7 March 20238 March 2023 The red buses of London are famous throughout the world. Along with pictures of Big Ben, the London eye and other world-famous images they are seen by millions around the world as representing the British capital. However what exactly is the history of the London bus service? Well, it all starts in 1829 with the introduction of the omnibus service by a man whose name was George Shillibeer. This service however did not use a motor car as those had not been invented properly. It was approximately just over 70 years later that the first motor cars were used for London’s bus routes in the early twentieth century. The last time that a horse-drawn bus, i.e. a bus which relied on a horse pulling it, was used was in 1914. In 1906 numbers were allocated to different buses which ran on specific bus routes. The no.1 bus for example today starts off at Oxford Street and finishes at Canada water tube station in the south-east of the city. There are around 700 bus routes currently in modern London with approximately 9,000 buses. This is all to serve a city of 8 million. So why are London buses red? Well the reason for this is quite simple. Before 1907 there was not just one organization managing all the buses in London but different companies with different buses. Buses had different colours. So the London General Omnibus Company (LGOC) decided to paint their fleet of buses the same colour to make them distinct from their competitors. They are painted in a shade of red known as ‘Pantone 485 C red’. So that’s why people all over the world see pictures of London buses in their famous red! 1. George Shillibeer invented the first red bus. True False None 2. 1914 was the year the first motor car was used as a bus. True False None 3. In 1906 numbers were given to buses. True False None 4. The no 1 bus stops in the south of the city. True False None 5. Buses were painted red in 1907. True False None 6. The LGOC painted their buses red to celebrate their fiftieth anniversary. True False None Time's up