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.

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.

External links

• London General Website