Bus Route Letters (e.g. "D" in Cheltenham)

[Ivo]

Most places worldwide give their bus routes numbers to distinguish them from one another. Occasionally you might get a specially branded route that uses letters etc to promote it, such as the 'more' routes in Bournemouth, some that are less significant that others and often done to associate them with their local area, such as some of the more localised routes in London, and most often, these letters are used as suffixes to identity route variations, e.g. 2, 2A, 2B.

So why do some places, such as Cheltenham and Exeter (both modern-day Stagecoach operations), use letters instead of numbers to identify each route? I realise that these letters only apply to the local routes in both places, but is it a convention of a former operator, a means of separating local routes and long-distance routes - or simply local preference?

 

[tbtc]

There have been a number of "initials" used for minibus routes around Sheffield. They started off as "N" for "Nipper" (later "Little Nipper"), then a common or garden "M" (for "Minibus") but in recent years we've had the A1, A3 (but no "A2"), A4, B1, B2, D1, P1, P2, S1, S2, S6, SL1, TF2... as well as various "X" routes.

We've even had things like "S6A" (with a letter at the start and end), I think there was an X8A in Glasgow and an X06 in Edinburgh too.

Fife towns used to have a local initial for local services (D for Dunfermline, G for Glenrothes, K for Kirkcaldy etc), but these have gradually been replaced by Stagecoach with regular route numbers.

Glenrothes briefly had routes with just an individual letter (like Exeter, Cheltenham), but these were replaced by the G1, G2 etc.

 

[Eagle]

Stagecoach Glamorgan has loads of lettered services, including a J and an X.



Closer to home, De Courcey have a W1a and a W1c (can't remember if there's a W1b) as well as loads of other ones starting with W... their park-and-rides also bear the designations PRN and PRS.

Stagecoach Warwickshire come up with a few weird ones from time to time, such as U17 and C54 (there is no 54, by the way).



Wilts and Dorset's weird habit of using lowercase letters on their More (m1, m2, formerly up to m6) and Reds (r1 to r3) services really looks wrong though.

 

[Statto]

Most lettered only routes tend to be local Town/City routes, so prob it's to give a more local feel to the route, than having them numbered 1-2 or E1-E2 ecc. TrentBarton has some of the wierdest route numbers like MF,SF, CF, TP ecc, MF & SF have a Red route & a Blue route as well.

 

[90019]

Stirling has the UL, which is the UniLink bus.

 

[Statto]

Stagecoach Glamorgan has loads of lettered services, including a J and an X.



Closer to home, De Courcey have a W1a and a W1c (can't remember if there's a W1b) as well as loads of other ones starting with W... their park-and-rides also bear the designations PRN and PRS.

Stagecoach Warwickshire come up with a few weird ones from time to time, such as U17 and C54 (there is no 54, by the way).



Wilts and Dorset's weird habit of using lowercase letters on their More (m1, m2, formerly up to m6) and Reds (r1 to r3) services really looks wrong though.

Crosville were one operator in the late 50s who changed there whole numbering system to begin with a letter, as the operating area at the time was quite big, & had a routes numbered 116-116A ecc, Crosville gave every area a prefix letter, like routes in the Wirral area would be F, Liverpool H, but would mostly end with a number, such as F19, H8, although some Liverpool routes were numbered H8X which were industrial services.

Ribble also had lettered routes, i remember the L3, which survived beyond D-Reg, although it's now the 53.

 

[starrymarkb]

The Exeter City routes have always been lettered, it followed on from when the city had Trams with lettered routes. It was kept when Exeter Corporation sold out to Devon General/Western National, through privatisation to Devon General Transit holdings and then Stagecoach, when new routes are created they are assigned a new letter (ie the "C" for the Exeter Chiefs shuttle)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21611052@N02/3925637210/

 

[Badger]

In the West Midlands the numbers typically mean the same thing on multiple buses, i.e. E is always a shorterned route, X a limited stop express, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...dlands_bus_routes#Service_numbering_structure

 

[Statto]

In the West Midlands the numbers typically mean the same thing on multiple buses, i.e. E is always a shorterned route, X a limited stop express, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...dlands_bus_routes#Service_numbering_structure

Do you remember Yourbus, who had route numberes like A6Y, C6Y?

Mind you National Express West Midlands, express routes tend to be in the 900 series, although they do have an X51 ecc.

 

[Eagle]

In the West Midlands the numbers typically mean the same thing on multiple buses, i.e. E is always a shorterned route, X a limited stop express, etc.

Not in Coventry, though; the only E route is the 81E, and that stands for Eastern Green.

A for anticlockwise and C for clockwise are quite common.

 

[tripleseis]

They use letter prefixes in NYC:

M for Manhattan
Bx for Bronx
Q for Queens
B for Brooklyn
S for Staten Island

Cross Borough Routes are
BM for Brooklyn to Manhattan
BxM for Bronx to Manhattan
QM for Queens to Manhattan

X for express routes.

 

[Schnellzug]

In exter, I think, it's a legacy of Exeter Corporation; Harry Blundered used them before Stagecoach. Southern national ued to use letters for town services too.

 

[jha4ceb]

And there is (or used to be) a QBx1 from Queens to the Bronx, too.

 

[jopsuk]

Most "X" services are either long distance express buses (Such as the Oxford-Cambridge X5) where the X helps avoid a clash with local route numbers or are limited-stop versions of local buses (Lothian for example run X versions of several routes at peak times).

In Cambridge, the Guided Busway services have been lettered A-D, no number, to help them stand out from other services.

 

[Deerfold]

In West Yorkshire areas used to be like the London routes with local minibus services starting with a letter (W for Wharfedale services, H for Hebden Bridge or Holme Valley Services, T for Todmorden) then in the nineties the Hebden Bridge network was revamped and numbered A-I (only A-E remain) then the rest of the local networks were numbered 9x1 - 9x9 (so 961-966 for Wharfedale Services). Oddly Todmorden has kept T and the Holme Valley H and now there's ML (MetroLocal) services that run a handful of times during the day to local shops (with a handful of MetroConnect services having come and gone) and the SS1 - unusal in that it runs from Steeton and Silsden Station into North Yorkshire but accepts West Yorkshire tickets (including train tickets to Steeeton).

Minibus services in main towns and cities began with an 8, Night buses either a 9 or an N (not that any of the traditional night services survive in West Yorkshire).

Nothing like standardisation! At least the route numbers used to be nice and logical - you could tell at least roughly where one end of the route would end from the 1st number (1 - Wakefield 3 - Huddersfield, 5 - Halifax, 6 - Bradford, 7 - Keighley / Harrogate / Wetherby).

London's got rid of all its suffixed routes (largely as many routes had grown quite different but still had similar numbers such as the 22 and 22B with the 77A hanging on a few years after the rest before becoming the 87.

Nottingham used to be unusual in having Express routes numbered as a suffix - 1X and 2X springing to mind - not sure if any of these are left (had a quick look - it seems there's just the 13X which seems to mostly be positioning journeys) - though some in the nineties began with a 5

 

[142094]

A lot of bus routes with letters were there to show some sort of deviation from a normal route - either permanently or at certain times of day/week. For example, Newcastle had the 12 and 12A, the 12A running on the same route excpet for one street in Byker, where it went a different way (until they took it off).

 

[Statto]

Before D-Reg routes into Liverpool Pier Head ended sufflix letters like 79C & 79D, the C stood for journeys going via Church Street[then via Hood Street & Lord Street, when Church Street was pedestrianised], whilst D numbers were journeys that went down Dale Street[Inbound via Dale Street, outbound via Tithebarn Street when the one way system was introduced], A & B was a variation to the main route, although there were exceptions.

Also Arriva since buying out MTL has renumbered every route they operate in Merseyside & West Lancashire,, with Liverpool 1 to 99, Wirral 400 to 499, St Helens 30-39, Southport 40-48, West Lancashire 300-399 although there are exceptions.

All the other Merseyside companies have kept there number scheme.

 

[tbtc]

(Lothian for example run X versions of several routes at peak times)

Back in my day (say twenty years ago), Lothian's "express" services had regular two digit numbers that were generally a higher version of the "all stops" services.

For example, the 86 was the faster version of the 26 - it only became X86 years later, then X26.

London's got rid of all its suffixed routes (largely as many routes had grown quite different but still had similar numbers such as the 22 and 22B with the 77A hanging on a few years after the rest before becoming the 87

It surprises me that London still has a lot of prefix routes, even on routes through the centre like the C2.

 

[Oracle]

In the 1960s and into the 1970s Thames Valley, which became Alder Valley, had limited stop London Victoria Coach Station to Reading services A, via A30 to Virginia Water, then via Bracknell, and B, via A4 to Slough, and then via Maidenhead. Lodekkas were used then Leyland Nationals.

Salisbury has Wilts & Dorset's r1 etc 'Reds' services, and Southampton has Uni-Link's U1C,. etc. services with the suffix after the route number indicating City, [General] Hospital, Airport, and Docks.

Oh, LT's first lettered rfed bus route that I know of was the A1 Airport Express Hounslow West Station-Heathrow Central which also had garage journeys from H/W to Hounslow Garage. Swifts, Merlins and Nationals were used.

 

[dvboy]

In Birmingham there is a 10 and 10H - the H runs down Harborne High Street instead of the usual 10 route.

Already been mentioned about the E suffix.

Bus numbers outside Birmingham used to be grouped by area eg 2xx was Dudley, 3xx Walsall, 4xx Sandwell, 5xx Wolverhampton but it is Centro policy now to duplicate numbers in different towns so there are fewer services that follow this convention now.

6xx are generally services wholly subsidised by Centro and 7xx for Schools and Works services.

The difference between 9xx and Xxx is blurry but 9xx is generally long distance, while Xxx would follow the same route but as an express service (for example the 51 and X51).

 

[Badger]

Furthering the above post, 8xx has typically been used for services subsidised by Staffordshire Council (I think), 803, 810, 878, 880 (defunct), 810, 890, 891, 892.

The only other 8xx in the WM is the 801, which runs to the Uni of Warwick, so I assume it's services subsidised from outside councils. (Not counting 8xx numbered school routes, of which there are many).

 

[Eagle]

Most "X" services are either long distance express buses (Such as the Oxford-Cambridge X5) where the X helps avoid a clash with local route numbers or are limited-stop versions of local buses (Lothian for example run X versions of several routes at peak times).

Wilts and Dorset are adamant that X stands not for "express" but "crosscounty" (that's a real word, apparently); lest no one think their Xs are fast...

Nottingham used to be unusual in having Express routes numbered as a suffix - 1X and 2X springing to mind - not sure if any of these are left (had a quick look - it seems there's just the 13X which seems to mostly be positioning journeys) - though some in the nineties began with a 5

X suffixes are standard for NXWM and NXC (seems to be a Centro thing, as all their literature superscripts the X, which looks odd).

The only other 8xx in the WM is the 801, which runs to the Uni of Warwick, so I assume it's services subsidised from outside councils. (Not counting 8xx numbered school routes, of which there are many).

That is NXC's only bus number higher than 99 It's subsidized by the med school

2bph between the University and Walsgrave Hospital, via nowhere interesting; it's always near empty (unless some freshers have organized a mass trip to the Laserquest) and it runs till 10pm...

 

[sonic2009]

The UNI bus from Cheltenham - Gloucester is a 94U the U meaning its serves the UNI Campuses.

Letters are generally to distinguish different sub routes i.e like the letters used on services like First Wyverns Worcester - Great Malvern 44/44A/44B, the latter a Summer Sundays extension from Great Malvern - Ledbury.

 

[Statto]

NXWM are one of the few companies who use 4 track numbers, such as 934A, the only other area that used to use 4 track numbers was London with numbers 171A which have now been phased out.

After GMPTE renumbered all the routes in the 70s, Greater Manchester rarely used letters, only using suffix X like 192X, which meant an extra service rather than express. Think letters first appeared when GM Buses launched the Little Gem minibus service, but think they were prefix letters like P4, the first time i remember GM area using suffix letters was for the 23A Stockport-Trafford Centre although think there may have been a few other routes using suffix letters.

 

[Deerfold]

NXWM are one of the few companies who use 4 track numbers, such as 934A, the only other area that used to use 4 track numbers was London with numbers 171A which have now been phased out.

After GMPTE renumbered all the routes in the 70s, Greater Manchester rarely used letters, only using suffix X like 192X, which meant an extra service rather than express. Think letters first appeared when GM Buses launched the Little Gem minibus service, but think they were prefix letters like P4, the first time i remember GM area using suffix letters was for the 23A Stockport-Trafford Centre although think there may have been a few other routes using suffix letters.

There's still some 4-track numbers in London - but I think they're all night routes. N550 and N551 are the largest.

 

[Ivo]

I know it's not really the same, but my local bus route has a four-track number (SPA1/SPA2)...

 

[Deerfold]

I know it's not really the same, but my local bus route has a four-track number (SPA1/SPA2)...

And West Yorkshire has the ML10 which takes a whole 29 minutes to get back to where it started:

http://www.wymetro.com/NR/rdonlyres/D27F3427-7807-4A5B-B79F-7254A411AD18/0/ML010bustimetable.pdf

And the FLX 1 and 2

http://www.wymetro.com/NR/rdonlyres...05D-806F4BAF8F3D/0/00flx_hbd_bustimetable.pdf

Never did understand why the FLX1 is shown as going back to the station via Heptonstall (when you can only board at the first 2 stops)...

 

[Badger]

NXWM are one of the few companies who use 4 track numbers, such as 934A,

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.

 

[tbtc]

Wilts and Dorset are adamant that X stands not for "express" but "crosscounty" (that's a real word, apparently); lest no one think their Xs are fast...

We have that in South Yorkshire too; First SY's X78 from Sheffield to Doncaster sounds "fast" but it serves every stop

 

[bb21]

Nottingham used to be unusual in having Express routes numbered as a suffix - 1X and 2X springing to mind - not sure if any of these are left (had a quick look - it seems there's just the 13X which seems to mostly be positioning journeys) - though some in the nineties began with a 5

NCT's suffixes all received standard meanings at the network recast in 2001. X-suffix were designated "other exceptions" rather than "express".

Dorchester and Weymouth were two further areas that used to have lettered routes during Southern National days, and for a good number of years post deregulation. Routes A, B, C, D, ... were renumbered 1, 2, 3, 4, ... in the earlier part of 2000s.

Wilts and Dorset's weird habit of using lowercase letters on their More (m1, m2, formerly up to m6) and Reds (r1 to r3) services really looks wrong though.

I believe m7 also existed for a period of time after the initial introduction of the m5/6/7 in replacement of the 155/6/7 routes.