Nicknames for London bus routes

[rj131]

Purely for a bit of fun at Christmas what nicknames have you got for your favourite/least favourite/local bus routes?

For me I have these:

25 - The Sardine Tin (if you knew the route in its bendy bus/60 PVR First London DD days, you’d know why)

147 - The Snooker Bus (if you know snooker it makes sense)

180 - The Dart Player

195 - The Bloody Awful

218 & 226 - The Apprentice Buses (those two go past the two cafe’s used in the Apprentice programme)

277 - The Grand Canyon (277 being the length of it in miles)

320 - The Lamppost (with the 208 being the dog that pees on it)

365 - The Calendar

436 - The fist fighter (the first bus route I went on where there was a fight going on upstairs)

473 - The American Pint (the amount of ml in an American Pint)

W19 - The dr*gdealer bus (don’t know if I can post the whole word here, but it’s the only London bus I’ve been on where there was a brazen one of those loudly calling a client asking if he wanted some of his special substances 😂)

[M1104]

1 - London's #1 route

57 - Passenger 57

44 - all 4s

77 - double all 7

121 - One2One mobile network

200 - Planet hoppa (Doctor Who story centered around the London bus 200 on an alien planet)

[ilovelondonbuses]

22 - London’s Poshest Route
88 - The Clapham Omnibus

[mb171]

This seems really fun 🤣 I will do some for some routes that I grew up with / frequently use.

B15 I'd call the oldie bus. Everytime it's always rattling and looks like it's about to fall apart.

453 is the 'fashion' bus - for me it always looked very 'fashionable' growing up especially with it's LTs.

486 is 'rotten doors'. When it had its own dedicated batch of 56-reg Enviro400s, the doors always used to rattle when closing. They were iconic buses though.

291 - the glow up - that bus route had a massive glow up from 9.4m darts to 10.2m Enviro400s.

54 - the vibrator - when it had those Olympus buses in 2010s those buses vibrated a LOTTT. It was hard to sleep on those buses since they were always vibrating. I wish they did spend more time in London as they were withdrawn quite early. Same applies for the Omnidekkas / Scanias that Orpington had.

229 - the roundabout - my sister used this bus often and she said that it always goes round and round and round. It's one of those routes that traverses through a lot of roundabouts too.

[M1104]

Dec 10, 2023 10:15:48 GMT rj131 said:

Purely for a bit of fun at Christmas what nicknames have you got for your favourite/least favourite/local bus routes?

Could also do one nicknaming the buses themselves 😎

[ThinLizzy]

I could think of a few names for the 5, but I don't think I'd have an account for much longer on here

At Capital Citybus/First DM, the 165s and 365s were known as the "Ones" and "Threes." The 25s were also known as the "Over 50s" club as there was always two or three running together

[rj131]

Dec 10, 2023 13:07:59 GMT mb171 said:

This seems really fun 🤣 I will do some for some routes that I grew up with / frequently use.

B15 I'd call the oldie bus. Everytime it's always rattling and looks like it's about to fall apart.

453 is the 'fashion' bus - for me it always looked very 'fashionable' growing up especially with it's LTs.

486 is 'rotten doors'. When it had its own dedicated batch of 56-reg Enviro400s, the doors always used to rattle when closing. They were iconic buses though.

291 - the glow up - that bus route had a massive glow up from 9.4m darts to 10.2m Enviro400s.

54 - the vibrator - when it had those Olympus buses in 2010s those buses vibrated a LOTTT. It was hard to sleep on those buses since they were always vibrating. I wish they did spend more time in London as they were withdrawn quite early. Same applies for the Omnidekkas / Scanias that Orpington had.

229 - the roundabout - my sister used this bus often and she said that it always goes round and round and round. It's one of those routes that traverses through a lot of roundabouts too.

When you called the 54 ‘the vibrator’ I was very curious at where you were going with that 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Re your 291 I think the 481 is also deserving of that title

[abellion]

Dec 10, 2023 13:24:32 GMT M1104 said:

Dec 10, 2023 10:15:48 GMT rj131 said:

Purely for a bit of fun at Christmas what nicknames have you got for your favourite/least favourite/local bus routes?

Could also do one nicknaming the buses themselves 😎

Wright Streetdeck —> Wrong Streetwreck!

[mb171]

Dec 10, 2023 13:31:46 GMT rj131 said:

Dec 10, 2023 13:07:59 GMT mb171 said:

This seems really fun 🤣 I will do some for some routes that I grew up with / frequently use.

B15 I'd call the oldie bus. Everytime it's always rattling and looks like it's about to fall apart.

453 is the 'fashion' bus - for me it always looked very 'fashionable' growing up especially with it's LTs.

486 is 'rotten doors'. When it had its own dedicated batch of 56-reg Enviro400s, the doors always used to rattle when closing. They were iconic buses though.

291 - the glow up - that bus route had a massive glow up from 9.4m darts to 10.2m Enviro400s.

54 - the vibrator - when it had those Olympus buses in 2010s those buses vibrated a LOTTT. It was hard to sleep on those buses since they were always vibrating. I wish they did spend more time in London as they were withdrawn quite early. Same applies for the Omnidekkas / Scanias that Orpington had.

229 - the roundabout - my sister used this bus often and she said that it always goes round and round and round. It's one of those routes that traverses through a lot of roundabouts too.

When you called the 54 ‘the vibrator’ I was very curious at where you were going with that 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Re your 291 I think the 481 is also deserving of that title

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[ServerKing]

Dec 10, 2023 13:24:32 GMT M1104 said:

Dec 10, 2023 10:15:48 GMT rj131 said:

Purely for a bit of fun at Christmas what nicknames have you got for your favourite/least favourite/local bus routes?

Could also do one nicknaming the buses themselves 😎

318 E200 Darts are locally known as Sh*tboxes in the Northeast London dialect

[wirewiper]

A10 - the Airport Flyer (how they missed the opportunity to slap Superloop all over this one I shall never know!)

19 - N-n-n-n-nineteen nineteen (sorry, Paul Hardcastle)

[someone]

B14: Theseus (because the hail-and-rides are like the labyrinth of Greek mythology)

286: The Rattler (because of how much the buses vibrate if they're at a standstill)

386: The Earthquake Simulator (because of how bumpy the ride can be)

42: The Answer to Life, the UniverseLondon and Everything

180: The Dart (because of the significance of 180 in darts)

23 and C3: The Spaceship Routes (I think the buses feel rather futuristic)

RV1 (back when it existed): The Ghostbusters Car (the older hydrogen buses sounded like the siren from the car in that film series)

631: The Pointless Route

228: Tour of North London, via New Zealand and Papua New Guinea (a reference to a post by a deleted member in the 'Most Useless Routes in London' thread)

P4: Power (IV is the roman numeral for 4, and the formula for power in physics is P = IV where P is power, I is current and V is potential difference)

177: Slow-coach (if you've ever been on this route around Peterstone Road, you'll know)

126: The 206 of South London (a reference to the buses on which it runs on)

124: Shadow of its Former Self

602: Avogadro's bus (yet another science joke - Avogadro's constant is 6.02x10²³)

276: The bus in Timeguessr (one of the photos on the online game Timeguessr shows a 276 in 2007 near a building that had burnt down)

345: A Pain in the Neck

321: either Go!

321 (again): Dusty Bin (a reference to the game show 3-2-1)

123: Ruperta (a reference to the original Spanish version of 3-2-1, in which the mascot was a pumpkin called Ruperta)

309: Going Solo (the only London route to still use Optare Solos, I think)

H3 and R7: Village routes in London

386 (again): Does this route serve Privet Drive? (Harry Potter reference)

244: the Excited Route (does anyone else think the announcements sounded excited for practically every stop?)

43/52: the President of all Presidents (back when Metroline ran Plaxton Presidents, my favourite routes with those buses were these routes)

9/11/24/C1: the London Showcases (these routes really offer great views of central London)

240: Tea for Two (it sounds like "two for tea")

265 (westbound only, also 472 before 2022): The Roundabout (sorry to steal mb171's name for the 229, but the one-way system on the 295 around Roehampton is INSANELY long in one way and really short the other way. The 472 used to double back on itself as well.)

61: The One with the Best Buses (I really love the Enviro 200s that used to run on this route pre-pandemic)

[someone]

Dec 10, 2023 13:07:59 GMT mb171 said:

This seems really fun 🤣 I will do some for some routes that I grew up with / frequently use.

B15 I'd call the oldie bus. Everytime it's always rattling and looks like it's about to fall apart.

453 is the 'fashion' bus - for me it always looked very 'fashionable' growing up especially with it's LTs.

486 is 'rotten doors'. When it had its own dedicated batch of 56-reg Enviro400s, the doors always used to rattle when closing. They were iconic buses though.

291 - the glow up - that bus route had a massive glow up from 9.4m darts to 10.2m Enviro400s.

54 - the vibrator - when it had those Olympus buses in 2010s those buses vibrated a LOTTT. It was hard to sleep on those buses since they were always vibrating. I wish they did spend more time in London as they were withdrawn quite early. Same applies for the Omnidekkas / Scanias that Orpington had.

229 - the roundabout - my sister used this bus often and she said that it always goes round and round and round. It's one of those routes that traverses through a lot of roundabouts too.

Ah, the Optare Olympus. Yes, I have memories of those on the 54 and 161. I don't think the rattled nearly as much as newer StreetLites though 

Poor choice of words for the name though

If the 291 (also 178 given they run the same buses) is the Glow-Up, then the B15 is the Dark Route - you can barely make out what the destination is at night!

The 229 has a lot of roundabouts, but truly the king of this (also hailing from Thamesmead) is the 472 pre-2022 revision.

The old 486 buses were some of my favourites, but nowhere near as good as the ones that ran on the 61 - or, for that matter, the Plaxton President (especially the Metroline buses)

[LondonExplorer316]

Here are a few of mine
17 - The Pint Route (runs past the most pubs)
C10 - The Art Route (passes nearby to both Tate galleries)
X26 - The Long-Distance Clara (sorry, I had to make this reference)
209 - Short and Sweet (shortest route, quite pleasant and quiet)
7 - James Bond (rumoured to be Ian Fleming's inspiration for the famous '007' number and seems to sneak its way around)
35 - The Market Route (passes the most markets)
9 - The Leisure Route (passes close to the most museums/palaces)
22 - The Antique Route (explores various antiques shops, art galleries and markets, as well as one of London's most famous shops, Fortnum & Mason)
139 - The Classic London Route (passes some of the most iconic London attractions and famous shops)
26 - Landmarks, Landmarks, Landmarks (I've just realised how many different classic London landmarks it passes by)

[B9TL205]

205 - the whoosh! (purely because of the E400Hs on it 😂)

370 - the picturesque

25 - the Eastern crawler.

309 - the Lonely route (most of the roads only has the 309 serving it)