Historic - when were route numbers first used?

[Ken H]

In the area that interests me (round Leeds) West Yorkshire Road Car Co (WYRCC) and Leeds City Transport started with route numbers for buses in the mid 1930's. WYRCC has route numbers for most routes in their 1936 timetable.

But who were the first to display route numbers on buses?

UK and abroad examples are OK. As are any other designations to tell the passengers the route of an approaching bus.

 

[Busaholic]

First examples in London in 1906 by a fleet named Vanguard: they decided to identify their bus routes as Vanguard 1, etc, then other operators caught on. A unified system was imposed by A.E.Bassom, head of Met Police, in 1924, and lasted without too many significant changes for quite a long time.

 

[Jordan Adam]

Aberdeen started using route numbers and route colours in 1898 following the formation of Aberdeen Corporation Tramways.

The routes at the time were as follows:
1 (Red): Bridge Of Dee to Bridge Of Don (formerly "Bridges")
2 (Brown): Castle Street to Mannofield (formerly "Mannofield)
3 (Yellow): Castle Street to Rosemount/Queens Cross Circular (formerly "Rosemount Circle")
4 (Blue): Castle Street - Queens Road (formerly "Bayview")
5 (White): Castle Street to Kings Gate (formerly "Rosemount Circle")
7 (Green): Market Street to Woodside (formerly "Woodside")