The last decade of Routemaster bus operation in London saw over seven hundred surviving RMs and RMLs divided between several new companies following the privatisation of London Buses Ltd's subsidiaries in 1994. Now operating their existing twenty routes under contract to LRT (renamed TfL in 2000), Centrewest, Metroline, MTL London Northern, Leaside Buses, Stagecoach East London, South London, London Central, London General and London United all adopted their own predominantly red liveries, but by the turn of the century these firms had clustered in pairs and generally sold out to the emerging big corporate groups. Two independents, BTS and Kentish Bus, had also won a Routemaster route each and were similarly brought under the control of larger parents.
In this photographic archive, each company's last Routemaster-operating decade is outlined in detail up to when each route was converted to OPO one by one between 29 August 2003 and 9 December 2005. The two heritage routes are then explored all the way up to their own end in 2019.
- ISBN13 9781399061940
- Publish Date 2 February 2023
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Pen & Sword Books Ltd
- Imprint Pen & Sword Transport
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 128
- Language English