Talk:Buses in London/Archive 1

Why are buses in London red?
A person on the Reference desk has posed this question. I can find nothing in our article or on the Routemaster, London buses or Double-decker bus. A Google search did not yield any useful information. If you are able to answer the question, please let me know on my talk page. You may also wish to add it to the article along with a source or sources. Capitalistroadster 05:09, 6 October 2005 (UTC)


 * Well, Peter Ackroyd in his Biography of London simply considers red to be London's traditional colour. He has quite a good passage about it, involving lots of blood and fire, which I will look out. One might also want to cite red phone boxes, the red George's cross and sword on the City flag and surmounting the old GLC crest (the GLA retains red too as the dominant colour on its logo). Perhaps the traditional red of fire engines originates in London, though I am not at all sure of this. I'm sure there are other examples, but I'm a bit braindead right now. I suppose another answer might be that in a smokey grimy, foggy city, red really makes you stand out (doesn't work too well that one, because Merseyside buses used to be traditionally green, OTOH, maybe any primary colour will do, OTOH again, why were Hackney carriages, until recently, black then?).


 * Heh - I'm not sure there can be a precise answer to this... Tarquin Binary 07:21, 6 October 2005 (UTC)


 * Although I don't have any sources to hand at the moment, I've read in numerous history books on UK public transport that prior to bus deregulation most of the regional public bus operator would hav a simple livery based on one colour all over (typically a traditional/victorian primary colour; crimson red, deep green, navy blue). Therefore you had red in Devon, Cardiff and London, Green in Brighton, etc.
 * I would guess that since London was exempt from deregulation, the absence of 'Stagecoach-isation' preserved the common signature red from being lost under brand liveries as happened in most areas. --Myfanwy 19:43, 1 December 2005 (UTC)

Detailed bus routes
I'm thinking about maybe starting a large series of articles detailing London bus routes.

I think probably the best way to go about it would be to have the articles titled 159 (London bus route), and so fourth. These would give a description of where the bus starts and finishes, and major waypoints, then maybe a more detailed route containing all stops. Can anyone think of a better way of structuring this?

Nathan 21:16, 26 November 2005 (UTC)


 * Phew, it's a whole lot of work. I was thinking of simply listing the buses for individual districts (not boroughs) that I've been working on, though, like Upper Clapton. If I had something to link to, it would be a whole lot better. I don't think anyone will type, say, '159 (London bus route)' into search, so it would have to be seen as a resource that can be linked to from districts, tourist spots, park and other amenity pages. Also, I wouldn't like to get too wrapped up in it, but I'd be happy to do the buses that cover my home area (Stoke Newington). Could go out of date pretty quickly for some routes, too, though the major routes round here haven't changed (substantially) in decades.


 * How many bus routes do we have in London, anyway? Tarquin Binary 14:07, 28 November 2005 (UTC)


 * I already started a category for buses that run in London. All of the pages start with "London Buses route ###". I've done 1-9 and 96 all in category:London Buses. --sonicKAI 13:52, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

External links modified
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London Bus (idiom)
"London bus" appears to be an expression, eg "Games against Romanian opposition are like London buses for Madrid coach Fabio Capello. After waiting well over 100 UEFA club competition matches for one, this is his second in a fortnight." (, last paragraph).

While in the quoted paragraph the meaning is obvious, someone more in the know than me might want to add a paragraph concerning this use in the article. merry (really) 16:10, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

External links modified
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