Every garage operating services that form part of the London Bus network is given an official London Bus garage code. Such codes are given not only to garages running London Bus contracts, but also to those running commercial bus services under London Bus agreements. There is also a code for Tramlink

Tramlink

Tramlink is a tramway system in south London in the United Kingdom which began operation in May 2000...

. The codes are used internally by London Buses

London Buses

London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London that manages bus services within Greater London, UK. Buses are required to carry similar red colour schemes and conform to the same fare scheme...

, for administrative purposes.

Many operators also give their garages codes, sometimes for similar administrative reasons, or sometimes — particularly where they only have one garage — for "enthusiast

Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm originally meant inspiration or possession by a divine afflatus or by the presence of a god. Johnson's Dictionary, the first comprehensive dictionary of the English language, defines enthusiasm as "a vain belief of private revelation; a vain confidence of divine favour or...

 reasons". These are not always the same as the London Bus codes, although they often are.

History

Many of the codes are long-established, going back to London Buses Limited (LBL) (and in many cases earlier) days, and are well-known among staff and enthusiasts. There is usually some sort of logic to the code allocated. In the early part of the 20th Century, the London General Omnibus Company

London General Omnibus Company

The London General Omnibus Company or LGOC, was the principal bus operator in London between 1855 and 1933. It was also, for a short period between 1909 and 1912, a motor bus manufacturer.- Overview :...

 (LGOC) allocated its garages codes by going through the alphabet — initially A, B, C, etc.; and then AA, AB, AC, etc. Codes allocated since often reflect the geographical name of the garage (e.g. Fulwell, Alperton, New Cross (NX)), although some have since been renamed (HT, Holloway, was called Highgate).

Since the start of tendering in 1985, some codes have also reflected the name of the owning company, examples being AH (Armchair, Brentford), EL (Eastern National, Chelmsford), WI (Wings, Uxbridge), BE (Blue Triangle, Rainham). Such company names may not still be in use today: DX (Arriva London North East, Barking) originates from Dix Travel, which was absorbed into Grey-Green

Grey-Green

Grey-Green was a coach and bus operator in the United Kingdom. It was based in Stamford Hill, and can trace its origins back over a century to the foundation of George Ewer’s horse carriage business in 1885.-History:...

, becoming their Dagenham operation, and subsequently relocated to Barking, and now absorbed by Arriva

Arriva

Arriva plc is a multinational public transport company owned by Deutsche Bahn and headquartered in Sunderland, United Kingdom. It has bus, coach, train, tram and waterbus operations in 12 countries across Europe, employs more than 47,500 people and services over 1.5 billion passenger journeys each...

. Similarly BT (Sovereign, Edgware) comes from BTS, which was subsequently bought out by Sovereign, and Hounslow Heath

Hounslow Heath

Hounslow Heath is a public open space and local nature reserve to the west of Hounslow, a London borough. It now covers about , the residue of the historic Hounslow Heath that covered over .-History:...

 code WK originates from Westlink. The official code FR for Metrobus's Crayford base is especially obscure, referring to the original owner, one Chris Freeman of Freeman’s Coaches, which was absorbed into Crystals, which subsequently sold out to Tellings-Golden Miller

Tellings-Golden Miller

Tellings-Golden Miller , a subsidiary of Arriva, is a bus service and coach operator in the United Kingdom.-Golden Miller:Reputedly, Fred Varney began the Golden Miller company with the winnings from a bet made on the horse Golden Miller, which won the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National in...

 in 2003, who then sold it on to Metrobus

Metrobus (Go-Ahead Group)

Metrobus is a bus operator with routes in south and south-east London, and parts of Surrey, Kent, West and East Sussex. The company operates many routes on tender from Transport for London. Formed through a management buyout of Tillingbourne Ltd...

 in 2005!

In several cases (TB/TC/TL and QB) the code reflects both the location (Bromley/Croydon/Lewisham (Catford), Battersea) and the original owning company (Tilling, Q-Drive). (For example: TB would be Tilling Bromley, QB would be Q-Drive Battersea)

Some garage codes have been used for more than one garage over the years, sometimes when an entire garage has moved such as at Peckham (PM), and sometimes when a code has been "dormant" for some years and then been reused. Some premises have had different codes at different times in their life, and indeed three (Edgware, Fulwell

Fulwell Garage

Fulwell Bus Garage is a former London Transport bus garage located in Twickenham in westLondon. It is north of Fulwell railway station and operates as two halves, with entrances on the A311 Wellington Road and B358 Stanley Road. It is currently operated by London United and Abellio.-History:Fulwell...

 and Ash Grove) currently have two codes simultaneously, one for each operator.

A

Code	Garage	Operated By	London Buses Code
A	Sutton	Go-Ahead London	A
AC	Willesden	Metroline	AC
AD	Palmers Green	Arriva London	AD
AE	Ash Grove	Arriva London	AE
AF	Putney	Go-Ahead London	AF
AH	Brentford	Metroline	AH
AL	Merton	Go-Ahead London	AL
AR	Tottenham	Arriva London	AR
AT	Acton	First London (NOW CLOSED)	AT
AV	Hounslow	Transdev London	AV

B

Code	Garage	Operated By	London Buses Code
BA	Battersea	Arriva London (Now Closed)	BA
BC	Beddington Cross	Abellio London	BC
BE	Rainham	Go-Ahead London	BE
BF	Byfleet	Abellio Surrey	TG
BK	Barking	Stagecoach London	BK
BN	Brixton	Arriva London	BN
BT	Edgware	Transdev London The code BT is not a contraction of BTS. It signifies Borehamwood Town. The original garage was in Station Road, Borehamwood at the top of the town. This code was derived from the system used by Country Buses & Coaches who used codes for all termini, i.e.: BH = Borehamwood, Cowley Hill or BD = Borehamwood, Drayton Road.	BT
BV	Belvedere	Go-Ahead London	BV
BW	Bow	Stagecoach London	BW
BX	Bexleyheath	Go-Ahead London	BX

C

Code	Garage	Operated By	London Buses Code
C	Croydon	Metrobus	C
CN	Beddington Farm	Arriva London	CN
CT	Clapton	Arriva London	CT
CY	Crawley	Metrobus	MY

D

Code	Garage	Operated By	London Buses Code
DM	Dagenham	First London	RN
DT	Dartford	Arriva Southern Counties	DT
DX	Barking	Arriva London	DX

E

Code	Garage	Operated By	London Buses Code
E	Enfield	Arriva London	E
(EB)	Epsom	Quality Line	EB
EC	Edmonton	Arriva London	EC
EW	Edgware	Metroline	EW

F

Code	Garage	Operated By	London Buses Code
FW	Fulwell	Transdev London	FW

G

Code	Garage	Operated By	London Buses Code
G	Greenford	First London	G
GR	Watford	Arriva Shires & Essex	GR
GY	Grays	Arriva Southern Counties	GY

H

Code	Garage	Operated By	London Buses Code
HA	Harlow	Arriva Shires & Essex	HA
HD	Harrow Weald	Metroline	HD
HF	Hatfield	Uno	UB
HH	Hounslow Heath	Transdev London	WK
(HK)	Ash Grove	CT Plus	HK
HS	Hayes	First London	HZ
HT	Holloway	Metroline	HT

I

Code	Garage	Operated By	London Buses Code
(IM)	Rainham	Imperial Buses	IT

K

Code	Garage	Operated By	London Buses Code
KX	King's Cross	Metroline	KX

L

Code	Garage	Operated By	London buses Code
LI	Lea Interchange	First London	HO
LV	Lee Valley	Arriva London	LV

M

Code	Garage	Operated By	London Buses Code
MA	Mandela Way	Go-Ahead London	MA
MB	Green Street Green/Orpington	Metrobus	MB
MW	Mandela Way	Go-Ahead London	MW

N

Code	Garage	Operated By	London Buses Code
N	Norwood	Arriva London	N
NC	Twickenham	Transdev London	NC
NF	Northfleet	Arriva Southern Counties	NF
NP	Northumberland Park	First London	NP
NS	Romford	Stagecoach London	NS
NX	New Cross	Go-Ahead London	NX

O

Code	Garage	Operated By	London Buses Code
ON	Alperton	First London	ON

P

Code	Garage	Operated By	London Buses Code
PA	West Perivale	Metroline	PA
PB	Potters Bar	Metroline	PB
PD	Plumstead	Stagecoach London	PD
PK	Park Royal	Transdev London	PK
PL	Waterside Way	Go-Ahead London	PL
PM	Peckham	Go-Ahead London	PM
PV	East Perivale	Metroline	PV

Q

Code	Garage	Operated By	London Buses Code
Q	Camberwell	Go-Ahead London	Q
QB	Queenstown (Battersea)	Abellio London	QB

R

Code	Garage	Operated By	London Buses Code
RA	Waterloo	Go-Ahead London	RA
RM	Rainham	Stagecoach London	RM

S

Code	Garage	Operated By	London Buses Code
S	Shepherd's Bush	Transdev London	S
SF	Stamford Hill	Arriva London	SF
SI	Silvertown	Go-Ahead London	SI
SM	South Mimms	Sullivan Buses	SN
SO	Harrow	Transdev London	SO
SW	Stockwell	Go-Ahead London	SW

T

Code	Garage	Operated By	London Buses Code
T	Leyton	Stagecoach London	T
TB	Bromley	Stagecoach London	TB
TC	South Croydon	Arriva London	TC
TF	Fulwell	Abellio London	TF
TH	Thornton Heath	Arriva London	TH
TK	Tramlink Tramlink Tramlink is a tramway system in south London in the United Kingdom which began operation in May 2000...	TfL & Tramtrack Croydon	TK
TL	Catford	Stagecoach London	TL
TP	Thorpe Park	Sullivan Buses	TP
(TW)	Tunbridge Wells	Arriva Southern Counties	TS
TV	Tolworth	Transdev London	TV

U

Code	Garage	Operated By	London Buses Code
U	Upton Park	Stagecoach London	U
UX	Uxbridge	First London	UX

V

Code	Garage	Operated By	London Buses Code
V	Stamford Brook	Transdev London	V

W

Code	Garage	Operated By	London Buses Code
W	Cricklewood	Metroline	W
WB	High Wycombe	Arriva Shires & Essex	HI
WD	Wandsworth	Arriva London/Original Sightseeing	WD
WE	Ware	Arriva Shires & Essex	WE
WH	West Ham	Stagecoach London	WH
WJ	Willesden Junction	First London	WJ
WL	Walworth Road	Abellio London	WL
WN	Wood Green	Arriva London	WN
WI	South Wimbledon	Big Bus Company
WR	Warysbury	Watling Buses	WR
WS	Hayes	Abellio London	WS

X

Code	Garage	Operated By	London Buses Code
X	Westbourne Park	First London	X

Y

Code	Garage	Operated By	London Buses Code
Y	Orpington	Last operated by First London Orpington Operations before sale to Metrobus.	Y

External links

• Transport for London
• London Bus Garages
• LT Bus Garage Codes
• IAN'S BUS STOP