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Robert Woolley · November 12th 03, 07:40 PM posted to uk.transport.london

On 12 Nov 2003 01:45:14 -0800, (Boltar) wrote:

Ok , this is a hopeless anoraky question but something I suddenly wondered
last night... How come most bus routes have a simple number (eg 13, 221) but
some have a letter in them , eg W6. Why do some routes have letters too? Its
not like they've used up all the numbers in the universe so do these letters
denote something special (ok , I know what the N in the night bus routes mean ,
I'm talking about daytime routes)?

B2003
Ok, anorak on:

a) Routes numbered in the 600 series are school routes. With the
exception of the 607, which is a limited stop version of the 207.

b) Route numbered in the 800/900 series are Mobility Bus Routes.
Before the introduction of low-floor buses the Mobility Bus Routes
provided a limited bus network accessible to disabled people. The
network is being slowly withdrawn as the mainstream network becomes
accessible.

c) Routes with a prefix (e.g. W7, E3) have two origins:
i) They were originally flat fare routes in the 1970s under
the Bus Re-shaping plan.
ii) They were introduced as part of a network review in the
1980s/1990s
iii) They're specially branded (e.g. PR1/PR2)

d) The 300/400 number space was originally used by routes operated by
the Country Department of London Transport. Recently, the numberspace
has being used as an 'over flow' by TfL.

e) Routes prefixed with 'N' are Night Buses. Historically these
didn't follow day routes. Most now do, but a few don't.

f) Suffixed routes are being withdrawn (e.g. 207A). These are related
to the Bassom system of route numbering.

I think I've got the above right, but I'm sure an expert will be along
shortly....

Rob.
--
rob at robertwoolley dot co dot uk