Privatisation of London Bus Services

The privatisation of London bus services was the progressive 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. New legislation in the mid-1980s, however, obliged the establishment of an arm's-length bus operating company and the offering of routes to competitive tender, introducing private operators to the market. This set the ball rolling for privatisation, which progressed over a decade until ending with the selling off of the remaining routes in the mid-1990s. Since then, direct provision of bus services in London has been run entirely by various private companies.

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. This was reduced in a ruling in 1997 requiring buses to wear an 80% red livery (excluding advertising boards).