78 The London Bus
tendering those non-commercial
routes deemed to be socially
necessary.
Many of them continued to
be operated by former London
Country companies, but
tendering brought new names
on to the roads. One of the more
unusual decisions was Surrey’s
to award a contract to provide
buses between Heathrow Airport
and Walton on Thames to the
West Midlands-based Thandi
coach company.
Retrenchment by former
London Country operators
allowed others to enter the
market with tendered and
commercial services. This has
been particularly pronounced
in Surrey.
Today, Arriva only maintains
a garage in Guildford and none
of its operations crosses into
London. As Arriva retreated, the
gap was filled initially in large
part by Tellings-Golden Miller
(TGM) and Metrobus. TGM’s
local bus operations passed to
National Express Group in 2005
and were acquired by Abellio
— a division of the Dutch state
railway — four years later.
Abellio withdrew from all of its
Surrey County Council contracts
in 2016. The subsequent re-
tendering exercise saw the
Rotala group’s HallmarkConnections company establish a
presence on cross-border
bus work.
To the north, Uno — owned by
the University of Hertfordshire —
provides services linking north
London with Hatfield, where
its main campus is located.
Although initially introduced to
enable students to travel to the
university from the outer limits
of the Underground, services
have steadily expanded over
the years.Impact on London Buses
Deregulation also had an
effect on London Buses’ routes
operating outside Greater
London. Kingston (in Greater
London but the administrative
centre of Surrey County Council)
and Staines had been linked
by two bus routes operating
on opposite sides of the River
Thames since well before World
War 2.
Deregulation saw route 216,
running via Hampton and
Sunbury, operated commercially
by Westlink (a new low cost
operating unit within London
Buses) while the 218, running
through Hersham and
Shepperton, was operated by
London Country South West
under contract to Surrey
County Council.Although there were relatively
few cases of competition, London
Buses ran a service for three
months between Kingston and
Epsom that duplicated London
Country South West’s offering.
Ten years later, Nostalgiabus
introduced a similar service
that also was destined not to
last long.
London Buses also began to
bid for tendered work, a process
that saw route 84 return to
red bus operation in 1986. It
is now operated commercially
by Metroline, one of the
privatised former London Buses’
companies, although it no longer
reaches any farther into London
than New Barnet station.
Metroline also operates route
242 (Potters Bar-Waltham Cross)
commercially; the section from
Waltham Cross into Essex and
thence Greater London, at
Chingford, was withdrawn
in 1986.
In Essex, deregulation led to
many routes in its area being
contracted to smaller operators,
such as West’s Coaches. The
impact of this, and the tendering
of London Buses services on the
outskirts of the capital, led to the
closure of Loughton garage in
May 1986.Transport for London
The creation of Transport for
London (TfL) in 2000 led to
three distinct categories of local
bus service. Most are specified
by TfL and form the London
bus network. Their operation is
contracted to private operators,
with TfL specifying virtually
every aspect of the service
including routes, timetables
and fares.
Initially, several routes not
directly contracted by TfL were
operated as part of the London
bus network within London,
charging TfL fares and accepting
its tickets, under a London Local
Service Agreement (LLSA). All
other services required a London
Service Permit.
Since then, TfL has contracted
operation of as much of the
London bus network as possible
and there are now no routes
operated under LLSAs. AnBeyond London
ABOVE: Once a
green route, the
405 — shortened
to run between
Croydon and
Redhill — is part
of the red bus
network, operated
here by a Scania
OmniCity in Go-
Ahead London’s
Metrobus fleet.