Society news

This page gives up-to-date major news items to supplement our monthly newsletter, •The London Bus• (TLB). Items noted here will be incorporated in the next issue of TLB in greater detail. Reports more than a month old and already reported in TLB are deleted. Each issue of TLB is typically 40 pages containing references to around 300 routes and 1000 vehicles, together with the business and political news, the publicity output of the companies, forthcoming exhibitions and rallies, and much more. To get the full picture, why not join now? Go to the Membership Page for details.

If you need to contact us with anything to do with membership, subscriptions to TLB or LBM and queries over postal sales, email lotsmemsec@gmail.com and it will be passed to the correct person. Reports for TLB/LBM or queries to other society officers can go via the TLB Editor lotstlbeditor@gmail.com and it will be passed to the correct person.

For queries about Postal Sales, please email lotspostalsales@gmail.com. This E mail address may also be used for ordering from Postal Sales if wishing to pay by direct debit bank transfer - for details see Page 1 of the Sales Bulletin.

Meetings and Events

We meet at The Gallery at Alan Baxter, 77 Cowcross Street, Farringdon. A three minute walk from Farringdon Station* (Met/Circle/H&C lines, Elizabeth line and Thameslink).

Doors open at 6pm, meetings start at 6.30pm and finish at 8pm, then Q&As and sales stand but all out by 9pm when the venue is locked.

12 May 2025: Keith Wood will give a photo show entitled "40 Years as a Bus Nut".

16 June 2025: AGM.

*Exit from Farringdon station (Met side), turn east and go up Cowcross Street until you reach the Leon restaurant. Opposite there is a passageway, cross the cobbled courtyard to the far right corner and go down the stairs to the basement meeting room known as 'The Gallery'. We would advise that you do not drive to the venue, parking space is rare and charges apply for 24 hours. There are several coffee shops and a Wetherspoons on Farringdon Road.

The London Bus (TLB)

New and recent LOTS publications

For queries about Postal Sales, please email lotspostalsales@gmail.com. This email address may also be used for ordering from Postal Sales if wishing to pay by direct debit bank transfer - for details see Page 1 of the Sales list.

Please address your orders to LOTS Postal Sales, Lombard Business Park, 8 Lombard Road, Wimbledon, London SW19 3TZ. Orders are processed weekly. Make sure that the 'Postal Sales' name is included prominently, so we can give your order our best attention. You can use the Sales List printed off from this website this list to order, or a letter is perfectly acceptable. In either case, please don’t staple cheques to the form.

SUP-24K London Transport Service Vehicles (£6.00).
Updated to 7th March 2025, listing all the cars, vans and lorries used by TfL, LUL, LBSL and the bus companies.

SUP-39E TfL’s Bus Operators - Fleet Allocations and PVRs (£6.00).
Updated to 7th March 2025, this lists the fleets of all TfL bus operators (in fleetnumber order), followed by a list of all TfL routes showing the garages, types and PVRs.

SUP-45B London Bus Garages Allocation and Routes (£6.00).
List of all London bus garages with route and bus allocations as at August 2024. 60 pages with 8 colour photos. View sample pages.

SUP-46A London Transport Trolleybuses - Allocations and Disposals 1948-1962 (free digital download). Allocation histories and disposals for all LT trolleybuses. 102 pages.

SUP-47A London’s Advert Buses 1969-2024 (£8.00).
All known all-over advert buses in the London area (not London Country). Over 1000 buses and over 4000 adverts listed, with dates. 76 pages, 18 colour photos.
View sample pages.

London Bus Review 2022 Greater London and Beyond (£17.00).
A4 glossy, 80 pages, 135 colour photographs with extensive captions. This is the ORIGINAL annual Review made with about 50 years’ experience.

LOTS London Bus & Tram Fleetbook 2025 (£9.00). The usual 128 pages packed with information and updated to 7th March 2025.

See the Publications page for details of LOTS publications or the Sales Bulletin on the Sales page for our current stocklist.

Vacancies

Nil.

Non-members may wish to look at a sample issue of TLB.
Hopefully this will whet your appetite for joining LOTS!

Industry and general news

Major news items to supplement our monthly newsletter:

Monday 28 April

LBSL intends to enter into new contracts for the following routes with the operators listed below:

Route	Current Operator	New Operator	PVR	Vehicles
184	London General	London General	18	New and existing electric single deck
217	London General	Arriva London North	12	New electric double deck
296	Stagecoach East London	Stagecoach East London	8	Existing diesel single deck
484	London Central	London Central	10	Existing electric single deck
496	Stagecoach East London	Stagecoach East London	8	New electric double deck
633	Metrobus	Metrobus	2	Existing hybrid double deck
969	Transport UK West London	Transport UK West London	0*	Existing diesel single deck

* Vehicle for route 969 is sourced from other routes.

New electric vehicles may enter service after the contract start date, dependent on infrastructure and/ or vehicle delivery timescales.

The diesel and hybrid vehicles detailed above will meet Euro VI emissions standards. 

The start and end dates for the above contracts are detailed in the following table:

Tuesday 15 April

LBSL intends to enter into new contracts for the following routes with the operators listed below:

New electric vehicles may enter service after the contract start date, dependent on infrastructure and/ or vehicle delivery timescales.

The hybrid vehicles detailed above will meet Euro VI emissions standards. 

The start and end dates for the above contracts are detailed in the following table:

Sunday 13 April

1. The new Silvertown Tunnel opened on 7th April and is used by three bus routes. New Superloop SL4 and extended route 129 both use new Go-Ahead London BYD electrics (EBD55-99), temporarily supported by a few of the earlier batch EBD1-18. The latter had been at River Road (RR) for school routes but are intended to eventually go to New Cross (NX) for route 321. The third route is numbered (lettered?) SCS and is the bicycle carrying shuttle using Stagecoach London BYD/ADL E200s in a striking silver blue and green livery.

2. Stagecoach London route D8 from Lea Interchange (LI) was unexpectedly converted to electric operation on 5th April using Volvo BZL/MCV double-deckers that had been in store since delivery last autumn. The D8 had been scheduled to get a batch of new Wright StreetDeck Electroliners in time for its contract renewal in September 2025, while the Volvo/MCVs are intended for routes 277 and D7 from Ash Grove (HK).

3. Two Superloop routes started renewed contracts on 12th April. Both the SL5 (Arriva London) and SL7 (Go-Ahead London) are due to get electric buses but will continue with their elderly diesels for a few more months.

4. There are no TfL route changes planned for next weekend (19th April), other than a revised timetable on the E2.

5. First Bus logos are rapidly being applied to the buses taken over from RATP-Dev at the end of February. The inner London garages appear to be complete, with just a few RATP logos still to be seen at outer garages such as Harrow and Hounslow.

Monday 7 April

LBSL intends to enter into new contracts for the following routes with the operators listed below:

Route	Current Operator	New Operator	PVR	Vehicles
3/N3	Transport UK London	Transport UK London	15	Existing New Routemaster
79	London Sovereign	London Sovereign	14	Existing hybrid double deck
173/673	Stagecoach East London	Stagecoach East London	TBC	New electric double deck
179	Stagecoach East London	Stagecoach East London	13	Existing hybrid double deck
193	Stagecoach East London	Stagecoach East London	11	Existing diesel single deck
224	London United	Metroline	8	Existing diesel single deck
292	Metroline	Uno	7	Electric double deck
456	London General	London General	5	Existing diesel single deck
469	London Central	London Central	10	Existing diesel single deck
616	Stagecoach East London	Arriva London North	2	Existing hybrid double deck
675	Arriva London North	Arriva London North	1	New electric double deck
B12	London Central	London Central	7	New electric single deck
B15	Arriva London North	London Central	6	New electric single deck

New electric vehicles may enter service after the contract start date, dependent on infrastructure and/ or vehicle delivery timescales.

The diesel and hybrid vehicles detailed above will meet Euro VI emissions standards. 

The start and end dates for the above contracts are detailed in the following table:

Sunday 6 April

NEW LOTS Publications:

London Bus and Tram Fleetbook 2025 (£9.00). The usual 128 pages packed with information and updated to 7th March 2025.

SUP-24K London Transport Service Vehicles (£6.00). Updated to 7th March 2025, listing all the cars, vans and lorries used by TfL, LUL, LBSL and the bus companies.

SUP-39E TfL’s Bus Operators - Fleet Allocations and PVRs (£6.00). Also updated to 7th March 2025, this lists the fleets of all TfL bus operators (in fleetnumber order), followed by a list of all TfL routes showing the garages, types and PVRs..

Coming events

These are publicised as a service to the readership. LOTS has neither any involvement nor responsibility for any event listed. Some events have admission fees. Please check before attending if costs are a concern. We usually confine this listing to events with an expected London bus interest or are within easy reach of London.
(LSS) = LOTS' Sales Stand expected to attend.

3 May
Theydon Bois Transport Bazaar, Theydon Bois Village Hall.

17 May
Faversham Transport Weekend Bus Running Day. Map and times.

1 June
Classic Buses from Dorking Bus Station. Amersham & District Motor Bus Society.

8 June
Heritage operation on route 418 Kingston - Epsom.

22 June
Summer Festival, London Bus Museum.

13 July
Showbus. Buckinghamshire Railway Cenre.

13 July
Lowish Floor Running Day. East Grinstead - Godstone.

14 July
Thanet Vintage Bus Road Running Day.

20 July
Alton Bus Rally and Running Day.

20 July
Classic Buses in Hertford.

10 August
Tenterden Bus Rally and Running Day.

16 August
Imberbus.

23 August
Swanley 100 Event. Garage open day and bus rally at West Kingsdown with connecting bus service celebrating 100 years of Swanley (SJ) Garage. Initial details.

6 September
Open Day at Metrobus' Crawley Depot.

7 September
Epping - Ongar bus running day.

7 September
Bus Rally at New Romney.

1 November
Aldenham Transport Spectacular, Allum Hall, 2 Allum Lane, Elstree & Borehamwood, WD6 3PJ. Open 10.00 - 16.00hrs. Information: www.facebook.com/aldenhamtransportspectacular. (LSS)

A national event list can be found here.