- This article is on the organisation responsible for most local bus services in London. For a more general article, see Buses in London.
London Buses is an arm of Transport for London (TfL), which manages local bus services within London. Most services are actually provided by private sector bus operators, although this is not particularly obvious to passengers, as all buses carry similar red colour schemes and conform to the same fare scheme.
Function
London Buses 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 to other operators as to how TfL wishes bus services to be run.
London Buses are also directly responsible for the management of bus stations and bus stops and other support services. They provide passenger information in the form of timetables and maps at bus stops, and produce leaflet maps which passengers can obtain at Travel Information Centres, libraries etc.
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.
Fares
Buses in the London Buses network accept both Travelcards and Oyster cards, as well as well as single fares and various bus only passes. At the time of writing (October 2004), the bus adult single fare is £1 for any journey; a one-day pass allowing unlimited bus journeys for one day costs £2.50.
Within zone 1, passengers must pre-purchase tickets prior to boarding a bus. To this end, all zone 1 bus stops are equipped with ticket machines which sell single tickets and one day passes. Outside zone 1, tickets may be purchased from the bus driver.
Bus Operating Companies
The following companies operate buses under contract to London Buses:
- Armchair
- Arriva London, part of the Arriva Group
- Arriva Shires & Essex, part of the Arriva Group
- Arriva Southern Counties, part of the Arriva Group
- Blue Triangle
- Ealing Community Transport
- East Thames Buses, directly owned by Transport for London
- Epsom Coaches
- First London, part of the First Group
- First Essex, part of the First Group
- First Thamesway, part of the First Group
- London Central, part of the Go-Ahead Group
- London General, part of the Go-Ahead Group
- London Sovereign, part of the French Transdev Group
- London United, part of the French Transdev Group
- Metrobus, part of the Go-Ahead Group
- Metroline, part of the Singaporean ComfortDelgro Corporation
- Stagecoach London, part of the Stagecoach Group
- Sullivan Buses
- Tellings-Golden Miller
- Travel London, part of the National Express Group
Legal status
The legal identity of the orgainisation which portrays itself as London Buses is actually London Bus Services Limited (LBSL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London. On the other hand, East Thames Buses is actually a trading name of another wholly owned subsidiary of TfL that is, rather confusingly, called 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 10 bus operating divisions that were sold off in 1994/95. It would appear that the company then lay dormant, was passed from LRT to TfL, and resurrected as a place for East Thames Buses to live within TfL, allowing a chinese wall to seperate it from LBSL.
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