Green with Envy

In spite of being not that far by Network SouthEast South West Trains from London, I missed the Green Line 80th anniversary cavalcade, a week ago. I had a poor excuse. I’ve been out of the country for a couple of days and a few days more, not that readers will have noticed (I hope). There is, as a consequence, something of a backlog of email through which to trawl, so that might explain why you haven’t yet received a response. I have over 80 left, plus over 270 in Spam.

First has experienced ridership increases on its 70n service from Legoland and Windsor, re-introducing in 2008 double decks onto Green Line services. So-called Rainbow Fares help identify cheaper journeys. Bracknell journeys operate as “connections”, under domestic hours regulations

I don’t wish too add much to all the stuff already written on Green Line other than to say that it’s an altogether enduring brand, even if it’s as far removed from its origins as is Curry’s the retailer. Curry’s, very old readers will recall, started life selling ironmongery and bicycles.

For, in spite of it all, Green Line is a survivor. It’s the bus equivalent of Teflon. None of the mud strewn at the bus industry over the last 80 years has seemed to stick. What other bus brand these days can claim to be as old as Green Line? What other older bus brand is still a household name in its core market area *and* recognised beyond? I can recall no other similar limited stop/express coach brand operating for *80* years. Unless you know differently.

Fitting though the 80th birthday celebrations are, Green Line is very much a shadow of its former self. The glory years of the late 1950s are unlikely ever to return. Then, London Transport Green Line coaches spanned almost the entire home counties, touching the lives of everyone within 30 miles of Charing Cross. Now, the routes that remain are just six plus one:

• All bar two operated by London Country Bus Services agglomerate successor Arriva


• One in agreement with First


• The sixth by Arriva but in collaboration with National Express, Terravision and easyBus.


• Also, a seventh: TfL’s X26, the sort-of truncated successor to Green Line 726, the last remaining Green Line orbital.

Green Line: an 80-year microcosm of the British bus & coach scene:

• The London General Omnibus Company began limited stop stage routes in the late 1920s, before the need outside London to regulate.


• It steadily bought out competitors before incorporating the lot in 1930 into Green Line Coaches Ltd, followed quickly by the first branded routes.


• Early services were often operated by others, under agreements.


• In 1933, Green Line passed with LGOC to the new London Passenger Transport Board (i.e. London Transport).


• Post war changes resulted in a network recast that lasted till the early 1970s. Population growth & suburban movement ensured a 20 per cent cut did not deter initial growth.


• From the early 1950s, orbitals supplemented the traditional cross-London radials.


• Routemaster coaches began to appear from 1962, increasing capacity but also often reducing frequency.


• Neither the RMs nor one man operation from 1966 managed to restore what was becoming an ailing brand.


• In 1970, Green Line passed to nationalised London Country Bus Services. It adopted bog-standard dual purpose Leyland Nationals.


• Under the Derek Fytche LCBS recovery plan, Plaxton bodied AECs improved matters considerably, from 1977.


• A more market driven LCBS then developed Green Line Jetlink services. Air transfers were later developed in the early 1980s.


• Coach deregulation saw Green Line briefly appear in the likes of Brighton, Cambridge and Northampton. Peak commuter coaches proliferated.


• Bus deregulation and privatisation saw market fragmentation and these killed all but a handful of Green Line routes.


• Arriva gradually gained control of the quartered London County and, as such, has successfully re-established the Green Line name. Concentrating on core, profitable routes, it remains a shadow of its 1950s self, though.