London Buses

An East Lancs Olympus bus of Metroline, a modern interpretation of the famous London red double-decker. Wiki enviro 400 metrolinepng|thumb|right|300px|A Metroline Enviro400]] Metroline, owned by ComfortDelGro Corporation of Singapore, is one of many companies
Parent company	Transport for London
Founded	1999
Headquarters	172 Buckingham Palace Road
Locale	London, UK
Service area	Greater London, UK
Service type	Bus transport network
Routes	over 700 (100 night buses)[1]
Stops	17,500[2]
Fleet	8000[1]
Daily ridership	6 million per weekday[1]
Operator	Various bus operating companies
Web site	www.tfl.gov.uk/buses

London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages bus services within Greater London, UK. Transport for London ( TfL) is the local government body responsible for most aspects of the Transport system in Greater London in England. Greater London is the top-level administrative subdivision covering London, England. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Most services are provided by private sector bus operators, although this is not particularly obvious to passengers, as buses are required to carry similar red colour schemes and conform to the same fare scheme. In Economics, the private sector is that part of the economy which is both run for private Profit and is not controlled by the State.

Overview

Transport for London's key areas of direct responsibility through London Buses are:

• planning bus routes
• specifying service levels
• monitoring service quality
• management of bus stations and bus stops and other support services
• providing passenger information in the form of timetables and maps at bus stops
• producing leaflet maps, available from Travel Information Centres, libraries etc, and as online downloads. bus station is a structure where city or intercity Buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers A bus stop is a designated place where a Public transport Bus stops for the purpose of allowing passengers to board or leave a bus

London Buses manage the city's bus stops

Bus operations

The actual bus services are operated by a number of bus operating companies which work under contract to London Buses. Although most of these operating companies are private-sector organisations, one company, East Thames Buses, is actually owned by Transport for London, and managed at arm's length so as to avoid conflicts of interest. East Thames Buses is the only government owned bus operator (via Transport for London) of London Buses. Transport for London ( TfL) is the local government body responsible for most aspects of the Transport system in Greater London in England. The arm's length principle (ALP is the condition or the fact that the parties to a transaction are independent and on an equal footing Although this originally came about due to the default of a private sector operator, it seems now to be deliberate policy, possibly partly to act as an exemplar for other operators as to how TfL wishes bus services to be run.

Publications

London Buses publish a variety of bus maps. Some are traditional street maps of London marked with bus numbers. In 2002, TfL introduced the first "spider" maps^[3]. Rather than attempting to cover the entire city, these maps are centred on a particular locality or bus station, and convey the route information in the schematic style of Harry Beck's influential tube map, capitalising on TfL's iconic style of information design. Henry C Beck (1903&ndash1974 known as Harry Beck, was a graphic designer best known for creating the present London Underground Tube map in 1933 The tube map is the Schematic diagram representing the lines stations and zones of London 's Rapid transit rail system the London Underground Information design has been defined as the art and science of preparing information so that it can be used by human beings with efficiency and effectiveness The arachnoid form of bus routes radiating from a centre earned them the nickname "spider" maps, although TfL refer to them on their website now as route maps. The maps are displayed at most major bus stops, and can be downloaded as PDFs from the TfL website. ^[4]

Legal status

See also: History of transport in London (1933-2003)

The legal identity of London Buses is actually London Bus Services Limited (LBSL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London. The public transport network in London, United Kingdom and its environs has been under the single control of various organisations commonly known as London Transport Transport for London ( TfL) is the local government body responsible for most aspects of the Transport system in Greater London in England. East Thames Buses is the trading name of another wholly owned subsidiary of TfL called, rather confusingly, London Buses Limited (LBL).

LBL was first created in 1984 in the process of the privatisation of London bus services, and acted as an arms length subsidiary of TfL's precursor organisation London Regional Transport (LRT). Privatisation of London bus services is the process since 1984 of the transfer of Bus services for Public transport in London from operation by public bodies See also History of transport in London (1933-2003 LBL acted as an arms length holding company of LRT to hold ten bus operating units and other assets. The operating divisions were sold off in 1994/5, and their purchasers make up the majority of companies awarded bus operating tenders from the current London Buses (LBSL).

After 1994/5, the LBL company then lay dormant, passing from LRT to TfL. It was resurrected as a place for East Thames Buses to live within TfL, allowing a chinese wall to separate it from LBSL, and act as a London bus operator by proxy. East Thames Buses is the only government owned bus operator (via Transport for London) of London Buses. In business a Chinese Wall or firewall is an information barrier implemented within a firm to separate and isolate persons who make investment decisions from persons

Scope

The local bus network in London is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Over 6,800 scheduled buses operate on over 700 different bus routes. This article is a list of Transport for London (T f L contracted London Bus routes in London, as well as commercial services that enter the Greater ^[1] Over the year this network carries over 1. 5 billion passenger journeys.

Fares

Ticket machine selling single and day tickets for London buses

Buses in the London Buses network accept both Travelcards printed on cardboard and Oyster card products including bus passes, as well as single cash fares. Travelcard is an inter-modal ticket valid for a period of time varying from one day to a year for use on most Public transport in London. The Oyster card is a form of electronic ticketing used on public transport services within the Greater London area of the United Kingdom. As of January 2007, the bus adult single cash fare is £2. 00 for any journey. With the Oyster card pay as you go (formerly Pre Pay) it costs £0. The Oyster card is a form of electronic ticketing used on public transport services within the Greater London area of the United Kingdom. 90. The change was made at 0430 on Sunday 30 September 2007.

The off peak reduction has now been removed. The "Daily Cap" is £3. 00. This means however many buses you travel on in one day, using your Pay as you go Oyster, you will only pay £3. 00, which is less than a one day bus pass. A one-day pass allowing unlimited journeys in the Greater London area for one day costs £3. 50. A seven-day pass costs £14. 00.

All children under 16 travel free, as do teenagers aged under 18 in full time education or on a work-based learning scheme who live within a London borough. To qualify for free travel, passengers must have a valid Oyster Photocard and comply with TfL's Behaviour Code. The Oyster card is a form of electronic ticketing used on public transport services within the Greater London area of the United Kingdom. Transport for London ( TfL) is the local government body responsible for most aspects of the Transport system in Greater London in England. Discounts are available for older students with an Oyster photocard. This reduces the fare to half an adult Oyster fare, and caps the daily price at £1. 50, again half the adult rate. The free travel concession is controversial. Some have claimed that overcrowding has increased at certain times of the day due to more children using buses, and that crime and antisocial behaviour have increased on buses because of free travel concessions. In the sociological field, crime is the breach of a rule or Law for which some governing authority or force may ultimately prescribe a Punishment

Within the West End of London and on routes throughout London operated by 'bendy' buses, and on route W7, passengers must pre-purchase tickets prior to boarding a bus. The West End of London is an area of Central London, England, containing many of the city's major tourist attractions businesses headquarters and the commercial To this end, bus stops in the area and on those routes are equipped with ticket machines which sell single tickets and one-day passes. In other places, tickets may be purchased from the bus driver although it is planned to extend the cashless area.

Current operators

Vehicles

Main article: Buses in London

The various bus operators providing services under contract to London Buses operate a wide variety of vehicles, about the only immediately obvious common feature being their use of a largely red livery. This article is a general one on buses in London For a specific article on the organization responsible for running most buses in London see London Buses. However, London Buses does in fact maintain a close control over both the age and specification of the vehicles. Particular examples of this include the use of separate exit doors, increasingly unusual on buses in the United Kingdom outside London, and, on double-deckers, the use of a straight staircase where most other UK operators specify a more compact curved staircase. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Additionally, London Buses also specifies that vehicles operating in London use linen roller destination blinds, whereas in most other parts of the country, electronic dot matrix or LED displays are the norm on new buses.

Because of London Buses' close control on the age of the fleet, it is very common for London buses to be cascaded by their owners to operations in other parts of the country after a few years service.

iBus

An iBus on a London United Scania OmniCity double decker on route 482. Transdev London is one of many operators of London Buses and is owned by the Transdev Group of France, an international transport group who operate The Scania OmniCity is an integrally-constructed transverse-engined Low floor citybus available on the European market London Buses route 482 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom.

iBus is an AVL (Automatic Vehicle Location) scheme to improve London's buses using technology. The system will track all of London's ~8000 buses. This information will be used to provide passengers with improved information on bus arrivals, and to trigger priority at traffic junctions.

The current AVL system uses microwave beacons which are located on the side of the road (and in the busses). These beacons run from a small battery, and when a bus passes, the roadside beacon informs the onboard beacon of its location, and the bus then relays this information to a central server. This server can then send out updates to any nearby countdown displays at bus stops (each of which has a telephone line to receive information). Additionally some roadside beacons are linked to traffic lights, and can trigger a priority green signal.

However, this system has an inherent problem in that the beacons cannot detect if a bus is in traffic which can significantly slow the bus down, and problems can also be caused by buses passing the beacons too quickly to pick up the message, or at too great a distance.

The iBus system aims to improve matters by providing a better fix on bus locations than was available using the beacon system. It does this using a series of sensors:

• GPS
• Odometers, which measure distance travelled
• A Gyroscope, which gives us the bus direction

All of this information is fed into a Kalman filter, which, combined with the knowledge of the road network, produces a "best guess" of bus position, even in areas with low GPS reception. Basic concept of GPS operation A GPS receiver calculates its position by carefully timing the signals sent by the constellation of GPS Satellites high above the Earth An odometer (often known colloquially as a mileometer or milometer) is a device used for indicating Distance traveled by an Automobile or other A gyroscope is a device for measuring or maintaining orientation, based on the principles of Angular momentum. The Kalman filter is an efficient Recursive filter that estimates the state of a Dynamic system from a series of noisy measurements

This improved position data is sent back to the countdown servers. The servers then update the signs as before, but because the position data is no arriving in a continuous stream (rather than just when a becaon is passed), and contain more information (such as current speed), predictions are more accurate. There is the possibility in the future that this data may also be made public over interfaces such as SMS and websites.

For priority at junctions, the bus will send out its position and route number using a short range radio system. When the junction detects a bus near enough, it can trigger a priority green. The facility exists for priority to be given only to late running buses.

The iBus system will also be used to make announcements on buses: Emma Hignett, a radio presenter, was chosen to voice the announcements and will have to make 30,000 recordings informing passengers of the next stop. Radio is the transmission of signals by Modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible Light. The system will also provide visual displays telling passengers of the next stop. The scheme is expected to be completed in early 2009, and bus drivers' radios will be replaced as part of it. This article is about the year For the film see 2009 Lost Memories. The iBus system can already be seen (and heard) in operation on routes W4, W15, 34, 38, 41, E7 49, 57, 71, 76, 94, 102, 123, 125, 131, 141, 220, 221, 144, 148, 149, 281, 243, 318, 329, 29, 72, 73, 283, 220, 114, 78, 279, 349, 121,192, 96, 292, K1, K2, K4, H11, H13, H14, 282, 427, 607, 207, 482, E3, 482, H91 and 83 ^[5]. As at 28th March 2008, 1800 buses had been upgraded with the iBus system^[6]. all transdev buses/arriva/metroline w/ac have been fitted out and first ux/g/on/x.

See also

• List of bus routes in London
• London Underground
• East London Transit
• London articulated bus controversy
• Aldenham Works

External links

• London Buses website
• Collection of Google Earth locations of London Bus Stations (Requires Google Earth software) from the Google Earth Community forum. This article is a list of Transport for London (T f L contracted London Bus routes in London, as well as commercial services that enter the Greater The London Underground is a Metro system serving a large part of Greater London and neighbouring areas of Essex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire East London Transit is a part-segregated Bus rapid transit scheme being developed by Transport for London. See also Articulated buses in the United Kingdom Waterloo Bus Garage Red Arrows The Aldenham Works, or Aldenham Bus Overhaul Works was the main London Transport Bus overhaul works
• London Omnibus Traction Society
• Greater London Bus Map
• London Bus Routes Fotopic

References