to the rest of the country. In London a part of London Transport called London Buses was set up, with the remit to contract out operation of services but to determine service levels and fares within the public sector.

This regime is still in place, although the ownership of London Buses moved from the central (UK) government-controlled London Regional Transport to the Mayor of London's transport organisation, Transport for London, in 2000, as part of the formation of the new Greater London Authority.

Vehicles

Main category: London buses

Until the 1950s, London tended to go its own way in terms of bus design, designing its own vehicles specifically for London use rather than using the bus manufacturers' general products used elsewhere in the UK. The last such bus specifically designed for London was the AEC Routemaster. Since the turn of the Millennium, there has been a shift to low-floor double-deck and articulated buses.

Other buses used in London:

Operation

Local Buses

Local buses within London form a network managed by London Buses, an arm of Transport for London, although most services are operated by private sector operators operating under contract to London Buses. All such buses are painted in a largely red colour scheme, with only minor variations and logos to distinguish the operator in question, and operate the same fare regime.

Although the rear-entrance double-deck Routemaster is the archetypal London bus, their numbers are now reducing quite quickly due to their age, inability to accept wheelchairs or baby transports, and requirement for a two-person crew. The first Routemaster (RM1) was 50 years old in 2004. Two Routemaster-operated routes are to be launched in late 2005 as working heritage services, akin to the F Market heritage streetcar line in San Francisco.

Most local bus services are now operated by modern low-floor buses, which may be single-deck, double-deck, or one of the new type of articulated buses, locally called bendy buses. With the introduction of the London congestion charge in central London and because at peak times the Underground is operating at maximum capacity, many bus service improvements have been undertaken, and central bus services are currently enjoying something of a resurgence.

Some local bus routes in the outer areas of London cross the London boundary. London Buses services that cross the boundary have standard red buses, and charge London fares, at least within the boundary. Buses from outside London that cross into London are in their operators' own colour schemes, and may not accept London fares even within the boundary.

Night buses

The first night buses were in existence as early as 1913, and they form part of the London Buses network. Originally they had their own (premium) fare structure and all the routes were distinguished by an N prefixed route number, for example the N21 running to Foots Cray or the N29 to Winchmore Hill and Enfield. Most night bus services operate from a central London terminus in Trafalgar Square.

More recently, under the influence of the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, night buses have adopted standard London bus fares. Some daytime bus routes, including an increasing number of orbital rather than radial services, have also started operating 24 hours a day, using the same (non-N prefixed) route number throughout the day and night. All-night buses (whether on N-prefixed routes or 24-hour routes) are standard red buses. London's night bus services have seen passenger numbers soar in recent years - by mid 2005, up by over 80% over levels at the start of the twenty first century.

Tour buses

A common sight in central London is open-top buses (i.e. double-decker buses with an open upper deck), which provide tourist services with either live or recorded commentary. Most of these services allow passengers to embark and disembark at chosen stops along their route, continuing their journey on a later bus. There are several competing operators of such services and, although at least one paints its buses in the same red as London's local buses, they have no connection with London Buses. Fares are set by the operators and usually involve a flat fee for a day (or multiple days) usage; there is no need to pre-book and tickets can be bought from the driver and/or bus stop ticket sellers.

Other more formally organised tours use luxury coaches and in generally need to be booked in advance through travel agents.

Long distance coaches

Long-distance coaches link London with the rest of the UK and with other cities in Europe. Most of these services are run by National Express and their European affiliate Eurolines. National Express's predominantly white vehicles are common on the roads of central London, on their way to and from their terminus at Victoria Coach Station.

Recently competition for long distance traffic has been introduced by Megabus, a subsidiary of the large UK bus operating company Stagecoach. This company operates cheap services aimed at students and the like, which must be booked in advance on the web.

Other coach services link London to medium-distance destinations, and unlike National Express or Megabus provide walk-on fares. A good example of this is the service to the city of Oxford, where Stagecoach's frequent Oxford Tube service competes with both Go-Ahead's similar Express service and the less frequent but cheaper service from its sister company Megabus.

Airport buses

National Express is also the principal airport operator, serving Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted with its National Express Airport brand. Unlike their longer distance cousins, these services are walk-on services, which serve stops throughout central London rather than running to Victoria Coach Station.

London City Airport used to provide express shuttle bus services to connect the airport to rail and underground stations at Canning Town, Canary Wharf and Liverpool Street. These operated at a premium fare (compared to the parallel but slower London Buses services) and did not survive the extension of the Docklands Light Railway to the airport in late 2005.

Terrorist incidents

Main category: July 2005 London bombings

See also

External links

Bus transport in England | London buses | Bus transit

Londýnská autobusová doprava

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Buses in London".

Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world