List of bus garages in London

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. The codes are used internally by London Buses, 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 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 (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, becoming their Dagenham operation, and subsequently relocated to Barking, and now absorbed by Arriva London. Similarly BT (Sovereign, Edgware) comes from BTS, which was subsequently bought out by Sovereign, and Hounslow Heath 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 in 2003, who then sold it on to Metrobus 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 and Ash Grove) currently have two codes simultaneously, one for each operator.

During the period of operation by London Transport and its predecessors, indeed back to the earliest motor buses in the early 20th century, the garage code was clearly carried on both sides of the vehicle. The code was usually in the form of a metal (later plastic) stencil plate carried in a holder beside the running duty number plate. Latterly, the garage codes took the form of painted stencils or adhesive characters. In the post London Transport/ London Buses period, the display of garage codes is no longer universal and many vehicles carry no visible identification.

There are a number of historical anomalies with the allocation of codes. When Ash Grove garage opened in 1981, it was coded AG by London Transport. As an operational garage that has opened and closed several times over the years, it now carries the code AE, formerly the code of the long closed Hendon garage and the AG code is currently unused.

Current codes[]

A[]

Code	Garage	Operator	London Buses Code	Opened	Closed	Picture	Reference
A	Sutton	Go-Ahead London	A	1924
AC	Willesden	Metroline	AC	1912
AD	Palmers Green	Arriva London	AD	1912
AE	Ash Grove	Kentish Bus (1994-98) East Thames Buses (2000-05) CT Plus (from 2001) Arriva London (from 2005)	AE	1981			[1]
AF	Putney	Go-Ahead London	AF	1888 (horsebus) 1912 (motorbus)
AH	Brentford	Armchair (1999-2006) Metroline (from 2006)	AH	1999
AL	Merton	Go-Ahead London	AL	1913
AR	Tottenham	Arriva London	AR	1913
AV	Hounslow	London United	AV	1913
AW	Walthamstow Avenue	CT Plus	AW	2016			[2]

B[]

Code	Garage	Operator	London Buses Code	Opened	Closed	Picture	Reference
BC	Beddington Cross	Abellio London	BC	1999			[3]
BE	Rainham	Blue Triangle	B		2016		[4][5]
BK	Barking	Stagecoach London	BK	1924
BN	Brixton	Arriva London	BN
BT	Edgware	London Sovereign	BT
BW	Bow	Stagecoach London	BW
BX	Bexleyheath	Go-Ahead London	BX

C[]

Code	Garage	Operator	London Buses Code	Opened	Closed	Picture	Reference
C	Croydon	Metrobus	C	2005
CT	Clapton	Arriva London	CT

D[]

Code	Garage	Operator	London Buses Code	Opened	Closed	Picture	Reference
DT	Dartford	Arriva London	DT	1933 (original) 19 January 1986	18 January 1986 (original)		[6]
DS	Silvertown, Henley Road	Go Ahead London	DS	2021			[7]
DX	Barking, Ripple Road	Grey-Green (1991-8) Arriva London (from 1998)	DX	1991			[8]

E[]

Code	Garage	Operator	London Buses Code	Opened	Closed	Picture	Reference
E	Enfield	Arriva London	E
EB	Epsom	Quality Line	EB	1986	2 July 2021		[9]
EC	Edmonton	Arriva London	EC
EW	Edgware	Metroline	EW

F[]

Code	Garage	Operator	London Buses Code	Opened	Closed	Picture	Reference
FW	Fulwell	London United	FW	1904 (tram) 1931 (trolleybus) 1962 (bus)			[10]

G[]

Code	Garage	Operator	London Buses Code	Opened	Closed	Picture	Reference
G	Greenford	First London (1997-2013) Ealing Community Transport (2003-9) Metroline (from 2013)	G	1993
GW	Southall	Abellio London	GW

H[]

Code	Garage	Operator	London Buses Code	Opened	Closed	Picture	Reference
H	Hackney, Waterden Road	First London Stagecoach London	H	2004	2007		[11]
HD	Harrow Weald	Metroline	HD
HH	Hounslow Heath	London United	WK
HK	Ash Grove	HCT Group	HK
HT	Holloway	Metroline	HT
HZ	Hayes	Metroline	HZ

K[]

Code	Garage	Operator	London Buses Code	Opened	Closed	Picture	Reference
KC	King's Cross	Metroline	KC

L[]

Code	Garage	Operator	London Buses Code	Opened	Closed	Picture	Reference
LI	Lea Interchange	Tower Transit	HO	2007

M[]

Code	Garage	Operator	London Buses Code	Opened	Closed	Picture	Reference
MG	Morden Wharf	Go-Ahead London	MG

N[]

Code	Garage	Operator	London Buses Code	Opened	Closed	Picture	Reference
N	Norwood	Arriva London	N	1909
NP	Northumberland Park	Capital Citybus (1991-7) First London (1997-2012) Go-Ahead London (from 2012)	NP	1991
NS	Romford	Stagecoach London	NS
NX	New Cross	Go-Ahead London	NX

O[]

Code	Garage	Operator	London Buses Code	Opened	Closed	Picture	Reference
ON	Alperton	First London (1997-2013) Metroline (from 2013)	ON	1939	11 September 2021		[12]

P[]

Code	Garage	Operator	London Buses Code	Opened	Closed	Picture	Reference
PA	Perivale West	Metroline	PA
PB	Potters Bar	Metroline	PB	1930			[13]
PD	Plumstead	Selkent	PD	1981			[14]
PK	Park Royal	London United	PK
PL	Waterside Way	Go-Ahead London	PL	2003			[15]
PM	Peckham	Go-Ahead London	PM	1905			[16]
PV	Perivale East	Metroline	PV				[17]

Q[]

Code	Garage	Operator	London Buses Code	Opened	Closed	Picture	Reference
Q	Camberwell	Go-Ahead London
QB	Battersea	Abellio London

R[]

Code	Garage	Operator	London Buses Code	Opened	Closed	Picture	Reference
RA	Waterloo	Go-Ahead London	RA	1951			[18]
RM	Rainham	Stagecoach London	RM
RR	Barking, River Road	Blue Triangle	RR	2016			[19][20]

S[]

	Garage	Operator	London Buses Code	Opened	Closed	Picture
S		London United
SF	Stamford Hill	Arriva London	SF
SI	Silvertown	Go-Ahead London	SI
SM	South Mimms	Sullivan Buses	SN	1998
SO	Harrow	London Sovereign	SO	1994
SW	Stockwell	Go-Ahead London	SW	1952

T[]

Code	Garage	Operator	London Buses Code	Opened	Closed	Picture	Reference
T	Leyton	Stagecoach London	T
TB	Bromley	Selkent	TB
TC	South Croydon	Arriva London	TC
TF	Twickenham	Abellio London	TF
TH	Thornton Heath	Arriva London	TH
TK	Tramlink	Tramlink	TK
TL	Catford	Stagecoach London	TL
TP	Thorpe Park	Sullivan Buses	TP
TV	Tolworth	London United	TV

U[]

Code	Garage	Operator	London Buses Code	Opened	Closed	Picture	Reference
UX	Uxbridge	Metroline	UX	1929 (original) 1983	1983 (original)

V[]

Code	Garage	Operator	London Buses Code	Opened	Closed	Picture	Reference
V	Stamford Brook	London United	V	1980

W[]

Code	Garage	Operator	London Buses Code	Opened	Closed	Picture	Reference
W	Cricklewood	Metroline	W
WD	Wandsworth	The Original Tour	WD
WE	Ware	Arriva Shires & Essex	WE
WH	West Ham	Stagecoach London	WH
WJ	Willesden Junction	Metroline	WJ
WL	Walworth	Abellio London	WL
WN	Wood Green	Arriva London	WN
WS	Hayes	Abellio London	WS

X[]

Code	Garage	Operator	London Buses Code	Opened	Closed	Picture	Reference
X	Westbourne Park	First London (1997-2013) Tower Transit (from 2013) RATP Dev Transit London (From 11 December 2021)	X	1981

Country Area[]

Code	Garage	Operator	London Buses Code	Opened	Closed	Picture	Reference
BF	Byfleet	Travel Surrey (2006-9) Abellio Surrey (2009-18) Falcon Coaches (from 2018)	TG				[21]
CY	Crawley	Metrobus	MY
GF	Guildford	Arriva Guildford & West Surrey		1931	17 December 2021		[22]
GR	Garston	Arriva Shires & Essex		1952	1 September 2018		[23][24]
GY	Grays	Arriva Southern Counties		1935 (original) 1993	1993 (original)
HF	Hatfield	Uno	UB	2003
HH	Hemel Hempstead	Arriva Shires & Essex		1935 (original) 1995	1995 (original)
HW	High Wycombe	Arriva Shires & Essex		1929 (original)	1977 (original)
MB	Orpington	Metrobus	MB
TW	Tunbridge Wells	Arriva Southern Counties	TS	1937 (original) 27 May 2018	2018 (original)		[25][26]

See also[]

• List of London bus and coach stations

References[]

External links[]

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