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| Parent | First Bus London |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1 April 1989; 36 years ago (1989-04-01) |
| Headquarters | Stamford Brook Garage |
| Service area | Greater London |
| Service type | Bus services |
| Routes | 61 (June 2024) |
| Depots | 7 |
| Fleet | 797 (May 2015) |
| Website | www |
London United is a bus company which operates bus services mostly in west and south-westGreater London. It is currently a subsidiary ofFirst Bus London and operates services under contract toTransport for London.
London United[1] commenced operating on 1 April 1989, as one of 12 operating subsidiaries ofLondon Buses in preparation forprivatisation. In November 1994 it was sold in amanagement buyout.
The company's name was derived from the formerLondon United Tramways, that operated trams and trolleybuses in west and south west London until absorbed by theLondon Passenger Transport Board in 1933. London United adopted the former tram company's insignia, based on thecoat of arms of theCity of London, as its logo.[citation needed]
In January 1995, London United purchasedWestlink[2] with garages inHounslow Heath andKingston upon Thames.[3]
In August 1997 London United was sold toTransdev. In 2002 Transdev purchased fellow London operatorLondon Sovereign from theBlazefield Group.[4]
In April 2006 both operations were rebranded with the Transdev name and logo, removing the London United and London Sovereign brands, although both companies continued as separate legal entities.
In November 2009 Transdev purchasedNCP Challenger with seven Transport for London contracted routes, 87 buses and garages atPark Royal andTwickenham.[5] These were integrated into the London United business.
In 2009, Transdev's majority owner,Caisse des dépôts et consignations, commenced negotiating withVeolia Environnement to merge Transdev withVeolia Transport. As part of the resulting agreement, it was agreed that theRATP Group, which had a minority shareholding in Transdev, would take over ownership of some of Transdev's operations in lieu of cash payment.
This resulted in London United transferring to the RATP Group, whileLondon Sovereign remained with Transdev and become part of the merged Veolia Transdev group.[6][7][8][9]
This agreement took effect in March 2011, and RATP Group renamed its newly acquired business London United.[10]
In 2015, a charter unit was established under the United Transit brand with a grey and red livery.[11]
Since July 2021, London United has taken on most routes from RATP Group's other London subsidiaryQuality Line,[12] with routes 413, 463 and S1 being transferred toGo-Ahead London.[13]
In December 2021, RATP's London bus operations including London United were transferred to a RATP joint venture with Australia'sKelsian Group (parent company ofTower Transit) known asRATP Dev Transit London.[14]
In February 2025, London United was included in the acquisition of RATP Dev Transit London byFirstGroup, becoming part of First Bus London.[15]
London United operates seven bus garages.
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Fulwell garage operates routes33,65,71,216,281,290,371,681,K3,N33 andN65.
When new, the 11-acre (4.5 ha) site was described as one of the finest plants in the country and was the main depot ofLondon United Tramways with 20 covered tracks. The garage is nowadays divided into two sections, one used by London United, with an entrance off Wellington Road, and the other byTransport UK London Bus with an entrance off Stanley Road.
Fulwell was the first garage in London to receive trolleybuses in 1931, and together with Isleworth was the last to operate them until 1962. The last trams operated from the depot in 1935, although some of the tram tracks were, until recently, still visible in the cobbled surface of the Stanley Road entrance. The garage has never reached its capacity, even taking in much of the work from Twickenham when it closed in 1970, and in 2001 107 buses were allocated. In 1999 the garage housed 13London Country buses afterArriva Croydon & North Surrey shut itsLeatherhead garage. The buses onroute 85 were operated from the forecourt with Arriva drivers.[citation needed]
Hounslow garage operates routes110,117,203,419,695,696,698,H22,H37 andH98.[16]
Hounslow garage was opened by theLondon General Omnibus Company in 1913 on the former site of theDistrict Railway'sHounslow Town station. The garage along with many others was requisitioned in the First World War. Hounslow was the subject of two firsts in 1925 and 1930 with the firstpneumatic tyre buses and the original Dennis Dart allocated respectively. The garage had one problem though: the roof was too low and only open toppers and single deck vehicles could use the depot until the mid-1930s when the roof was raised.[citation needed]
A London Transport survey in 1947 found that 92 vehicles were allocated to Hounslow, a garage with a capacity of 72. This was mainly achieved by parking buses on a plot of land behind the garage that was also used to stand vehicles terminating there on layover. The garage was rebuilt in the early 1950s and included a new bus station in front of the garage. The planned allocation was now up to 120 vehicles, although the allocation in 2002 was 127.[citation needed]
Hounslow's first one-man operated double deckers wereMCW Metrobuses delivered in 1982 for routes 111 and202. With the allocation still high, Hounslow runs a number of night services on behalf of other First Bus London garages to enable it to fit the buses into the garage. It was also the first garage in London to operate a low-floor bus with the arrival ofWright Pathfinder bodiedDennis Lance SLF in December 1993.[17]
There were plans to relocate the garage away from the town centre and allow the expansion of the adjoining bus station. In 2005, Transport for London submitted a planning application for a new depot to be built on the site of the former Williams Dye Works along Hanworth Road.[18] The application was eventually abandoned by TfL in 2009 largely due to a campaign by residents overlooking the site, who feared the new garage would cause pollution in the area and advocated for a new park to instead occupy the site.[19]
Hounslow Heath garage operate routes105,116,235 and423.[16]
Park Royal garage operates routes18,N18 andN118.[16][20]
Park Royal was opened byNCP Challenger on 26 May 2007, on the site of the formerMetroline garage (HR) in Atlas Road,Park Royal, which had closed in 2005.[citation needed] The garage site is under lease until 2027, with plans made by First Bus London to move buses to a new site more suitable for electrification within the area.
Shepherd's Bush garage operates routes49,70,72,94,148,C1 andN72.[16]
Shepherd's Bush garage opened in 1906.[citation needed]
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Stamford Brook garage operates routes220,272,440 andE3.[16][21]
Stamford Brook opened as a bus garage in 1980 after a two-year construction. Originally built as Chiswick Tram depot, it had latterly been used to operate theBritish European Airways bus service betweenHeathrow Airport and theWest London Air Terminal onCromwell Road.[citation needed]
The original plan was to create a temporary home for the Riverside garage buses and staff whilst that garage was re-built with a view to taking on the workload from Mortlake and Turnham Green which were to close. However this idea was changed and the garage took on the work from Turnham Green which closed and also inherited the garage code V. Following service reductions, Mortlake and Riverside closed in 1983, with some of their work moving to Stamford Brook.[citation needed]
In 1981 Stamford Brook took onAirbus routes A1 and A2 following the withdrawal of the existing British Airways services between Heathrow Airport and central London. These vehicles were transferred in 1994 to West Ramp (which became an outstation of V) leaving the garage with an allocation ofMCW Metroriders,MCW Metrobuses,Leyland Olympians andDennis Darts.[citation needed]
Tolworth garage operates routes85,293,406,411,418,467,613,662,665,K1,K2,K4 andK5.[16]
Tolworth was built on the site of a former coal yard behindTolworth railway station.
Tolworth was originally planned in the late 1990s following the closure ofKingston Garage and the announcement that the site was to be part sold off and part converted into the new bus station. A recruitment centre was opened on Tolworth Broadway long before building work ever started.[citation needed]
Route K5 transferred to Tolworth fromQuality Line on 25 January 2020. Routes 406, 418 and 465 transferred to Tolworth fromQuality Line on 25 April 2020.[citation needed]
Twickenham garage was opened byNCP Challenger on 12 November 2005.[citation needed]
On 31 March 2012,route 493 passed toLondon General.[22]
As at May 2015, the fleet consisted of 797 buses.[23]
Media related toLondon United Busways at Wikimedia Commons