Stagecoach London is a major bus operator in Greater London. It is a subsidiary of Stagecoach and operates services under contract to Transport for London mostly in East and South East London, as well as some services running into Central London.
It is the largest subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group, with 283.4 million passengers journeys taken on Stagecoach London buses between May 2018 and April 2019, and as of March 2025, the fleet consisted of 1,504 buses.
In August 2006, Stagecoach sold its London bus operations to Macquarie Bank. The new owner restored the East London and Selkent trading names and logos, and in September 2008, established Thameside to operate route 248.
In October 2010, Stagecoach reacquired its old London operations with all operations once again rebranded as Stagecoach London.
In May 2022, Stagecoach announced it would takeover Tower Transit's Lea Interchange garage for £20 million. The takeover was completed on 25 June 2022, with Stagecoach operating the garage under the Lea Interchange Bus Company Limited legal entity.
Following negotiations between the two operators while its regional operations were shut down ahead of entry into administration, in August 2022, social enterprise operator HCT Group's Transport for London operations, consisting of 17 bus routes, were purchased by Stagecoach London. The deal saw around 500 members of staff and 160 buses transfer to Stagecoach's East London operation, along with leases on the HCT Group's Ash Grove and Walthamstow Avenue garages.
Operations
Stagecoach London operates services under contract to Transport for London. These are operated by 4 legal entities which all exist but under the Stagecoach London brand:
- East London (East London Bus & Coach Company Limited)
History
The garage was opened in 2007 after Waterden Road was closed to allow the site to be redeveloped for the 2012 Olympic Games.
In May 2008, all buses along with the trainers were moved into the new West Ham garage, meaning Rainham no longer operated any Transport for London routes. Rainham carried out all the engineering work until the new West Ham garage was completed in 2009.
Transport for London routes returned to Rainham on 27 September 2008 when route 248 commenced.
Lea Interchange Bus Company
Lea Interchange (LI)
thumb|Stagecoach took over the Lea Interchange bus routes (such as [[London Buses route 135|route 135) from Tower Transit in 2022.]]
Lea Interchange garage operates routes 58, 86, 97, 135, 236, 276, 308, 339, 488, 678, D8, W13 and W14.
Lea Interchange was opened by First London in 2007 to replace its Waterden Road, Stratford garage that closed as part of the development of the Olympic Park for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The garage was one of three sold by First in June 2013 to Tower Transit, later being sold as Tower Transit's last-remaining garage in May 2022 to Stagecoach London.
Fleet
As of March 2023, the Stagecoach London fleet consisted of 1,488 buses.