Okay, I’m going to need you to humour me for a moment. I want you to close your eyes and think of London. Now, what’s the first thing that pops into your head? Big Ben? The London Eye? Wildly domesticated foxes? Well, for me there’s a clear winner; an ultimate tell-tale sign that you’re in the capital city.
Yep, you guessed it, folks: it’s time for another Secret London history lesson. Grab a cuppa and make yourself comfy because today we’re taking it back; waaay back. Back to a time with no iPhones, no Oyster cards, and most definitely no Citymapper (*gasp*). I know you’re all on the edge of your seat to find out what today’s topic of choice is, so I won’t torment you any longer. Today we’re taking a deep-dive into every Londoners favourite mode of transport: big red buses, of course. Because I’m sure I’m not the only person who’s ever wondered: why are London buses red?
Let’s start in 1829, when the very first horse-drawn bus ride took place. It was a roaring success and it wasn’t long before everybody (quite literally) got on board with the idea. In less than three years, over 400 buses had taken to the streets of London. Back then, however, services were completely unregulated and the transport system was operated by many different companies. Each were competing for the most popular and profitable routes, and it was chaotic, to say the least. It wasn’t until the 1840’s when operators started to co-operate and self-regulate; using all manner of bus colours to differentiate routes.
This colour-coded system worked well until the early 1900’s; the same time that the first workable motor buses started to appear on the roads. One company in particular (the London General Omnibus Company) had become the largest, and became the dominating force on the London bus scene. In 1907, LGOC decided to paint an entire fleet of buses red, to stand out from the rival companies. They also placed numbers on the front of the buses to identify which route each bus would be taking. Revolutionary, right?
In 1933, London Transport bought every single bus in London. It turns out that they were quite keen on that iconic (if a little obnoxious) shade of red, and so they decided to paint every bus the same colour. They also kept the nifty number system that had been created, and the rest, my friends, is history.
Nobody knows for certain why that exact shade of red was initially chosen, but what I can tell you is that the specific colour in question is Pantone 485 C red. The exact same colour has since been used by KitKat, McDonald’s and the Central Line, so it turned out to be a pretty good choice, hey?