In message , d
writes
Why do some london bus routes have a letter in them? Its not like numbers are
in short supply. Do the letters signify something special?
I remember a bus with a flat fair turnstile on entry at Harrow in about
1969, I think it was the H1 and I think the fare was 50p.
--
Clive

On 2012\06\08 14:31, d wrote:
On 8 Jun 2012 12:38:44 GMT
Neil wrote:
wrote:

Why do some london bus routes have a letter in them? Its not like numbers
are
in short supply. Do the letters signify something special?

Yes, they refer to the areas in which very local buses operate to avoid the
need to use very long numbers. So W is Walthamstow, U is Uxbridge etc.

That can't be right. The W6 runs near me and I don't live anywhere near
Walthamstow.

Most of the original W buses served either Wood Green (W2, W3) or
Winchmore Hill (W8, W9) or both (original W4) - only the W21 served
Walthamstow. The W7 never went near any W place, but did share nearly
all of its route with the W2. I believe that the current W6 was created
after all routes went flat fare, so there is no reason for it to be
lettered at all.

On 2012\06\08 14:32, d wrote:
On Fri, 08 Jun 2012 13:44:23 +0100
Basil wrote:
The original ones such as the W8 were flat fare routes, before all bus
routes were flat fare. Many of them replaced existing numbered bus
routes, for instance the W3 was called the 233 before it went flat fare
in 1968. Some or all of them had a coin box with a slot and gave no
change, and some or all took multi-ride clipper strips in a turnstile
lane opposite the driver. Other routes such as the W5 were introduced
after all buses went flat fare, so there is no good reason for them to
have the letter.

Interesting. I wonder why they keep the letters now? Seems an odd anomaly.

Getting rid of them would cost money and confuse people, and would lead
to you criticising them.

On Fri, 08 Jun 2012 15:26:44 +0100
Paul Corfield wrote:
However there are are very few "normal" routes numbered in the 6xx,
7xx, 8xx or 9xx series. One of the reasons for the expansion in

I think I've seen a 6xx bus - its a red bus but runs to a school. Can't
remember which one. I bet the drivers draws straws for that one.

I don't claim the above is anywhere near to being comprehensive as a
history but it gives you a flavour of what has gone on.

Cheers.

B2003

On Fri, 08 Jun 2012 15:28:00 +0100
Basil Jet wrote:
Interesting. I wonder why they keep the letters now? Seems an odd anomaly.

Getting rid of them would cost money and confuse people, and would lead
to you criticising them.

I didn't mean do it overnight - but all routes are altered eventually and
when they are change the number.

B2003

In article ,
Clive wrote:
In message , d
writes
Why do some london bus routes have a letter in them? Its not like numbers are
in short supply. Do the letters signify something special?
I remember a bus with a flat fair turnstile on entry at Harrow in about
1969, I think it was the H1 and I think the fare was 50p.

Did it take notes ? ;-)

Nick
--
"The Internet, a sort of ersatz counterfeit of real life"
-- Janet Street-Porter, BBC2, 19th March 1996

On 2012\06\08 15:38, d wrote:
On Fri, 08 Jun 2012 15:28:00 +0100
Basil wrote:
Interesting. I wonder why they keep the letters now? Seems an odd anomaly.

Getting rid of them would cost money and confuse people, and would lead
to you criticising them.

I didn't mean do it overnight - but all routes are altered eventually and
when they are change the number.

AFAIK the W8 and W3 both have exactly the route they had at creation,
and the same route as the numbered routes which they replaced.

On 2012-06-08 12:38:44 +0000, Neil Williams said:

wrote:

Why do some london bus routes have a letter in them? Its not like numbers are
in short supply. Do the letters signify something special?

Yes, they refer to the areas in which very local buses operate to avoid the
need to use very long numbers. So W is Walthamstow, U is Uxbridge etc.
RV1 is a special case, meaning RiVerside, though I have no idea if there
was ever planned to be an RV2 or just that it's convention for bus numbers
to actually contain a number of some sort.

Neil

This all goes back to the Reshaping London's Buses scheme that started
in 1968. The changes were made area by area, and one of the first to go
was Wood Green. Flat-fare single-deck standee routes W1 - W6 were
created there, with W standing for Wood Green, followed not long after
by W7, a direct replacement for the 212. Walthamstow soon got the
treatment and acquired flat-fare W21, Ealing got the E1, E2 and E3, and
Morden the M1 (ex 151).

Some later routes just joined in existing nearby numbering schemes, so
Enfield got the W8 when the 128 went flat-fare, and the W9 when it got
the minibus.

Years earlier letters were much more common on London bus routes, but
as suffixes. This is down the Met. Police and a commisioner called
Bassom, who insisted that every variant of a route had to have a
separate number. This lead to, for instance, the 406F running between
kingston and Tattenham Corner until not too long ago.

Even when Bassom numbering was no longer mandatory, LT still used
letter suffixes for route variants. For instance, there were routes 2,
2A and 2B running between various combinations of North Finchley (and
probably much further north once), Victoria, Norwood and Crystal Palace
via more than one routing. And the 4A (Farringdon Street - Finsbury
Park) was not the only example of a suffixed route that had no
unadorned version.

Even the Green Line coaches used suffixes: 715 was Guildford - Hertford
via Wood Green; 715a was Oxford Circus - Hertford via Tottenham. There
were also routes 716 and 716A.

On 2012-06-08 14:56:09 +0000, Basil Jet said:

On 2012\06\08 15:38, d wrote:
On Fri, 08 Jun 2012 15:28:00 +0100
Basil wrote:
Interesting. I wonder why they keep the letters now? Seems an odd anomaly.

Getting rid of them would cost money and confuse people, and would lead
to you criticising them.

I didn't mean do it overnight - but all routes are altered eventually and
when they are change the number.

AFAIK the W8 and W3 both have exactly the route they had at creation,
and the same route as the numbered routes which they replaced.

The W3 is the same route (the old 233?) but it didn't originally run on
Saturdays. Then it was divided at Wood Green into W5 and W6, each of
which then ran to Turnpike Lane Station.

The W8, when it took over from the 128, didn't serve Picketts Lock.
Even when it did it was only off-peak until recently - I assume it's
all the time now.

On 2012-06-08 14:19:31 +0000, Clive said:

In message , d writes
Why do some london bus routes have a letter in them? Its not like numbers are
in short supply. Do the letters signify something special?
I remember a bus with a flat fair turnstile on entry at Harrow in about
1969, I think it was the H1 and I think the fare was 50p.

It would have been the H1, but the fare would have been 6d (2.5p).