Celebrating a British icon 75
London Traffic Act of 1924,
which established the London &
Home Counties Traffic Advisory
Committee. Its area extended
for about 25miles from Charing
Cross and was bounded roughly
by Harlow, Billericay, Gravesend,
Sevenoaks, Reigate, Guildford,
Slough, Amersham, Harpenden
and Stevenage. This formed the
basis of the ‘special area’ within
which London Transport had
virtually exclusive rights to
provide bus services.
The special area protected
General’s acquisitions to the
north and south of London, as
well as the existing services of
the other territorial companies.
When London Transport was
formed, some services were
split at the border. For example,
London Transport took over theGuildford-Dorking section of
Aldershot & District’s service 25,
operating it as route 425.Red and green
London Transport’s bus
operations were split between
its Central (red) and Country
(green) Areas with the red
Central buses running within the
Metropolitan Police district. The
Country Area took over services
previously operated by London
General Country Services along
with those of smaller operators
acquired during the 1930s. Its
garages also were responsible for
Green Line coaches, a network
of limited stop services linking
towns on opposite sides of
London via the Central Area.
Many towns in outer London,
such as Croydon, Bromleyand Kingston, are obvious
traffic objectives from the
surrounding counties and an
extensive network of Country
services grew up linking them
to the wider region. In 1970, for
instance, it was possible to travel
by Country bus from Croydon
to Tonbridge, East Grinstead,
Crawley, Horsham, Dorking or
Guildford. Four Green Line coach
services reached as afield as
Windsor and Aylesbury.
Some red bus routes also
operated well outside London.
Some of these extended the
reach of the Underground, such
as the 81 linking Hounslow and
Windsor, and the 84 between
Golders Green and St Albans.
General also was permitted to
operate services outside the
London area as it saw fit.Beyond London
LEFT & BELOW:
One graphic
example of how
cross-border
services have
changed between
1970 and 2018 is
around Loughton,
where there used
to be a red bus
garage. Forty-
eight years ago,
most services were
provided by red
London Transport
buses running
on roads shown
in red, while the
green roads were
served exclusively
by London
Country. Today,
Transport for
London provides
those on red
roads, while Essex
County Council
and commercial
operators provide
those on roads
now green.
MIKE HARRIS
http://www.busmap.co.uk