[TRIVIA] Appropriate/Imaginitive Route Numbers

[Flange Squeal]

I was wondering what examples of more imaginative or locally appropriate route numbers exist, rather than just having 'a number'. What I mean by this are examples such as:

• Stagecoach South's Andover to Picket Twenty route has the appropriate route number P20.
• National Express's former Woking Railair was 701, but following a doctored meme with 'Woking 925' displayed on the front of a coach doing the rounds as a reference to the Dolly Parton 'Working 9 to 5' lyric, the operator actually then changed the route's number to 925.
• A number of airport buses from towns/cities have/had '7x7' route numbers, presumably in reference to the Boeing aircraft manufacturer's numbering system (e.g. Aberdeen 727, Bournemouth 737, Edinburgh 747, Glasgow 757).

 

[Bristol LHS]

Go North East have the AD122 Hadrian’s Wall bus, named after the year of the Wall‘s construction.

 

[67thave]

Here in New York City, Manhattan crosstown buses north of Houston Street and south of 135th Street are numbered after the streets they primarily operate on (M8, M14A/M14D, M23, M34/M34A, M42, M50, M57, M66, M72, M79, M86, M96, M106, M116, and the newly-established M125).

Additionally, the M14A/M14D is its own subexample, as the route suffixes indicate the avenue each branch runs on in Alphabet City.

 

[Dai Corner]

Services across the Severn Bridge between south Wales and Bristol have traditionally been numbered X7 and are now T7.

 

[Simon75]

Wardle Transport (Arriva Midlands) had X50 Hanley to Derby, as wad roughly parallel with the A50 between Stoke-on-Trent and Derby
National Express 007 London to Dover, is called that I think as there is a connection with James Bond

 

[NorthOxonian]

The X66 between Darlington, Stockton, and Middlesbrough - much of its route is either along the A66 or very close to it.

 

[43055]

I was wondering what examples of more imaginative or locally appropriate route numbers exist, rather than just having 'a number'. What I mean by this are examples such as:

• Stagecoach South's Andover to Picket Twenty route has the appropriate route number P20.
• National Express's former Woking Railair was 701, but following a doctored meme with 'Woking 925' displayed on the front of a coach doing the rounds as a reference to the Dolly Parton 'Working 9 to 5' lyric, the operator actually then changed the route's number to 925.
• A number of airport buses from towns/cities have/had '7x7' route numbers, presumably in reference to the Boeing aircraft manufacturer's numbering system (e.g. Aberdeen 727, Bournemouth 737, Edinburgh 747, Glasgow 757).

X38 from Derby to Burton via the A38 by arriva and trentbarton
H1 from Derby to Heanor and Alfreton which the buses are branded as Heanor's H1 also by trentbarton.

 

[Man of Kent]

National Express 007 London to Dover, is called that I think as there is a connection with James Bond

That's been aired before. When National Express numbers were first introduced in 1972/73, services from London were broadly numbered clockwise from the Thames Estuary. The 001 served Thanet; other variations meant the 007 served Dover. The 007 later became Shuttle 020, when shuttle routes occupied all the 0x0 numbers. NatEx restored the 007 number on the usual spurious grounds that Ian Fleming once lived near the A2, and had been inspired by the 007 number. But it was rubbish, as Fleming lived there in the early 1960s, when the service was run by East Kent, with an L prefix (and M prefixes once the M2 was open). There was never any direct James Bond connection.

However, Stagecoach's short-lived Canterbury-North Greenwich express service was numbered M2, as it used the M2 motorway in part, and fitted into the Megabus numbering scheme (as tickets could be purchased on the Megabus website).

Stagecoach South East also ran a bus to Howletts Zoo near Canterbury (correctly Howletts Wild Animal Park) for a couple of seasons, numbered 200.

 

[busesrusuk]

TfL have, in the past, used letters for rail replacement routes such as ELX/ELT.

Green Line had a network of services linking the London airports. Originally the orbital Green Line route linking Gatwick, Heathrow and Luton was numbered 727. Later additions were the 757 London to Luton, 767 London to Heathrow and the 777 London to Gatwick. A fast non-stop service via the M25 numbered 747 linked Heathrow with Gatwick. All those numbers are of course Boeing airliners but I doubt if the average punter made the aircraft connection(no pun intended!) except perhaps for the routes numbered 747 (being the Boeing designator for the Jumbo jet)

More recently, Oxford bus have used the airport IATA codes for its airlink service from Oxford to Heathrow and Gatwick. Coaches displaying either LHR (Heathrow), LGW (Gatwick) or OXF for Oxford. Some pics here:

Oxford 33 Jun21

Oxford, Jun 2021

www.flickr.com

Capital Citybus 180

Aldgate Bus Station. This bus was originally Higfhland Omnibuses J6

www.flickr.com

SCoach E London SR74

Surrey Quays

www.flickr.com

Kentish Bus 408

Stratford Bus Station

www.flickr.com

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Green Line had a network of services linking the London airports. Originally the orbital Green Line route linking Gatwick, Heathrow and Luton was numbered 727. Later additions were the 757 London to Luton, 767 London to Heathrow and the 777 London to Gatwick. A fast non-stop service via the M25 numbered 747 linked Heathrow with Gatwick. All those numbers are of course Boeing airliners but I doubt if the average punter made the aircraft connection(no pun intended!) except perhaps for the routes numbered 747 (being the Boeing designator for the Jumbo jet)

There have been many, many instances of 7*7 variations being used for airport services in many locations; seem to recall that we had a thread on it, and as mentioned in the very first post on this one.

 

[WY Bus Spotter]

First Leeds 7A goes to Alwoodley and 7S goes to Shadwell

 

[Doctor Fegg]

The Leicester to Uppingham (and formerly Peterborough) bus is also a 747, but that’s because it follows the A47, not because of any airborne connection…

 

[GusB]

First Leeds 7A goes to Alwoodley and 7S goes to Shadwell

That's not really an example of an imaginative route number, though.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

X38 from Derby to Burton via the A38 by arriva and trentbarton

In much the same way that Stagecoach X38 follows the A38 from Exeter to Plymouth

 

[PTR 444]

Aren’t most Megabus routes numbered after the motorway/A road they primarily travel down (M3 London - Bournemouth uses the M3 and M34 Newcastle - Portsmouth uses the A34).

 

[asb]

Aren’t most Megabus routes numbered after the motorway/A road they primarily travel down (M3 London - Bournemouth uses the M3 and M34 Newcastle - Portsmouth uses the A34).

I would say *some* are, most are not

 

[nw1]

TfL have, in the past, used letters for rail replacement routes such as ELX/ELT.

Green Line had a network of services linking the London airports. Originally the orbital Green Line route linking Gatwick, Heathrow and Luton was numbered 727. Later additions were the 757 London to Luton, 767 London to Heathrow and the 777 London to Gatwick. A fast non-stop service via the M25 numbered 747 linked Heathrow with Gatwick. All those numbers are of course Boeing airliners but I doubt if the average punter made the aircraft connection(no pun intended!) except perhaps for the routes numbered 747 (being the Boeing designator for the Jumbo jet)

I'd be surprised if they did not. When I first encountered these coach services aged probably about 12, I could instantly see why they were numbered as they were (not just the 747), and I was familiar with the Boeing scheme in general, which at that time had reached 767. And this was before I had ever set foot in an aircraft!

 

[TheSel]

Back in the days of Crosville's 'letter prefix' numbering system, where different geographical areas had route numbers beginning with a particular letter (e.g. A was Flint, B was Mold etc), the Wirral area services were F- prefixed. It was standard practice for out of service buses to display F 0 Private. I'll leave to the readers' imagination what F 0 stood for - in the staff's opinion at least.

 

[Springs Branch]

When it comes to imaginative route branding, you have to go a long way to beat Trentbarton's offerings.
A quick scan of the company's website gives the following list of routes:-

allestree​

the calverton​

connect​

comet​

the cotgrave​

H1​

harlequin​

i4​

ilkeston flyer​

indigo​

the keyworth​

mainline​

mickleover​

my15​

N1 unibus​

nines​

rainbow one​

red arrow​

royal derby​

rushcliffe villager​

sixes​

skylink express​

skylink Nottingham​

swift​

threes​

two​

U1 unibus​

U2 unibus​

villager​

V3​

X38​

plus over half-a-dozen conventionally numbered services.

 

[Typhoon]

That's been aired before. When National Express numbers were first introduced in 1972/73, services from London were broadly numbered clockwise from the Thames Estuary. The 001 served Thanet; other variations meant the 007 served Dover. The 007 later became Shuttle 020, when shuttle routes occupied all the 0x0 numbers. NatEx restored the 007 number on the usual spurious grounds that Ian Fleming once lived near the A2, and had been inspired by the 007 number. But it was rubbish, as Fleming lived there in the early 1960s, when the service was run by East Kent, with an L prefix (and M prefixes once the M2 was open). There was never any direct James Bond connection.

Fleming owned a property on the beach at St Margaret's Bay (where coaches would have some difficulty extricating themselves from). Occasional journeys on the 007 may have stopped at the village at the top of the hill, but that is it, certainly it was not on the main route.
A lot of this comes from parts of the area marketing itself as '007 Country' - there was a publicity leaflet to that effect.

When Stagecoach ran an open-top bus route in Hastings, it was numbered the '66'.

 

[RELL6L]

Stagecoach West Scotland have the X74 from Dumfries to Glasgow which runs largely up the M74/A74.

Also the fast X75 between Dumfries and Stranraer roughly paralleled the A75. Possibility also the X76 and X77 have some correlation to the road numbers, particularly the X77.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

First South West has dispensed with service numbers in favour of brands in certain instances - Lands End Coaster, Atlantic Coaster, the Mousehole, Exmoor Coaster.

In other areas, the brand has been accompanied by a revision to the service number so the 14/18 were renumbered as T1/T2 when the Tinner brand was introduced

 

[Mal]

When it comes to imaginative route branding, you have to go a long way to beat Trentbarton's offerings.
A quick scan of the company's website gives the following list of routes:-

allestree​

the calverton​

connect​

comet​

the cotgrave​

H1​

harlequin​

i4​

ilkeston flyer​

indigo​

the keyworth​

mainline​

mickleover​

my15​

N1 unibus​

nines​

rainbow one​

red arrow​

royal derby​

rushcliffe villager​

sixes​

skylink express​

skylink Nottingham​

swift​

threes​

two​

U1 unibus​

U2 unibus​

villager​

V3​

X38​

plus over half-a-dozen conventionally numbered services.

Could you tell us what letters are used on destination screens for 'named' routes, eg 'the keyworth' and 'rushcliffe villager' pleaseas they are never used on timetables?

 

[padbus]

The Stagecoach SW service from Paignton to Foxhole Road is named Fox. The service from Paignton to Plymouth is named Gold because it used Gold buses though many have now been painted yellow. In Exeter the three Park & Ride car parks have distinctive coloured signage. Honiton Road is red, Sowton is blue and Matford is green. There was a dedicated fleet of buses painted the appropriate colours and, after a while, the route numbers were replaced by the colours. Then the Matford (green) and Sowton (blue) services were linked across the city centre and the blue buses were repainted green. Then came the new Stagecoach livery and the green buses were early repaints into the standard 'local' livery. Now the Honiton Road (red) route has been discontinued and the P+R site served by passing service 4/4A buses. However we still have the green and blue car parks served by route Green using buses in standard livery (apart from the single E300 that is pink).

 

[WY Bus Spotter]

That's not really an example of an imaginative route number, though.

My bad, I read the title as 'Appropriate or Imaginative Route Numbers'

 

[43055]

Could you tell us what letters are used on destination screens for 'named' routes, eg 'the keyworth' and 'rushcliffe villager' pleaseas they are never used on timetables?

For 'branded' routes they generally don't show anything as the destination will alter between the 'brand' and where the bus is going unless there are multiple variations of the route eg 6.1, 6.2 etc.

At stops with a live departure board the 'brand' will be shortened down for example 'the villager' becomes 'vil'.

 

[noddingdonkey]

There used to be an M1 service Huddersfield-Sheffield and an M62 service Leeds - White Rose Centre - Halifax using the relevant motorway.

 

[Man of Kent]

Fleming owned a property on the beach at St Margaret's Bay (where coaches would have some difficulty extricating themselves from). Occasional journeys on the 007 may have stopped at the village at the top of the hill, but that is it, certainly it was not on the main route.
A lot of this comes from parts of the area marketing itself as '007 Country' - there was a publicity leaflet to that effect.

But as Fleming died in 1964, he would never have clapped eyes on an 007 coach service anywhere!

However, it turns out the visitkent website perpetuates the myth - something I think I should try to get corrected.

 

[bussnapperwm]

National Express West Midlands used to run a service 999 Walsall to... Manor Hospital

 

[Ken H]

The Harrogate - Skipton Saturday only bus via Blubberhouses is the 59, which goes along the A59. The time I caught it, it was a well filled double decker.