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Go-Ahead London is the trading name used collectively for the London bus operations of the Go-Ahead Group. The name first appeared in August 2008, before which the company had traded under separate names and brands. It is the largest bus operator in London, operating a total of 115 bus routes contracted to Transport for London.
History
The Go-Ahead Group is a large transport group based in Newcastle. It first became involved in London bus operations in September 1994, where upon the privatisation of London Buses Limited, it acquired former LBL subsidiary London Central. Just under two years later, in May 1996, it added another former LBL subsidiary, London General, which had initially been part of a management buyout. These two companies subsequently developed in much the same way, both establishing a livery of red with a charcoal skirt and yellow relief band, and splitting orders for new buses.
Further expansion did not occur until September 2006, when London General, on behalf of Go-Ahead, purchased Docklands Buses. Then, on 29 June 2007, the group acquired the bus operating part of Blue Triangle. With these purchases, Go-Ahead surpassed Arriva London to become the largest operator of buses in London, running around 16% of London bus services.
A corporate image for Go-Ahead's London bus services started to appear in August 2008, when a new "Go-Ahead London" logo was unveiled; subsequent new buses carry new style fleetnames incorporating this logo.
In 2009, Transport for London (TfL) invited bids for the sale of their own bus operations which ran under the East Thames Buses (ETB) brand. Go-Ahead London were selected as the preferred bidder and assumed full responsibility for ETB, their 10 routes and 2 depots, in October 2009. The ETB brand was discontinued and was replaced with the Go-Ahead London brand. The ETB operations were initially absorbed under the London General arm of Go-Ahead's London business. However, after some route movements and allocation changes some of the services now run under the London Central arm.
On 19 March 2012, Go-Ahead London announced their purchase of Northumberland Park Garage From First London, and will take over the operation of all routes, with a transaction completion date of 30 March 2012.<ref>"Go-Ahead Group acquires Northumberland Park bus depot". EuroTransport. Retrieved 2012-03-27.
Current companies
The current subsidiaries of Go-Ahead London are, in order of acquisition:
- London Central (1994)
- London General (1996)
- Docklands Buses (2006)
- Blue Triangle (2007)
- East Thames Buses (2009)
See also
- Metrobus - A bus company also owned by Go-Ahead, running services south of London as well as in Surrey and Sussex.
- List of bus operators of the United Kingdom
References
- Go-Ahead London - About us Accessed 13 August 2008.
- Go-Ahead Group - London Central and London General Accessed 13 August 2008.
- Go-Ahead London - Homepage Accessed 13 August 2008.
- Post image - Picture of a new style fleetname Accessed 13 August 2008.
- Fotopic - Picture of a bus with new style fleetnames Accessed 13 August 2008.
External links
| Bus operators in London | |
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| London | |
| National | |
 London transport portal | |
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| Shareholders |
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| Bus companies |
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| Railway companies |
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| Former operations |
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| Future operations | |||||
| Bus operators in London | |
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| London | |
| National | |
| London transport portal | |