Following on from London Bus Routes One by One: 1-100, London Bus
Routes One by One: 101-200 and London Bus Routes One by One: 201-300,
this fourth volume in the series investigates those routes with the
highest numbers used today. In times of old, the numbers 300-499 were
restricted to the green buses of the old London Transport Country Area,
with 200-399 covering the territory north of the river and 400-499
covering the territory to its south. Since the hiving-off of those
operations, these numbers have been freed, and increasingly, they have
been used to sectionalize longer routes, which have come up against
London's relentless traffic and thus needed to be shortened again and
again. Some, as might be expected, denote out-of-the-way minibus routes,
but others, such as 390, work in busy central London. Though the
higher-numbered routes have been around for less time overall, they too
have been subject to the whims of tendering, with many regularly
changing operators.
As in previous volumes, a potted history of each route is accompanied by
routing details and one or two pictures of the kind of bus that operates
on that route. Illustrated with over 190 color photographs, this volume
represents an up-to-date snapshot of the fascinating modern London bus
scene as of autumn 2021.
