74 The London Bus
T
he Mayor of
London has a
duty to develop
and implement
policies for the
promotion and encouragement
of safe, integrated, efficient and
economic transport to, from and
within Greater London.
The area in question is that
of the Greater London Council,
which existed from 1965 to- It covered the whole
County of London and most of
Middlesex, plus parts of Essex,
Kent and Surrey, a small part of
Hertfordshire and the county
boroughs of Croydon and East
and West Ham. Its area was
marginally smaller than that of
the Metropolitan Police district
The original intention was that
it would have covered a larger
area. A Royal Commission set up
in 1957 intended that it would
also include Sunbury-on-Thames,
Staines and Potters Bar in
Middlesex, Chigwell in Essex and
Caterham, Weybridge, Epsom
and Ewell in Surrey. London
Transport, as it existed from
1933 to 1969, took in all that
and more.
By far the largest of the
bus companies that London
Transport acquired at its
formation, the London General
Omnibus Company, had reached
operating agreements by the
1920s with other companies inthe metropolis that fell short of
outright ownership.
And by 1922, it had also
made arrangements with three
operators based outside London- East Surrey Traction, the
National Omnibus & Transport
Company and Thames Valley
Traction – to govern the
provision of bus services between
London and its immediate
hinterland. General took over the
East Surrey company in 1929,
renamed it London General
Country Services three years
later and acquired National’s
operations in Hertfordshire.
The first attempt to really
define ‘London’ for the purposes
of bus operations was the
Beyond London
ABOVE: A notable
cross-border
red bus service
surviving from
London Transport
days is the 81,
today connecting
Hounslow and
Slough by way of the
Bath Road to the
immediate north of
Heathrow Airport.
RATP-owned
London United
provides it, using
Alexander Dennis
Enviro400H hybrid
double-deckers like
ADE42.
A hard border
There used to be dozens of bus services crossing the invisible boundary that
separates Greater London from the surrounding counties. Most have disappeared
over the past five decades although a handful remain