Trivia: Current and Historical route which are letter only

[Simon75]

From the Stagecoach South West thread, Exeter has letter only routes in the city.
What other place currently or historically have/had letter only routes

 

[Roger1973]

A few -


Preston Corporation buses used to show a one or two letter route code example (not mine) on Flickr.

Reading Mainline's routes all had route letters rather than numbers - I understand this was based on Reading Corporation's historic route letter system for motor bus routes (although I don't think the route letters were ever shown on buses, and route numbers were eventually adopted and displayed some time in the 50s or 60s)

The 'Street Shuttle' mini-bus networks in at least Kettering and Wellingborough that United Counties introduced in the late 80s had route letters not numbers. (Kettering example on Flickr - not my photo or account) - interurban services retained route numbers.

Routes on the current Luton - Dunstable busway mostly have letters not numbers (at present Arriva A and Z, Centrebus B and E, Grant Palmer C and CX and Hi) - Arriva F70 and F77 are the exceptions.

Some operators used letters for express services (e.g. Lincolnshire Road Car - again, not my photo) and London Transport used letters for some special services around the Festival of Britain - example here, again not my photo) - service J evolved in to the Round London Sightseeing Tour and all its successors.

And if we're counting trams as well, Nottingham's (first generation) tram routes had letters rather than numbers.

 

[Ken H]

Yorkshire Wollen had letters for locals in Dewsbury and numbers for longer distance services.

Here is a 1952 timetable to illustrate.

Timetable World

timetableworld.com

Link goes to image files

 

[Dai Corner]

Caerphilly has A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, K, L and X

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Cheltenham's local services are lettered.

Two examples in the East of England - Cambridgeshire Busway A, B, H and R , and First's Excel services being A, B, C and D. As with Stagecoach East, they run LAX and they'll doubtless be plenty of one offs around the country.

 

[higthomas]

Cambridge busway has A and B. Previously U, C, D, F, H, R and maybe others (X?).

 

[Merle Haggard]

Both Eastern National (when they had a Midland area) and Eastern Counties used letters for express services. I think this dated from the original Road Traffic Act licencing. Not sure when they changed, but it might not have been until the N.B.C. / National Express for E.C.O.C..

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

Before they withdrew their Surrey operations, the bus war in Guildford (Arriva, Stagecoach and independent operator Safeguard) led to Arriva introducing a short-lived series of three "lettered" routes: A, B and C.

I seem to recall they withdrew their 26/27 town circular routes in favour of (what they claimed was) a "simplified network" - or something along those lines.

In reality, however, routes A, B and C were just carbon copies of (parts of) existing routes run by the other two operators, with the sole purpose of trying to steal their passengers and their revenue.

Though it wasn't just Arriva who played the game, as Safeguard also launched a "carbon copy" route to rival Arriva on their route 3, but that's going off topic...

 

[Andyh82]

When Metro in West Yorkshire relaunched the Hebden Bridge local services (including using 2 ill fated Optare Aleros) they renumbered the services A, B, C, D etc

Some of the nice to have services later in the alphabet were withdrawn fairly quickly, and the ones that stuck around have since been renumbered into the normal big bus 500s sequence that applies in this area

 

[Roger1973]

the mention of bus wars has reminded me -

Metrobus's short lived 'Mini Metro' operation in Gravesend in the late 80s used route letters. Photo (again, not mine) on Flickr here.

And of course the current North Kent Fastrack network has route letters rather than numbers. Photo, (not mine) here.

 

[SSmith2009]

Leicester has two both run by Centrebus using electric buses.

HH - hospital Hopper
Hop! - free city centre hopper service

 

[Hophead]

Oxford's Airline coaches seem to use the IATA code for the destination airport as a route identifier (and OXF when returning back home).

 

[Lewisham2221]

PMT(First) had the A, B & C routes between Newcastle and various parts of the Clayton area. There was also a service to the Westlands, under the sister Flexi brand, which was 'numbered' either D or E - I forget which.

Fairly sure during the latter days of Arriva operating in Stafford, there was a service H serving the hospital.

 

[Clydeflyer]

It was before my time at Stagecoach/Magicbus but when Perth Panther first started the bus war against Strathtay Scottish in the Perth Bus Wars, all the Perth Panther network of services had alphabetic routes. So I think Perth Panther routes A and B competed against Strathtay routes 1 and 2. By the time I joined the route networks were competing using the same service numbers.

 

[py_megapixel]

Sheffield previously had SC for Sheffield Connect, a free city centre circular service. The service has since been revamped and there are now two routes, SC1 and SC2.

A couple of sightseeing tour buses use the names of colours instead of numbers - for example, Go-Ahead East Yorkshire uses RED for their Scarborough seafront service. (Slightly confusingly, competitor Shoreline Suncruisers uses number 109 for the same route)

Then of course there is Trent Barton and their silly named routes, most of which don't have numbers.

Looking further afield, Vienna had at one point several lettered tram lines; now, only D and O survive.

 

[Bungle158]

A few -


Preston Corporation buses used to show a one or two letter route code example (not mine) on Flickr.

Reading Mainline's routes all had route letters rather than numbers - I understand this was based on Reading Corporation's historic route letter system for motor bus routes (although I don't think the route letters were ever shown on buses, and route numbers were eventually adopted and displayed some time in the 50s or 60s)

The 'Street Shuttle' mini-bus networks in at least Kettering and Wellingborough that United Counties introduced in the late 80s had route letters not numbers. (Kettering example on Flickr - not my photo or account) - interurban services retained route numbers.

Routes on the current Luton - Dunstable busway mostly have letters not numbers (at present Arriva A and Z, Centrebus B and E, Grant Palmer C and CX and Hi) - Arriva F70 and F77 are the exceptions.

Some operators used letters for express services (e.g. Lincolnshire Road Car - again, not my photo) and London Transport used letters for some special services around the Festival of Britain - example here, again not my photo) - service J evolved in to the Round London Sightseeing Tour and all its successors.

And if we're counting trams as well, Nottingham's (first generation) tram routes had letters rather than numbers.

Reading Corporation Transport as was, introduced route numbers (displayed on buses) in 1964 if l remember correctly. The original numbering had to be configured not to conflict with the Thames Valley Traction Co's route numbers in the Reading area.

In those days, Thames Valley ran 2 London services from Reading. These carried letters as opposed to route numbers. A via Wokingham and Ascot B via Maidenhead and Heathrow

 

[plugwash]

Trent busses (now highpeak) used to run the transpeak service which did not have a number as such. Where a short code was needed it was abbreviated "TP". IIRC the service originally ran from Manchester to Nottingham but was cut back to Manchester to Derby a long time ago.

More recently though, the service seems to have been split into seperate parts TP1, TP2 and TP3, and then the TP1 part (manchester to buxton IIRC) seems to have been discontinued.

 

[hdennis13]

Cambridge busway has A and B. Previously U, C, D, F, H, R and maybe others (X?).

There was a short lived P (Pedigree) run by whippet worked for 6 months in 2019

 

[SuspectUsual]

Midland Red South set up a little network of minibus routes in Coventry in the mid 1980s and these were all lettered rather than numbered

https://flic.kr/p/2odo1gE is a picture of one of them

 

[Trainguy34]

Ashford has the A, AD, B, C, D and G. I think there used to be an E but I think it was removed.

 

[Man of Kent]

Ashford has the A, AD, B, C, D and G. I think there used to be an E but I think it was removed.

E (Eureka) was partly replaced by G (Godinton). There was also an H at one stage. The use of Y to Wye was considered....

In addition, Stagecoach South East use 'Loop', one each in Thanet and Eastbourne, and prior to its splitting into two number-suffixed variations, Canterbury had 'Uni'. 'Triangle' has since reverted back to route numbers, although what was displayed on buses was an actual triangle.

 

[Dai Corner]

If we're allowing more than one letter, Newport Transport have the CRS (Chepstow Racecourse Shuttle) on race days.

 

[mlambeuk]

Transdev York and Country (coastliner), used to have 2:
CAS, York to Malton via Castle Howard.
TAD, York to Tadcaster shuttle.

 

[duncombec]

From the Stagecoach South West thread, Exeter has letter only routes in the city.
What other place currently or historically have/had letter only routes

E (Eureka) was partly replaced by G (Godinton). There was also an H at one stage. The use of Y to Wye was considered....

In addition, Stagecoach South East use 'Loop', one each in Thanet and Eastbourne, and prior to its splitting into two number-suffixed variations, Canterbury had 'Uni'. 'Triangle' has since reverted back to route numbers, although what was displayed on buses was an actual triangle.

It always interests me where the letters actually equate to something if you think about it, rather than being randomly allocated. Cheltenham, for example, just seems to work through the alphabet, although W for Winchcombe fits.

Exeter's network has changed a lot in recent years, including a week or two ago, but there are still some that work - A for Alphington, E for Exwick, H for (via) Hospital, P for Pinhoe (but used to be Pennsylvania). With a little bit of help from the descriptions on the network map, I for IKEA (and J for the opposing direction circular), and R for Rifford Road (and likewise, S for the counter-direction).

There is also G, operated by Greenslades, M for Mount Dinham (Country Bus), T for (via) Topsham (Dartline) and U for Union Road (Country Bus).

Ashford has A, because the original route looked like an A, but still goes via Arlington on the way to Singleton. B was an infill (although it did go via Beaver Road), but has now extended to Bridgefield. C originally looked like a C, but less-so since the Kennington section was swapped to the B. D for Designer Outlet Shuttle, and the current version (which took over part of the A) still runs via the Designer Outlet on the way to Stanhope. E for Eureka (Park, now the 666), G for Godington (Park), H for Hospital (direct from Kennington) and K for ParK Farm to the Hospital.

There has never been an F at Ashford, although that may be down to an as yet unused (and very overgrown) bus-only bridge to the new housing at Finberry. There was already a 1, which spoke against using I (although how does Exeter handle that, especially as they have a small common section?), and there hasn't been a J.

 

[Simon75]

In the late 80s Crosville in Macclesfield renumbered local services as A,B, C,D E,F,G,H,J

 

[Mal]

Gt Yarmouth Corporation used A,B,C,D and E for routes to Gorleston and 1-8 for all other routes on the east side of town where most of the entertainments were. Mind that was back in the 1950s and 60s.

 

[Flange Squeal]

These aren't networks like other examples , but Stagecoach South have routes registered 'RHS' (standing for Royal Horticultural Society, running a regular daily shuttle service between Woking station and Wisley Gardens) and 'WPR' (standing for Winchester Park & Ride, unsurprisingly the park and ride service for Winchester). Neither registered 'number' actually appears on the blinds though, with 'RHS Wisley Shuttle Bus' and 'P&R' used respectively. There is also a local route 'PULSE' in Worthing, with other letter/word routes such as the KITE, LINK, SPRING and YOYO having been given their old numbers 20, 32, 6 and 6 back recently.

Before they withdrew their Surrey operations, the bus war in Guildford (Arriva, Stagecoach and independent operator Safeguard) led to Arriva introducing a short-lived series of three "lettered" routes: A, B and C.

I seem to recall they withdrew their 26/27 town circular routes in favour of (what they claimed was) a "simplified network" - or something along those lines.

In reality, however, routes A, B and C were just carbon copies of (parts of) existing routes run by the other two operators, with the sole purpose of trying to steal their passengers and their revenue.

Though it wasn't just Arriva who played the game, as Safeguard also launched a "carbon copy" route to rival Arriva on their route 3, but that's going off topic...

The Arriva A to the hospital and B to Park Barn, which competed with Safeguard's 4/5, do link us to another entry for this post - the incarnations of Safeguard's previous routes were themselves actually "numbered" A and B!

 

[jp4712]

Oldham Corporation used letters for their tram routes, and once these had gone buses still used letters for the ex-tram services and numbers for ‘was never a tram’ routes. The system got slightly mixed up so that a circular service in the town used ‘4’ in one direction and ‘V’ in the other - so it seems Oldhamers were familiar with Roman numerals…

 

[Mal]

Oldham Corporation used letters for their tram routes, and once these had gone buses still used letters for the ex-tram services and numbers for ‘was never a tram’ routes. The system got slightly mixed up so that a circular service in the town used ‘4’ in one direction and ‘V’ in the other - so it seems Oldhamers were familiar with Roman numerals…

Lancaster Corp used numbers but also used O as well!

 

[Ken H]

Lancaster Corp used numbers but also used O as well!

Was it letter O or a zero?