London General
From Freepedia
London General is both a modern bus operating company and, as the London General Omnibus Company or LGOC, a very significant name in the history of transport of London, England. It is now owned by the Go-Ahead Group and operates buses under contract to London Buses from 5 garages in Merton, Putney, Stockwell, Sutton and Waterloo.
History
The London General Omnibus Company was founded in 1855 to amalgamate and regulate the horse-drawn omnibus services then operating in London. The company began producing motor omnibuses for its own use in 1910 at works in Blackhorse Lane, Walthamstow, London.
In 1912 the Underground Group, which at that time owned most of the London Underground, bought the LGOC. The bus manufacturing elements went on to become the Associated Equipment Company, more commonly known by its acronym of AEC, whilst the bus operating elements continued to use the name London General.
In 1933 the LGOC, along with the rest of the Underground Group, became part of the new London Transport Executive. The name London General fell into disuse, and London Transport instead became synonymous with the red London bus.
In the run up to the privatisation of the UK's bus industry in the 1980s, London Transport created a series of shadow bus operating companies with names of geographic or historic significance, and one of these was christened London General. The new London General was initially privatised by management buy-out, and acquired by the Go-Ahead Group in 1996.
See Also
The following companies operate buses under contract to London Buses:
- Armchair
- Arriva London, part of the Arriva Group
- Arriva Shires & Essex, part of the Arriva Group
- Arriva Southern Counties, part of the Arriva Group
- Blue Triangle
- Ealing Community Transport
- East Thames Buses, directly owned by Transport for London
- Epsom Coaches
- First London, part of the First Group
- First Essex, part of the First Group
- First Thamesway, part of the First Group
- Hackney Community Transport
- London Central, part of the Go-Ahead Group
- London General, part of the Go-Ahead Group
- London Sovereign, part of the French Transdev Group
- London United, part of the French Transdev Group
- Metrobus, part of the Go-Ahead Group
- Metroline, part of the Singaporean ComfortDelgro Corporation
- Stagecoach London, part of the Stagecoach Group
- Sullivan Buses
- Tellings-Golden Miller
- Travel London, part of the National Express Group
