London Buses

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This article is on the organisation responsible for most local bus services in London. For a more general article, see Buses in London.

An Enviro 400 bus, a modern interpretation of the famous London red double-decker.

London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages bus services within Greater London. Most services are provided by private sector bus operators, although this is not particularly obvious to passengers, as buses are required to carry similar red colour schemes and conform to the same fare scheme.

1 Overview
2 Legal status
3 Scope
4 Fares
5 Current operators
6 Vehicles
7 iBus
8 See also
9 External links

[edit] Overview

Transport for London plans bus routes, specifies service levels and monitors service quality. The actual bus services are operated by a number of bus operating companies which work under contract to London Buses. Although most of the operating companies are private-sector organisations, one (East Thames Buses) is owned by Transport for London, and managed at arm's length so as to avoid conflicts of interest. Although this originally came about due to the default of a private sector operator, it seems now to be deliberate policy, possibly partly to act as an exemplar for other operators as to how TfL wishes bus services to be run. Transport for London is also directly responsible for the management of bus stations and bus stops and other support services. It provides passenger information in the form of timetables and maps at bus stops, and produces leaflet maps which passengers can obtain at Travel Information Centres, libraries etc.

[edit] Legal status

The legal identity of London Buses is actually London Bus Services Limited (LBSL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London. East Thames Buses is the trading name of another wholly owned subsidiary of TfL called, rather confusingly, London Buses Limited (LBL).

The previous incarnation of LBL was as a subsidiary of TfL's precursor organisation London Regional Transport (LRT - see London Transport), and it was the holding company for the ten bus operating divisions that were sold off in 1994/95. It would appear that the company then lay dormant, passed from LRT to TfL, and was resurrected as a place for East Thames Buses to live within TfL, allowing a chinese wall to separate it from LBSL.

The 10 bus operating divisions that existed prior to being sold off were:

Centrewest (First)
East London (Stagecoach, Macquarie)
Leaside Buses (Cowies/Arriva)
London Central (Go-Ahead)
[London Forest (merged with East London in the early 90s)]
London General (Go-Ahead)
London Northern (MTL London, Arriva, Metroline)
London United (Transdev)
Metroline (ComfortDelgro)
Selkent (Stagecoach, Macquarie)
South London (Cowies/Arriva)

[edit] Scope

The local bus network in London is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Over 6,500 scheduled buses operate on over 700 different bus routes. Over the year this network carries over 1.5 billion passenger journeys.

[edit] Fares

Ticket machine selling single and day tickets for London buses

Buses in the London Buses network accept both Travelcards printed on cardboard and Oyster card products including bus passes, as well as single cash fares. As of January 2007, the bus adult single cash fare is £2.00 for any journey. With Oyster card pay as you go (formerly Pre Pay) £1.00. The off peak reduction has now been removed. The "Daily Cap" is £3.00, this means however many buses you travel on in one day, using your Pay as you go Oyster, you will only pay £3.00, which is less than a one day bus pass. A one-day pass allowing unlimited journeys in the Greater London area for one day costs £3.50. A seven-day pass costs £14.00. All children travel free, and discounts are available for older students. The free child travel is controversial, with children causing overcrowding at certain times of the day, and trouble at other times.

Within the West End of London and on routes throughout London operated by 'bendy' buses, and on route W7, passengers must pre-purchase tickets prior to boarding a bus. To this end, bus stops in the area and on those routes are equipped with ticket machines which sell single tickets and one-day passes. In other places, tickets may be purchased from the bus driver although it is planned to extend the cashless area.

Ticket	Cost
Cash single	£2.00
Oyster single	£1.00
One day bus pass	£3.50
Daily Oyster cap Max payable in one day	£3
7-day bus pass	£14.00

[edit] Current operators

Companies operating buses under contract to London Buses

Arriva London | Arriva Shires & Essex | Arriva Southern Counties | Blue Triangle | CT Plus

Docklands Buses | Ealing Community Transport | East London | East Thames Buses

Also, see Bus garages in London for operating codes.

[edit] Vehicles

Main article: Buses in London

Main category: London buses

The various bus operators providing services under contract to London Buses operate a wide variety of vehicles, about the only immediately obvious common feature being their use of a largely red livery. However, London Buses does in fact maintain a close control over both the age and specification of the vehicles. Particular examples of this include the use of separate exit doors, increasingly unusual on buses in the United Kingdom outside London, and, on double-deckers, the use of a straight staircase where most other UK operators specify a more compact curved staircase. Additionally, London Buses also specifies that vehicles operating in London use linen roller destination blinds, whereas in most other parts of the country, electronic dot matrix or LED displays are the norm on new buses.

Because of London Buses' close control on the age of the fleet, it is very common for London buses to be cascaded by their owners to operations in other parts of the country after a few years' service.

[edit] iBus

iBus is a scheme to improve London's buses using technology. The system will track all of London's 8000 buses. The Countdown system will be updated and will use GPRS technology to track buses and give the predicted time of arrival. The current system uses beacons which are located on the side of the road and detect buses as they pass; they then give a predicted time of arrival that is shown on the Countdown display board at a bus stop. This system has an inherent problem in that the beacons cannot detect if a bus is in traffic which can significantly slow the bus down. The iBus system will also be used to make announcements on buses: Emma Hignett, a radio presenter, was chosen to voice the announcements and will have to make 30,000 recordings informing passengers of the next stop. The system will also provide visual displays telling passengers of the next stop. The scheme is expected to be completed in 2008, and bus drivers' radios will be replaced as part of it. It could also be used to control traffic lights: for example if a bus were delayed, the lights could be changed in its favour to speed it up. [1]