Trivia: Four digit bus routes.

[stadler]

Stagecoach route number 1066 runs from Hastings - Battle - Hawkhurst - Tunbridge Wells and i was just thinking the other day that i have never seen another bus route with a four digit route number. It is very unique to be four digits long.

So my question is whether there are currently any other bus routes in the UK with four digits? If not then have there ever been any others in the past?

By this i mean four numbers. So anything like 1234 or 2468 etc. I know there are some that include letters like 123A or A123 or LOOP or STAR but i am not talking about that. It has to be four numbers just like the 1066 route.

 

[WibbleWobble]

A lot of these will actually be closed school contracts. Wiltshire have a number of 4000-series services.

 

[Simon75]

22 London night buses have 4 digits ie N109

 

[Dwarfer1979]

Centrebus have a 1005 in Leicester, it is a school service but an open door one that anyone can travel on. It used to be a dedicated council contract where the number came from (as S1005) but is now a commercial service.

 

[EYFanatic]

Given that we can have historical ones...

KHCT (known then and even now as Stagecoach in Hull by older members of the parish as 'Corporation Transport') maintained a very small subfleet of elderly Atlanteans converted to educational and play buses for use by children's homes and estate schools under the "service" number 1234. I know not entirely in keeping with the OP, but I thought it was worth mentioning

 

[aw94]

Dunn-line of Nottingham ran a service 2000

 

[Ballyheigue]

Although not in the UK, the Tralee Peoples Bus service (basically a town circular) over in Tralee, Ireland has two official numbers, these being 290A and 290B, however the buses just display TP rather than the number which mist be confusing if the bus runs late. I think these are the only 4 digit bus numbers in the Irish Republic outside of Dublin.

 

[Jimmi]

Sleafordian Coaches have a number of 4/5 digit route numbers for school services (or services running around school times).

204A - circular service in the Durham area, reverse of the 204 route loop

Nexus' 'Taxibus' services all have TB in them, so various examples here, eg. TB29

X71A - a variation of Go North East's X71 service between Newcastle & Consett

301A - a variation of Go North East's 301 (and other routes) on weekday mornings running between Sunniside & Newcastle (this journey previously ran as a trip on service 97)

101A - Stanhope to Cowshill, 'Upper Weardale' a sort of continuation of the main 101 between Bishop Auckland & Stanhope using a smaller bus (there's also some school services using the number 101 with a letter added to the prefix eg 101B)

30SE - Thirsk to York College, term time variation of the 30 service ran by Transdev York (previously a Reliance Motor Services route) that bypasses York City Centre to reach York College

 

[berneyarms]

Although not in the UK, the Tralee Peoples Bus service (basically a town circular) over in Tralee, Ireland has two official numbers, these being 290A and 290B, however the buses just display TP rather than the number which mist be confusing if the bus runs late. I think these are the only 4 digit bus numbers in the Irish Republic outside of Dublin.

Bus Éireann have plenty of four digit bus route numbers.

 

[MotCO]

Go North East have an AD122 route between Hexham and Haltwhistle near Hadrian's Wall, reflecting the year when the Romans starting building the wall

 

[johnnychips]

By this i mean four numbers. So anything like 1234 or 2468 etc. I know there are some that include letters like 123A or A123 or LOOP or STAR but i am not talking about that. It has to be four numbers just like the 1066 route.

A lot of posters are ignoring the OP’s criterion.

 

[Ballyheigue]

Bus Éireann have plenty of four digit bus route numbers.

Just noticed after consulting Bus Times this evening lol, I always thought all those routes in Dublin such as the 109A etc only served areas in the Dublin area but now I know they don't.

 

[Deerfold]

Dunn-line of Nottingham ran a service 2000

A D2000, indeed, which retained that number when it became a subsidised service run by another company - it ran Sandiacre to Beeston Rylands

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 15 Nov 2025 ==

Sleafordian Coaches have a number of 4/5 digit route numbers for school services (or services running around school times).

204A - circular service in the Durham area, reverse of the 204 route loop

Nexus' 'Taxibus' services all have TB in them, so various examples here, eg. TB29

X71A - a variation of Go North East's X71 service between Newcastle & Consett

301A - a variation of Go North East's 301 (and other routes) on weekday mornings running between Sunniside & Newcastle (this journey previously ran as a trip on service 97)

101A - Stanhope to Cowshill, 'Upper Weardale' a sort of continuation of the main 101 between Bishop Auckland & Stanhope using a smaller bus (there's also some school services using the number 101 with a letter added to the prefix eg 101B)

30SE - Thirsk to York College, term time variation of the 30 service ran by Transdev York (previously a Reliance Motor Services route) that bypasses York City Centre to reach York College

Plenty of 4 character routes there, but no 4 digit ones.

 

[borage]

Here's the list from the bustimes.org database:

Spoiler

0418 | Wooler - Alnwick via Belford, Bamburgh
0918 | Belford - Chathill
1066 | Hastings - Hawkhurst
1066 | Hawkhurst - Tunbridge Wells
1107 | High Thorpe Road - Branston Community College Bus Park
1700 | Paris - London
1710 | Paris - London
3564 | Sleaford - Ruskington
5178B | Sleaford - South Kyme
6067 | Tydd St. Mary - Holbeach
N1328 | Warsaw - Berlin - London
N1700 | Paris - London
N1710 | Paris - London
S1005 | Victoria Road East - City of Leicester College

 

[Mark L]

Here's the list from the bustimes.org database:

Spoiler

0418 | Wooler - Alnwick via Belford, Bamburgh
0918 | Belford - Chathill
1066 | Hastings - Hawkhurst
1066 | Hawkhurst - Tunbridge Wells
1107 | High Thorpe Road - Branston Community College Bus Park
1700 | Paris - London
1710 | Paris - London
3564 | Sleaford - Ruskington
5178B | Sleaford - South Kyme
6067 | Tydd St. Mary - Holbeach
N1328 | Warsaw - Berlin - London
N1700 | Paris - London
N1710 | Paris - London
S1005 | Victoria Road East - City of Leicester College

As a variation on the theme how many bus routes have a leading zero in their number? White Bus used to have service 01. (Windsor -Ascot) but this became plain 1 when operation passed to Thames Valley earlier this year and there are two in the list provided by @borage but I’m not sure whether these actually display the leading zero. There are a few coach services (both Nat Ex and Flixbus) including the inevitable 007.

 

[YorkRailFan]

Here's the list from the bustimes.org database:

Spoiler

0418 | Wooler - Alnwick via Belford, Bamburgh
0918 | Belford - Chathill
1066 | Hastings - Hawkhurst
1066 | Hawkhurst - Tunbridge Wells
1107 | High Thorpe Road - Branston Community College Bus Park
1700 | Paris - London
1710 | Paris - London
3564 | Sleaford - Ruskington
5178B | Sleaford - South Kyme
6067 | Tydd St. Mary - Holbeach
N1328 | Warsaw - Berlin - London
N1700 | Paris - London
N1710 | Paris - London
S1005 | Victoria Road East - City of Leicester College

The 0418 and 0918 both only display 418 & 918 respectively when in service. They only track as 0418 & 0918 and display the respective numbers on tickets.

 

[Hbbz9392]

If numbers separated with a dash is within the rules, Ankara has a lot of them. In fact only three digit lines are a bit rare in comparison. Just looking at the EGO website, I can tell you 112-1, 135-2, 185-7, 255-2… And the list goes on. One would be thinking that these dashes mean that it’s a sprint run on that line. And that might have been the philosophy (or that they did not want to bother with four digits) at the beginning.

However that’s not the case all the time. For example, there is a 537 and a 537-5. These two lines have the exact same route. The only difference is that, 537 is operated by the municipality and 537-5 is operated by private operators.

An incremented number after the dash can also mean that one goes in a different direction than the other (For example 103-1 is Opera-Atılım University, 103-2 is Atılım University-Opera.)

And some of these dashed lines have a very different route compared to the regular line. 339 and 339-5 for example. 339 is a ring line meant to funnel people to the metro operated by the municipality and is 7 kilometers. 339-5 goes all the way to the city centre (which the metro also goes) and the city hospital, is operated by private operators and is 53 kilometers.

How Ankara locals navigate their public transport is unknown. Though car usage is high and the city has a very car-oriented design so it’s likely they don’t.

 

[Womar]

National express West Midlands run a 1875 service match days only birmingham city to st Andrews .

 

[Megafuss]

Not going to list them all, but there are plenty on the Ulsterbus Town Services network - which probably has the oddest route numbering I've come across.

Each town has its own Number and then each route within the town has a letter at the end for the variation.

Example Bangor is assigned 302 and then there are variations a to f (302a, 302b etc) it's very odd

 

[YX73OUB]

Dunn-line of Nottingham ran a service 2000

It was even known as D2000 once, too.

 

[Belfastmarty]

Not going to list them all, but there are plenty on the Ulsterbus Town Services network - which probably has the oddest route numbering I've come across.

Each town has its own Number and then each route within the town has a letter at the end for the variation.

Example Bangor is assigned 302 and then there are variations a to f (302a, 302b etc) it's very odd

There are other oddities too: prefix and suffix in one number eg U2a; 5 digit letter/number combos eg GX212; routes with both prefix and suffix variations eg a19 / 19A

 

[Deerfold]

Not going to list them all, but there are plenty on the Ulsterbus Town Services network - which probably has the oddest route numbering I've come across.

Each town has its own Number and then each route within the town has a letter at the end for the variation.

Example Bangor is assigned 302 and then there are variations a to f (302a, 302b etc) it's very odd

So not meeting the OP's criteria?

If the OP had wanted 4 character route identifiers, this would have been a much longer thread.

It was even known as D2000 once, too.

As I mentioned in November?

Come on, it's not a terribly long thread!

 

[YX73OUB]

So not meeting the OP's criteria?

As I mentioned in November?

Come on, it's not a terribly long thread!

Must've missed that reply, sincere apologies.

 

[MotCO]

I know it's only 3 numbers, but it is four 'characters'.

Go-Bus run a service on Brands Hatch race days numbered '88.3'. What is the significance of that? Fastest lap time?

 

[borage]

I know it's only 3 numbers, but it is four 'characters'.

Go-Bus run a service on Brands Hatch race days numbered '88.3'. What is the significance of that? Fastest lap time?

88.3 FM is the radio frequency at which race commentaries are broadcast there