London Buses
local bus operator in London
London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus services to TfL, controlled by the Mayor of London.
Overview
Transport for London's key areas of direct responsibility through London Buses are the following:
planning new bus routes, and revising existing ones
specifying service levels
monitoring service quality
management of bus stations and bus stops
assistance in 'on ground' set up of diversions, bus driver assistance in situations over and above job requirements, for example Road Accidents
providing information for passengers in the form of timetables and maps at bus stops and online, and an online route planning service
producing leaflet maps, available from Travel Information Centres, libraries etc., and as online downloads.
operating NMCC, London Buses' 24‑hour command-and-control centre based in Southwark
Bus operations
All bus operations are undertaken under a tendering system in which operators bid for routes in return for a set price per route operated. Until April 2022, contracts were normally for five years, with two-year extensions available if performance criteria were met. From April 2022, contracts will be for seven years with a performance based two year optional extension.
Routes are set up, controlled and tendered out by Transport for London (TfL) and they provide day to day assistance via CentreComm which coordinates a large scale network of Network Traffic Controllers to help with any traffic issues that may occur.
Operators provide staff to drive the buses, provide the buses to operate and also adhere to set TfL guidelines. Operators are then in return paid per mile that each bus runs, the pricing is announced on new tenders.
Publications
London Buses publishes a variety of bus maps.
The public source identifies “London Buses” as local bus operator in London. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around London, Buses and local.
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This entry incorporates text from “London Buses” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.