They also had (back in the day when many routes ran through the City Centre and out the other side) a C suffix which denoted trips which terminated in the City Centre (and usually a B denoted other short runs).
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Bus Route Letters (e.g. "D" in Cheltenham)
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They also had (back in the day when many routes ran through the City Centre and out the other side) a C suffix which denoted trips which terminated in the City Centre (and usually a B denoted other short runs).
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Oracle
Established Member
I saw a Velvet Buses, Eastleigh, bus today and had forgotten that they have services A and C, plus it seems E8 and S2.
Schnellzug
Established Member
I don't know if RV1 has been mentioned yet, but that seems a curious anomoly in London. Wasn't it originally one of Ken's gimmicks using Hydrogen or nitrogen or Strontium fuelled buses or something like that?
Not quite,the route was introduced under Ken - partly so as to provide a bus right up to the doors of Tate Modern soon after it opened - even if roadworks seem to have got in the way a lot of the time subsequentl: the experimentation with new fuel types is a recent, Boris-era thing. The PR1 and PR2 (around Park Royal, sort of) are the only other recent ones i can think of with two initials, although the PB1 (Potters Bar) was a LT route before deregulation.
Of course there were "Hoppas" (in Hampstead, Hornchurch, and later places that didn't begin with "h") and "Red Arrows", but the only LT/LRT/TfL Route I can think that got a silly name based on it's number was, under Eastern National Citybus, "The W Niner". Dix/Grey Green did operate the 173 as "Eastenderbus" for a time, just when the newly launched soap opera of the name mentioned was gathering large audiences, but they didn't (and wouldn't have been allowed) to drop the number.
Statto
Established Member
There's a wierd new number in London, EL1, which has replaced the 369. I forgot about the London night routes, & i've been on a few as well including the N159, when it went through Croydon.
Eagle
Established Member
Is that to do with the ELS/ELW/ELR/ELQ/whatever bus routes that were used when the ELL was closed for mainlineification?
VTPreston_Tez
Member
Thankfully Rotala only use letters as route variants in Preston (2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, 88A, 88C, this does not count Stagecoach's local operations)
No, it's further east than that: the EL1 from Ilford to Barking Thames View Estate, and EL2 the same but continuing on to Dagenham Dock station. The original plan had been for these to be a tram route, the East London Transit, but cost-cutting meant that the bus routes were introduced instead. They have a special livery and (uniquely) are allowed to go through an otherwise pedestrianised bit of Barking Town Centre, but basically are bog-standard buses otherwise.
Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
Many bus services in both Lancashire and Cheshire ran with letter prefixes.
That's the RiVerside bus
There's supposed to be Hydrogen buses on them but there seem to be an awful lot replaced by random double deckers.
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That'd be the East London Transit - rather scaled down from the original plans. There's also the EL2 (and the night version of the EL1, referred to within London Buses as NELI).
London also has the non-TfL KU1 - KU3 Kingston University services.
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Statto
Established Member
As i said in a previous post, Crosville renumbered there whole network in 1959[which was some feat given that there were no Computers ecc], & introduced prefix letters mainly for the Town/City they were running from, like Liverpool routes had the H prifix, Chester C, Northwich, & Macclesfield E, Crewe & Nantwich K ecc.
Ribble had lettered routes as well, i remember the L3, & there were quite a few more Ribble routes with prifix letters.
dvboy
Established Member
Yes, such as the now gone 503W, which led to amusing attempts to fit it on the blinds. The 50W and 03W were common.Best to stick to three if none of the stock used actually has blinds that fit four.
255E is another NXWM regular one.
There are some schools services suffixed with an S suxh as 256S serving Ounsdale school in Womborne.
I also forgot they have an S2 in Solihull, and when the Metro first opened they suffixed connecting services with an M.
madannie77
Member
There is a route with two letters and three numbers: the AD122 Hadrian's Wall Bus.
David Goddard
Established Member
Back in Cambus (before Stagecoach) days, we used to have local services numbered E1 & E2 in Ely, N1 & N2 in Newmarket and H1- (I think) H4 in Haverhill.
Where I live now, near Reading, our local daytime service is the 72/82. On Evenings and Sundays the council subsidised service is operated by Reading Buses, who ran the service for a while as 82A. This was principally down to a deviation from the daytime route along the way.
Changes last Autumn say the evening service change to the same route as the daytime (so become straight 82) but a new diversion on Sudays via a new development called Kennet Island. Thus on Sundays we have an 82K
Reading Buses have used in the past a suffix E for Evening services on certain routes (the 22 has been in the past), and we now have a 40E and 50E again to the Kennet Island area.
Where I live now, near Reading, our local daytime service is the 72/82. On Evenings and Sundays the council subsidised service is operated by Reading Buses, who ran the service for a while as 82A. This was principally down to a deviation from the daytime route along the way.
Changes last Autumn say the evening service change to the same route as the daytime (so become straight 82) but a new diversion on Sudays via a new development called Kennet Island. Thus on Sundays we have an 82K
Reading Buses have used in the past a suffix E for Evening services on certain routes (the 22 has been in the past), and we now have a 40E and 50E again to the Kennet Island area.
Eagle
Established Member
Another one: before it was split up to become the Reds (r1, r2 and r3), Wilts and Dorset's PULSELINE was a frequent service in Salisbury. A "number" consisting of nine letters. That's got to be a record?
The countdown displays at bus stops called it the PUL, of course.
The countdown displays at bus stops called it the PUL, of course.
I fear trentbarton's "Ruddington Connection" is rather longer than that with 20+a gap. If you don't like having two words then even their "Mickleover" is 10.
My favourite route anomaly was in Huddersfield in the 1970s when I lived just off Manchester Road. Huddersfield didn't believe in letters of any kind so on the 50-52 Marsden route short workings to Slaithwaite were numbered 53 and to Cowlersley 54. I also told my flatmates of the 8 Hill Top and 9 Wilberlee, one of which was a short working of the other which they could also catch along Manchester Road.
That is, except when it went via Crosland Hill when it had the SAME NUMBER! Result, cross flatmates who refused to trust my bus expertise.
That is, except when it went via Crosland Hill when it had the SAME NUMBER! Result, cross flatmates who refused to trust my bus expertise.
Bexley.
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A is for Airport (as in A10). Most A routes aren't run by TfL though (there used to be the A1 and A2 serving various central London hotels direct from Heathrow.
B is Bexley / Bexleyheath.
C were Central Minibus services though the ones that survive are rather larger.
D is Docklands
E is Ealing
G is St Georges Hospital, Tooting (G1 only).
H is Heathrow.
Or Hounslow. Or Hillingdon. Or Hammersmith. Or Hampstead.
K is Kingston.
N are Nighbuses.
P is Peckham.
R is R-pington (they were called Roundabout buses in Orpington).
S is Sutton (there used to be the S2 which was Stratford.
T is Tramlink-connecting buses
U is Uxbridge
W is Waltham Forest
X is Express (X26 and X68 only)
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madannie77
Member
There are also some W-prefixed routes based around Wood Green which originated in the first "satellite" scheme, in 1968.
Re London lettering....racking my brains. All sorts of inconsistencies
And there was a W21 in Walthamstow (though Waltham Forest would do for this too)... And some of the "Wood Green" Ws don't go close to there; some never have...
And C has had various uses... originally, in Croydon; then later "Central", but the C2 was the "Camden hoppa" when it (most foolishly) was converted to midibus operation; not sure what the C in C11 was intended to stand for - Camden (borough) again, maybe; I might have suggested Cricklewood but I don't think it went there when it started...
There were, briefly, B routes in Barking. And for much longer, a B1 in Bromley.
Technically, the H1/2/3 are Hampstead Garden Suburb, quite a different place from Hampstead itself...
There was an M1 in Merton/Mitcham/Morden
The P4 didn't (and doesn't) go near to Peckham....
There are some R's in Richmond
There used to be not just an S2, but also an S1 and S3 in Stratford. Think there was another unspecified "S" somewhere round Lewisham too relatively recently.
77C was the last route to have a C suffix, I think on two separate occasions - (in its most recent incarnation it was a schools service) - odd that 77A was the last suffixed route overall, too.
One peculiarity, which didn't last long, and which think was the only example of this is London, was the 228A and 228C - a circular route, with "A" Anticlockwise and "C" Clockwise
The first use of lettered routes, in 1968 (Wood Green) was to indicate one-man operated, flat fare buses; the first minibus routes, introduced a few years later, were also all lettered.
And there was a W21 in Walthamstow (though Waltham Forest would do for this too)... And some of the "Wood Green" Ws don't go close to there; some never have...
And C has had various uses... originally, in Croydon; then later "Central", but the C2 was the "Camden hoppa" when it (most foolishly) was converted to midibus operation; not sure what the C in C11 was intended to stand for - Camden (borough) again, maybe; I might have suggested Cricklewood but I don't think it went there when it started...
There were, briefly, B routes in Barking. And for much longer, a B1 in Bromley.
Technically, the H1/2/3 are Hampstead Garden Suburb, quite a different place from Hampstead itself...
There was an M1 in Merton/Mitcham/Morden
The P4 didn't (and doesn't) go near to Peckham....
There are some R's in Richmond
There used to be not just an S2, but also an S1 and S3 in Stratford. Think there was another unspecified "S" somewhere round Lewisham too relatively recently.
77C was the last route to have a C suffix, I think on two separate occasions - (in its most recent incarnation it was a schools service) - odd that 77A was the last suffixed route overall, too.
One peculiarity, which didn't last long, and which think was the only example of this is London, was the 228A and 228C - a circular route, with "A" Anticlockwise and "C" Clockwise
The first use of lettered routes, in 1968 (Wood Green) was to indicate one-man operated, flat fare buses; the first minibus routes, introduced a few years later, were also all lettered.
And some more - there were the M1 and M2 services which ran to the Millenium Stadium in 2000 (along the Millenium Busway...).
Many long term tube replacement serves have been lettered (eg ELT, ELX, ELS, ELC, ELP on the last two closures of the East London Line).
The was the very brief commercial DB1 service between Victoria Coach Station and Victoria Station (every 10 minutes) back in 2004.
There's the non-TfL R21 from Uxbridge to Mount Vernon Hospital.
Eagle
Established Member
All the way to Cardiff? Seems a long way for TfL to go...
button_boxer
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Trent Barton have an interesting approach to marketing their services whereby each route has a brand name rather than a number, "The Mickleover", "Spondon Flyer", "TransPeak" etc. The Mickleover service is a circular route at the out-of-town end with the "red" buses running one way round the circuit and the "blue" ones the other.
The particularly interesting part is that while you can tell they're all run by the same company by the consistent use of the same typeface and the fact that they all take Mango smart cards, they seem to go to great lengths to avoid mentioning the Trent Barton name on their literature and on the buses themselves, presumably trying to build loyalty to each route brand individually rather than to the company brand as a whole.
150222
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Hebden Bridge's minibus network (operated by Tyrer Tours of Nelson, Lancashire. Formerly First) are numbered A-E. Todmorden (Tyrers) & Elland (TJ Walsh, Sowerby Bridge) minibuses are numbered with a letter at the front. E.G T6 is the Todmorden to Mankinholes bus and E8 is the Brighouse to Barkisland via Elland bus. In addition 2 'MYbus' school services in Hebden Bridge (First) are numbered HB1 & HB2.
Ivo
Established Member
Many local buses in Northern Ireland use letters. In addition, I believe local buses in the not-so-pleasant town of Kettering use letters.
Just like in post #15...
Admittedly I didn't mention the Elland ones - which are now very odd. On Saturdays the E8 (and only the E8) operates. On Mon - Fri the E7 operates Ripponden - Brighouse via Elland quite normally. On the way back the bus does a loop round an Elland local service as an E3, E5 or E6 before continuing as an E7 as if nothing had happened but taking 20-odd minutes longer in that direction.
It's clever timetabling, though. Covers the greatest number of routes with the minimum of resources.
It also gives the returning locals a little run out!
I fancy trying it as a run out (especially as I have family in Ripponden). I can see it being annoying though - on the way out it's 40-odd minutes compared with maybe 25 in a car which isn't too bad - but adding another 20 minutes on will feel like a long bus ride! Seems very odd that Saturdays are competely different (but only requires 1 bus, not 2) and that the link no longer serves Brighouse station.
Also leaves Krumlin with a peculiar service - hourly on this plus a couple a day on the 900 Mon Fri, 1 each way on the 900 on Saturdays, but 3 each way on Summer Sundays on the 900! Can't be many places with their worst service on a Saturday! (Ok, technically a winter sunday...)
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