page_title: Privatisation of London bus services
section_title: Introduction of competition
hierarchical_section_title: Privatisation of London bus services / Introduction of competition
caption_attribution_description: English: Preserved Grey-Green bus 115 (reg. F115 PHM), a 1988 Volvo Citybus double-decker with dual-door Alexander RV bodywork, pictured at the 2003 North Weald bus rally having just been repainted by the London Transport Museum into its original Grey-Green guise. The bus was the first of a batch of 30 such vehicles bought by the Cowie Group owned Grey-Green company for use on the flagship London Buses route 24. They were to be the first buses to run in central London not wearing the traditional red colour which had been used on London buses since 1933 with the formation of London Transport, as Grey-Green had won the contract to operate route 24 as part of the deregulation of London Bus services. The fleet were duly numbered 115-144, registered F115-144 PHM, and entered service in this grey, green and orange livery. The route was operated out of their London coach base in Stamford Hill, beginning on 5 November 1988. By 1994 Grey-Green had gained more route tenders necessitating an expanded fleet, including another running into central London, London Buses route 188. The Cowie Group's London fleet also expanded massively in 1994 when they purchased the Leaside and South London divisions of London Buses Ltd as the the privatisation process begun in the 1980s finally concluded. The subsequent wholesale rebranding of Cowie as Arriva (announced in 1997) saw many changes in their London fleets in terms of both liveries and operator names in the next year or two. Pre-empting this however, 155 was one of 7 of the batch which were repainted into allover red, for use on a long term Bakerloo Line replacement bus service between Oxford Circus and Elephant and Castle. With Grey-Green having been renamed Arriva London North East in January 1998, by June 1998 bus 155 had been repainted into Arriva's corporate London red livery for operation on route 188. A year later it was transferred to the Wood Green (code WN) garage of Arriva London North (the new name for Leaside), and was brought into the traditional London system of assigning class numbers, becoming VA155 in the VA-class. By 2003, with the move to low-floor buses for London contracts, the VA class was being disposed of. Most went on to see further service in Liverpool with Fleetlink, however 115 was loaned to the London Transport Museum, who repainted it at their Acton depot.
context_page_description: The privatisation of London bus services was the process of the transfer of operation of London Buses from public bodies to private companies.
  For half a century, operation of London bus services for public transport was under the direct control of a number of entities known as London Transport. The London Regional Transport Act 1984 resulted in London Regional Transport taking control of London's bus routes, with the operation divested in stand alone companies that were privatised in 1994/95.
  Since then, direct provision of bus services in London has been run by private companies, although Transport for London did operate its own company, East Thames Buses between 1999 and 2009.
  Unlike those in the rest of the United Kingdom, the bus services in London, although still ultimately privatised, were not deregulated to the same extent. In London, details of routes, fares and services levels were still specified by public bodies, with the right to run the services contracted to private companies on a tendered basis.
  The privatised period produced for the first time buses in London painted in different schemes from the traditional red.
context_section_description: Under the 1984 Act, London bus services were to be tendered. The first round of tendering took place in the summer of 1985, bringing the first private operator into the market, in the form of London Buslines on route 81. By 1988 Boro'line Maidstone, Grey-Green and Metrobus were also operating numerous London routes.
  Controversially, these operators were allowed to operate buses in liveries other than standard red, meaning that for the first time it was possible for non-red buses to run into the centre of London, such as those on high-profile route 24 operated by Grey-Green. The only requirement was to display the London Transport roundel on the bus, to designate a London Transport tendered service. Ironically, several of the new private entrants were descendants of London Transport's former 'green' buses division, which operated outer London services that were passed to the National Bus Company's control as London Country Bus Services, in 1969.
  The private competition was not without controversy, with objections to non-red buses leading to an edict in 1997 specifying 80% red liveries. The tendering also caused problems with several operators needing to hire buses due to late delivery of new buses for newly won routes.
  One such controversial route was the arrangements for tendering route 60 which was initially awarded to Capital Logistics. Difficulties in setting up the route eventually saw operation by eight different operators and 10 different bus types in a short space of time, before the route finally gained a stable arrangement. 
  The collapse of Harris Bus in December 1999, led to London Transport forming East Thames Buses as an arm's-length company to provide temporary operation of the routes. It was retained by the new Transport for London authority, to tender for routes itself until sold in October 2009 to the Go-Ahead Group.
caption: Grey-Green Alexander bodied Volvo Citybus as used on route 24
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