London: Nearly all services in London are operated under contract to Transport for London. Though operated by private companies the buses are all painted red, charge the same fare and buses have standardised features.

TFL have done much to improve services in recent years. Frequencies and reliability are excellent and there are more routes serving more roads than ever before. However they do have some odd ideas. For instance they specity that all double-deckers should have straight staircases, despite the fact that these are dangerous and waste space. So remember this when you go flying as the bus brakes suddenly. Or you have to stand up as there aren't enough seats. The owner of the bus would prefer to have a straight staircase!

Wierdly they also refuse to produce timetables. You can get specific times by using their online journey planner. If you go to the stop you will find a frequently inaccurate list of departure times - but as for that item that every other operator offers - a common or garden timetable - forget it!

However you CAN obtain timetables by going to a private website: http://www.londonbusroutes.net/index.htm .Click on 'operational details' then the service number of the route you are interested in. You have the option of looking at a complete timetable or a more printable PDF one. Using this you can then get timetables for some good rides.