London Buses: How to pay bus fares & Read timetables

Buses in central London typically run every 5-12 minutes from 5 AM to 11 PM, and every 10-20 mins from 11 PM to midnight.

The most popular routes then have a night bus which runs through to the next morning (pre-fixed by the letter ‘N’). You usually get three or four of these every hour, but after 3 AM you might have to wait a whole hour.

From the TFL website – There’s an online map of all the London bus stops here: tfl.gov.uk/maps/bus.

Spider maps – If you’re looking for a bus map that spiders out from a particular location, like a train station or landmark, then you can look them up on the TFL website: tfl.gov.uk/maps_/bus-spider-maps.

Key routes – This simplified map showing all the main routes is quite useful: tfl.gov.uk/bus-route-maps/.

Paper timetables – You can get paper bus timetables from one of the London Visitor Centres at Heathrow airport, Euston station, King’s Cross, Liverpool Street, Paddington, Piccadilly Circus and Victoria.

From the TFL website – You can look up timetables by route number on the TFL website: tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/.

Download the TFL app – The official TFL app can locate your nearest bus stop and tell you when the next bus is coming – tfl.gov.uk/maps_/.

Most of the bus routes in central London are busy enough for the buses to pull up at every single stop without you having to do anything, but if you want to make sure that they stop then all you have to do is stick your arm out horizontally into the street so the driver can see it.

There used to be two types of bus stop in London. The ones with a red circle on a white background   (like in the photo) were called compulsory stops, and the driver was supposed to stop every single time without being hailed. But the ones in reverse, with a white circle on a red background were called request stops, and the driver would only stop if you stuck your arm out.

Unfortunately most Londoners never learnt the difference between the two types of stop so TFL instructed their drivers to treat them all as request stops. Both types do still exist, but you should definitely stick your arm out every time.

Note: It’s not possible to hail a bus between stops, but that doesn’t stop lots of people from trying (and some kindly drivers will even do it).

To get off a London bus all you have to do is press a bell in good time. If you can’t hear a sound then it’s probably already been pressed by somebody else and become mute. Just look for an LCD ‘Bus stopping’ sign by the ceiling, or by one of the doors.

If you’re travelling outside central London then you might find that some of the suburban buses have ‘hail and ride’ sections. This basically means that there are no bus stops whatsoever, and you’re allowed to flag them down from anywhere. You can also press the bell and get off wherever you like.

Be aware that the driver will only stop if it’s safe to do so – so don’t expect him to come to a halt on a bend.

London buses are very wheelchair friendly, and wheelchair users are even entitled to free bus travel (but not their helpers).

The buses are equipped with retractable ramps which come out from underneath the middle door. The driver will usually let some passengers off first and then close the middle door again. He needs to do this in order to work the ramp. Just wait patiently by the middle doors and you’ll hear an alarm sound and see the ramp descend onto the pavement. He will then open the door again so you can get on.

The wheelchair spaces are located directly behind the middle door. There will also be a bell positioned at waist height so it’s easy to press.

The maximum wheelchair dimensions that can be accommodated onboard a bus are width 70cm (28 inches) and depth 120cm (47 inches).

Yes. Prams are allowed on a bus if there&8217;s enough space to accomodate it. If you have a wide model that won’t fit down the central aisle then you’re supposed to start at the front door, pay your fare, and then ask the driver to open the middle door so you can park it in the wheelchair space. If the space is empty then there’s no need to fold it up.

If the space is subsequently needed by a wheelchair user then you’re supposed to fold it up, because wheelchair users always take precedence.

This timetable appears on a bus stop outside the Royal Courts of Justice. It’s very easy to understand once you get the hang of it. For example, it tells you the first No.11 on a Monday is at 5.38 AM and they run every 15 mins until 6.08 AM, and then every 7-12 mins until 00.24 AM. The last one is 00.39 AM.

Notice the little banner underneath the No.11 section which says ‘Night bus N11 please see separate panel’. If you looked at that panel (not included in the picture, but it’s on the same bus stop) then you would see that the No.11 actually continues running all the way through the night from 00.53 AM until 5.22 AM – but it’s called N11 instead of 11.

Most of the stops also include a little route map which shows you where each bus is headed from that point on, together with the time taken to get there. I have included the route map from the same bus stop below, so you can compare it with the timetable above.

Notice the grey line at the top which says ‘You are here > The Royal Courts of Justice’. The different bus routes then continue down the page in different colours (which match their colour on the timetable). You can see where each bus is headed from that point onwards.

So the next stop is Fleet Street, which takes 4 minutes, followed by Ludgate Circus, which takes 8 minutes. If you want to go to Liverpool Street then you’ve got a choice of three buses: 11, 23 or 26, which take 23 minutes. If you want to go to Moorgate then you’ve only got one: the 76, which takes 20 minutes.

Travelling on a night bus in London is very safe, but it can sometimes be a little intimidating if you’re unlucky enough to get some dopey drunks on board. Just remember that 99% of the time they won’t mean you any harm, and it will just be a bit of drunken banter and them showing off to their mates, so don’t get yourself worked up into a tizzy for no reason. The best thing to do is just ignore them.

If you want to play it safe then always sit downstairs, close to the driver’s cab. You might want to take your headphones off as well, so you’re more aware of what’s happening around you.