What do the letters in London Bus routes mean?

Question

Obviously, all bus routes have a number associated with them and the buses are labelled identifying which route they are on. However, within London, I notice some only consist of numbers; whilst others have letters as well. I figure those marked with an 'N' are there to identify night buses. I have seen other bus routes marked with 'H', 'U', 'C', 'R' and 'RV'. What do these refer to?

adacam · Answer

Some may refer to the initial of the area they're based, but the ones I know refer to some particular feature or theme of that bus or it's route.

For example, the RV in RV1 stands for River, because it sort of follows the Thames (it's intended as a tourist route to get people from Tower Bridge to Covent Garden via London Bridge, the South Bank, Waterloo and the London Eye).

H on the other hand refers to buses that are 'Hail and Ride'. These are small buses that start and finish at specific stops, but then weave around tight residential routes where there are no specified stops, and people flag them down (ie hail them) where required.

brisco · Answer

P4 Bus Route

Albert · Answer

The letter signifies where the bus travel to/from or through

P = Peckham
K= Kingston
RV= River ( or something like that)
C= Central London
U= Uxbridge

E.g. P13  Streatham - Peckham - New Cross Gate

Anonymous · Answer

Apart from 'N', I believe the letters stand for the area in which that particular route is located (for example, P for Peckham). I know the 'C' stands for 'Central', as in Central London, but I'm not sure about the other letters.  I guess the areas in which you saw them would be a clue :0)

Anonymous · Answer

There is no accurate timetable for London buses, most times are estimates due to the vagaries of traffic congestion.

Fred3663 · Answer

The ones I know are -
E - Ealing
H - both Harrow and Hounslow
U - Uxbridge

What do the letters in London Bus routes mean?

6 Answers