please empty your brain below
The word 'obviously' is entirely superfluous for regular readers.

Frank F | 13.09.23 - 7:50 a.m. | #

Fascinating statistics. Some of those bus numbers make me feel very nostalgic ….

Neesi | 13.09.23 - 7:53 a.m. | #

I only found out recently that TfL used to produce full-London bus maps, instead of the few spider maps there are today. I really hope they start making them again one day, or at least expand the spider maps to more areas.

dg writes: indeed

TW | 13.09.23 - 8:24 a.m. | #

A monumental report. Quite surprising statistics. And as a former North Londoner, 29 and 43 give me nostalgia too.
It says something about dg's readers that the pedant box fills up faster than this one.

Malcolm of Kent | 13.09.23 - 8:36 a.m. | #

Don't give the bastards ideas!

Matt | 13.09.23 - 8:38 a.m. | #

Back in my schooldays I could write to LT asking for red bus, green bus and green line maps, and receive them free of charge. LT, a company with a soul and over-generosity.

Bruce Perkins | 13.09.23 - 8:47 a.m. | #

I wonder what happened to suffix numbers, as in 2B and 12A?

dg writes: removed in 2006

In my day it was the 3 that went to Parliament Hill Fields, whereas the 88 sped off to the multi-stationed citadel of Acton. I wonder where all the tinkering has got us.

cau1khead | 13.09.23 - 8:51 a.m. | #

The 24 has almost reached (ignoring the recent ludicrous proposal which I assume was to create doomsday headlines) untouchable status. Every other route can be altered now, but the 24 has to be the one route left alone as a link to the past.

Mikey C | 13.09.23 - 8:55 a.m. | #

The S2 will some day be revived as the southern part of a 'tweak' to the existing 470, providing a much needed service to St. Helier Hospital, where the existing Colliers Wood <-> Epsom route will be split.

Sutton already has S1, S3 and S4, so how did Stratford end up with a lonely S2 - did it predate the Sutton services?

dg writes: yes

Ken | 13.09.23 - 8:57 a.m. | #

Yes, the S2 was one of a series. The S1 and S3 originally ran in the Stratford area (although the S2 didn't originally reach Stratford, running only between Clapton and Bromley-by-Bow).

S3 disappeared in 1982, S1 in 1989, both replaced by other routes.

Malc M | 13.09.23 - 9:06 a.m. | #

Readers with bus route history queries are advised to visit londonbuses.co.uk which, if you've never seen it, is better than you could possibly imagine.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 13.09.23 - 9:11 a.m. | #

I wonder if London is the only place in the country that still uses scrolling bus destination blinds!

Geoff | 13.09.23 - 9:30 a.m. | #

Lots of nostalgia in this post - seeing those maps (or map covers) brings back the memories of collecting them from Edgware Bus Station.

BP | 13.09.23 - 9:44 a.m. | #

Pace the 24, don’t bank on any route being “untouchable” or iconic; the 11 of my childhood ran from Hammersmith to Liverpool Street, providing not only useful transport but a brilliant sightseeing route past major landmarks for tourists and visitors. Just look at its current incarnation.

Labourer | 13.09.23 - 9:44 a.m. | #

cau1khead Their removal seemed cock-eyed to me. TFL are happy to keep letter-prefixes, which can be confusing in the extreme: H = Hounslow or Hampstead or..?

Bruce Perkins | 13.09.23 - 10:11 a.m. | #

Andy Byford’s promise to look into reintroducing bus maps lasted no longer than he did. (At the very least they should offer a “print on demand” service for cost price.)

Kim | 13.09.23 - 10:41 a.m. | #

Harrow has a H series too!
I was going to suggest that the 24 is in need of a post- but you probably already have!

dg writes: for the centenary.

Cornish Cockney | 13.09.23 - 10:47 a.m. | #

In my working days, my briefcase cum traveller survival kit always had a copy of the all London bus map, getting increasingly tattered from the mid 1980s onwards. Ah, nostalgia!

Ian Paton | 13.09.23 - 11:01 a.m. | #

This made me wonder about the buses in my small town in Greater Manchester (Marple.)

Earliest I could go was 2009 thanks to Google Streetview, But looking at Bus Stop C...

62 - withdrawn
67 - withdrawn
302 - withdrawn
304 - withdrawn
305 - withdrawn
358 - still running
375 - route revised this year - now served by the 385.
384 - still running
394 - still running

Other than the 385, no new services.

That's a lot of withdrawn services and I wonder outside London how many other towns could tell the same tale.

Andrew Bowden | Homepage | 13.09.23 - 11:56 a.m. | #

The London General Omnibus Company LGOC 1855-1933 still reigns supreme. More of the routes it devised have survived the ninety years since their incorporation into London Transport more or less intact. More than any of its competitors. There was an onslaught on the former tram/trolleybus routings from the late 1960s. They were OPO'd earlier than the ex LGOC services and often withered and are no longer with us.

As the system has grown post privatisation and the Livingstone years, it has become unwieldy and very difficult for casual users to find any rhyme or reason, apart from the historical context, as a way of engaging with it. The use of 5 in Romford or 20 at Loughton seems very illogical. Other world cities don't do bus systems this way. I would actually like to see and would strongly support the under 100 routes numbers confined to use in the central London area, with routes in the NW London area numbered 100+, N 200+, NE 300+, SE 400+, S 500+, & SW 600+.

Steve | Homepage | 13.09.23 - 12:02 p.m. | #

Just seen a woman of a certain age using a paper bus map in Richmond. If it's an old TfL one then it's well out of date. Even if it's one of the modern privately produced ones it became out of date this week.

ap | 13.09.23 - 12:15 p.m. | #

Was there any sort of celebration by bus nerds in 2012 for the centenary of route 24?

Anonymous | 13.09.23 - 2:04 p.m. | #

From the Londonist Time Machine on Substack:
Diamond Geezer: Mr Geezer recently celebrated 21 years of blogging. His daily updates mostly concern the minutiae of London (he keeps spreadsheets of everything), often with an historical bent. I’ve read every single instalment since 2005 and I’m pretty confident the site will be compared with Pepys by future historians. It’s that good.

Cabbieblog | Homepage | 13.09.23 - 5:30 p.m. | #

busmap.co.uk regularly produce a paper version of both a Central Area and a Night Services bus map.

The latest (Issue 40) covers the changes introduced as of 29th April this year.

they are available for a small sum and include a donation to charity.

Also produced are historic editions produced for various years in London Transport's history

IanD | 13.09.23 - 7:39 p.m. | #

Unlike the former five TfL sector bus maps, BusMap’s excellent offer is printed too small for my 60+ eyes.

Kim | 14.09.23 - 10:25 a.m. | #

I never thought I would be the kind of guy who is nostalgic about a former bus route, but I miss the number 10.

Greg | 14.09.23 - 12:34 p.m. | #

The 10 was indeed a brilliant routing and would fix many missing links and much needed capacity on busy tourist summer days between High Street Ken and the West End today.

Another interesting angle to this post would be to compare frequencies from 20 years ago to those today. No doubt all these routes have had their frequencies cut.

dg writes: never risk a "No doubt all".

matthieu1221 | 14.09.23 - 4:19 p.m. | #

Route 46 is wrong. Was extended from Warwick Avenue to Lancaster gate in 2007 then cut back to from Lancaster gate to Paddington in 2021,whilst at its eastern end, it was extended from Faringdon Stonecutter Street to St Bartholomews Hospital in 2013

dg quotes "Only the most recent change is given"

butackshly | 15.09.23 - 12:10 p.m. | #











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