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THIS SCEPTRED ISLE

How are bus routes (especially London bus routes) numbered? In my area of south London the numbers vary from 3 to 690, with a few odd letters stuck in there too. Why?!

M Cope, Clapham, London UK
  • It's a long story dating back to the 1924, when the London Traffic Act was introduced. One feature of the act was to impose a numbering scheme, known as the Bassom Scheme, after the chief constable of the Met Police, on London's buses. The odd letters came into use because the full length of a route was allocated the main number, whilst short workings used letter suffixes. The numbers reflected the company who operated the route. This was revised in 1934 when London Transport was formed. 1 - 199 for Central Area double-deck routes, 200 - 289 for Central Area single-deck routes, 290 - 299 for Central Area night routes, 300 - 399 for Country Area (north) routes and 400 - 499 for Country Area (south) routes. I'm not sure how it works since de-regulation.

    Michael Atkin, Sidcup UK


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