1) There are 19,607 bus stops on TfL’s network
If you visited one per day, for some reason, it would take you nearly 54 years. I’ve just worked out that statistically, I’d probably be dead before I finished, so I’m not going to bother.
2) A is the most popular bus stop letter
There are 1,759 stops labelled “A” in the capital.
Whilst that might seem obvious given how the alphabet works, the next most popular ones in order are D, B, E, C and then K, so maybe it wasn’t that obvious after all. The TfL press office informed me that bus routes “will typically follow an alphabetical order wherever possible” – although it must be a lot more complicated than they’re making it sound given that the majority of stops serve more than one route.
3) I is the least popular bus stop code to consist of just one letter, appearing just 37 times.
Just behind it are O (156 appearances), and Z (442). I asked TfL about this (I’m sure they love hearing from me) and apparently they try to avoid using O and I these days because they look too much like 0 and 1. Reportedly, the team responsible were “surprised” that there were still O and I stops at all, which is slightly disconcerting.
4) Which is presumably why, tragically, there are no bus stops with that say OI on them
There are 30 PCs (which have, presumably, gone mad), 47 EDs (although admittedly this is probably mainly only of interest to people called Ed), 5 AWs (providing an ideal prompt for what to say when your bus inexplicably vanishes from the display board), and, for maths fans in the Putney Heath area, one PI.
5) The longest bus stop name is “Loxford School Of Science and Technology”
Although a) I’m not counting stuff with a “/” in it like “ Hampstead Heath Extension / Wildwood Road” as that seems like cheating and b) there are lots of abbreviations as TfL’s system seems to only allow 40 character-long stop names.
6) The shortest bus stop name is “Jcoss”
It’s in New Barnet, and stands for the “Jewish Community Secondary School”.
Why not spend all your time standing around outside schools taking photos and if anyone intervenes try to explain that it’s because of some statistics you’ve read about bus stop names?
7) The highest number of buses you can catch from a single stop is 23
For example, stop J in Bedford Street, near the Strand, from which you can catch the 9, 11, 15, 23, 87, 91, 139, 176, N9, N11, N15, N21, N26, N44, N87, N89, N91, N155, N199, N343, N550 or N551. But not all at the same time though, for fairly obvious reasons. It shares the title with Savoy Street (stop U) and Southampton Street / Covent Garden (stop A).
8) The highest number of buses you can catch from a single stop during the day (i.e. excluding night buses) is 19
Stop K on Hounslow High Street. Why not go there and try catching every bus in order, then return home and think about what you’re achieving with your life?
9) The N136 is the most alliterative bus route in London
Because it has 8 stops beginning with L in sequential order:
- Lewisham Hospital
- Lewisham Park
- Lewisham Fire Station
- Lewisham Centre
- Lewisham Clock Tower
- Lewisham Station
- Lewisham Station / Loampit Vale
- Loampit Vale / Jerrard Street
Can you think of any better reason to go to Lewisham at 3am?
10) The longest number of alphabetically sequential bus stops on a route is 7
But there are seven possible ways of doing it, so you’ve got absolutely no excuse. Here are six of them:
- 128: Barkingside High Street, Barkingside Police Station, Bradville Gardens, Fullwood Primary School, Hamilton Avenue, Icknield Drive, Martley Drive
- 227: Crystal Palace Bus Station, Crystal Palace Parade, Crystal Palace Parade / College Road, Crystal Palace Park Road, Crystal Palace Pk Rd / Charleville Cir, Sydenham Avenue, Thicket Road
- 228: Holland Park, Holland Park Station, Norland Square, Royal Crescent, Shepherd’s Bush Station, White City Bus Station, White City Station
- 282: Church Road, Emmanuel Church, Hallowell Road, Northwood Health Centre, Northwood Hills Circus, Northwood Hills Station, Norwich Road, Middleton Drive
- 359: Edgecoombe, Heather Way, Heathfield Vale / Broadcoombe, Heathfield Vale / Farnborough Avenue, Monks Hill, Pixton Way, Selsdon Primary School
- 638: Ashfield Lane, Bromley Lane / Chislehurst War Memorial, Centre Common Road / War Memorial, Chislehurst / Ashfield Lane, Chislehurst Sainsbury’s, Ingleby Way, Oakdene Avenue
Anyone who can find the 7th for themselves will whatever satisfaction in that they can find within their own heart.
11) Ominously, there are 666 bus routes in London
That includes the 50 night bus ‘N’ routes and 2 ‘X’ express routes. Other letters in route names generally indicate the area they serve – the P routes indicate Peckham, for instance. There are, unhelpfully, exceptions – for instance, H indicates Hampstead, except when it means Harrow, except when it means it runs near Harrow but doesn’t actually stop in Harrow itself.
12) Despite all this, the numbers run all the way up to 969
The 969, a service in south-west London suburbia, only runs twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays: like the 965, the only other remaining bus in the 900 range, it’s a service designed to aid people with mobility issues get to the shops. There were once many more of these services, but they’ve mostly been phased out as almost all buses in London are wheelchair accessible these days.
13) The London bus route with the least stops is the 609
This route, which on one leg has only 4 stops, is to take kids from the Harrodian school to Hammersmith station. The 600 range of numbers is reserved for school bus routes – even independent schools like Harrodian can apparently qualify for a TfL service. Honestly officer, I boarded the bus full of children because I’m doing “a blog”.
Non-bus related fact: Harrodian was until the 1980s a sports club for Harrod’s employees, and when it was sold and turned into a school it was repeatedly taken to court by Mohamed Al-Fayed who objected to them keeping the name.
14) The London bus route with the most stops is the N199
Which has 114 stops on the outbound route from Trafalgar Square.
Oddly, if you’re going the other way and starting at St Mary Cray Station, there are only 110 stops, so you’re going to have to be really committed to the idea of reaching deepest south-east London at god knows when o’clock to say you’ve completed this particular challenge.
Which comes with no reward or recognition, but it is probably a good way to replicate the sort of sad, confused look of pity you get when you tell people you’ve read a list of every bus stop in London.
