Letter Prefixed Bus Routes

Well I tried my best to find another bus was unsuccesfful, I found some which included A & X prefixes but I don't think they'll count in this case.

I think if there is another it will be on the West of London as this is where most letter prefixes are and are close together.

Yes, Yes!!, That's right: - a relic of the infamous mid '60s "Bus re-shaping Plan" where, rather than pay more to staff, instaed, spend a fortune on new buses that didn't work and had a shelf life of just about 6 years. Because nobody thought that if you just put the central exit door in the middle, everybody will stand near it 'cos they'll want to escape a.s.a.p., so the bus bends in the middle (the first Loondon Bendybus?) and the doors won't shut so the bus cannot move! Great ideas from L.T. The question is: "Are these people still there?"

www.londonbusroutes.net is very imformative on route numbers! And indeed calling points, even lists every road the bus usually traverses! [roadworks and other diversions excluded]

Hayes & Harlington station (stops E, F, K, L, M and U) are served by the E6, H98 and U4, and K, L, M also by the U5. Note that the "H" here is Hounslowm whereas at Ruislip it's Harrow.

Worcester Park has the S3 ( Sutton), E16 (a non-TfL service to Epsom run by Quality Line) and X26, and the S3 meets the K1 nearby at Malden Manor.

The London bus map (which shows non-TfL routes) shows no "R"s or "C"s at Uxbridge - only the A10 and a load of "U"s

Looks like you're right - the internet found me a timetable for the R21, althugh only two buses a day are extended to Uxbridge. This, and the 331 seem to be the successors to the "Hillingdon Local service" 128, which had special yellow and red liveried Bristol LHs back in the 70s. The route number 128 seems to have migrated across London since then as it is now to be found in Romford!

The H98 was of course the 98...Hounslow Bus Station to Uxbridge. RTs then SMS and then LS.

Does anyone recall the A1? Hounslow West - Heathrow, 1969 to 1977? Was this the first letter-prefixed route? I used to use it Hounslow Garage - Hounslow West on garage journeys which was unique in its non-stop jorneys between the two termini.

Yes all the prefixes do stand for something, I remember finding the meanings somewhere but I can't for the life of me remember where. I did post on another forum what they all mean but I don't think it's within the rules to post a link to it here, if a moderator could advice me that'll be great.

Aha - my time to chip in.

Orpington ways has R prefixed bus routes.. and Bexleyheath has the following:

B11 Bexleyheath Town Centre to Thamesmead Town Centre
B12 Erith Town Centre to Joydens Wood via Bexleyheath
B13 Bexleyheath Town Centre to New Eltham Station
B14 Bexleyheath Town Centre to Orpington Station
B15 Bexleyheath Town Centre to Horn Park
B16 Bexleyheath Town Centre to Kidbrooke

And yes, these are all TfL services.

As I understand it, prefixes are as follows:

A = Amersham

B= Bexley

C= can either stand for Camden or Chelsea

D = Docklands

E= Ealing

EL= East London Transit

G = St George's Hospital

H can equal either Hampstead, Hounslow or Harrow. In TfL publicity, I have also seen the heritage 9s and 15s also described as H9 and H15, just to really confuse us all.

K = Kingston

N = night buses

P = Peckham

PR = Park Royal, however this service (PR2) is to be withdrawn after end of traffic on 15th October.

R = either Richmond or Orpington Roundabout

RV = riverside

S = Sutton

T= Tramlink feeder

U = Uxbridge

W = can be either Waltham Forest or Wood Green

X = Express routes. Normally these are the X68 and X26, the former running from Croydon to Russell Square, whilst the latter runs West Croydon to Heathrow Airport. The X68 runs towards Russell Square in the mornings and towards Croydon in the evenings, and does not operate at weekends or public holidays.

In previous years wiht the Notting Hill Carnival, TfL have run extra express routes. The X2 put in an appearance last year, but I don't know if it also ran at carnival this year. The X2 last year during carnival was running from Norwood to Marylebone as normal, before continuing non-stop to the Ladbroke Grove area.

Edit: beaten to it by Deep Level

Traditionally (from the 1930s):
1-199 Central area (Red) DD routes
200- Central area (Red) SD routes
-299 Night routes (I don't know where the boundary was)
300-399 Country area (green) North
400-499 Country area (green) South
500-699 Trolleybuses (mainly based on previous Tram Route numbers)
300-399 Country area (green) North
400-499 Country area (green) South

Trams were 1-99, duplicating bus routes (and sometimes each other - there was no systematic sort out for them) Ex LCC routes were odd in North London, even in South London.

From c 1941 the Central Area distinction between Double & Single Deck Routes broke down, SD routes converted to DD stopped being renumbered.

Postwar Green Line Routes were 700 series (had been letters pre war), with
800-849 Country area (green) North
850-899 Country area (green) South
additional, mainly for new towns.

Night routes were renumbered late 1950s (IIRC), to give more free 2xx numbers for trolleybus conversions

Then the 5xx was used for Red Arrows (Inner area Flat Fare SD routes), with 6xx used for suburban arterial equivalents (only a couple)

The current 607 is the express version of 207, which was the motorbus version of Trolleybus 607, which was converted from LUT tram route 7.

(Country area and Green Line to NBC (LCBS) 1970.)

One of Dave's wishes is that we didn't ever have a bus section as the forum specialises with LU, however, there are plenty of bus drivers, enthusiasts and those with a PCV licence to answer any questions that pop up.

Browsing flickr, came across this view of a 98 variant at Ruislip staton, 1969.

www.flickr.com/photos/1cliffie1/6036408349/

Is that concrete thing a lamppost?!

One thing I wondered about shortly after the last time buses and this forum were discussed, was to have some sort of partnership with a bus forum that didn't do LU things. Nothing as integrated as single logins and automatic memberships, but a place to where people interested in discussing buses could be referred to which has a similar philosophy to here (and which would in turn refer rail-based questions this way), and an agreement not to tread on each other's toes. Similar partnerships could happen with forums for river travel, trams, National Rail, taxis and private hire, etc.

A family of independent forums covering transport in London.

I don't know whether any of these forums exist, or whether there would be any desire for such partnerships on either part if they do. But if they do and there is then it would give a natural home for those whose interests overlap with other modes of transport while remaining true to Dave's wishes and not ruining what we have by trying to become too big,

Well as you are very aware Chris there is a Forum that covers the whole of Transport For London although I can't see a partnership being possible as LU is also covered there and Members may only feel the need to use one or the other which defeats the point of a partnership. The thing is though I cant see Forums for things like 'Taxi's and Private Hire', 'Dial-A-Ride' and 'Cable Car' etc. alone being very useful as discussions will be very low and I've never heard of enthusiasts for things like them (although I'm not saying they don't exist).