London buses

The TFL site has some suggested routes:
https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/visiting-london/experience-london/bus-leisure-routes

Weekends will be a bit lighter at the weekend but I’m not sure it makes that much difference. The time of day will be more important. Avoid the rush hours when many buses will be standing room only. In the centre of town rush hours are approximately 8-10am 5-7pm.

None of the buses are particularly fast but that gives you time to really enjoy the sites out of the window. If it gets too slow, stops are every few 100 metres so it’s easy to hop on and off.

The No 15 takes in a lot of the main sights.
Having spent the day in London today (Saturday) I'd say the traffic is worse!

No 26 between Liverpool St and Victoria covers many of the main tourist spots

Buses don’t go very fast but they do get to use dedicated bus lanes so faster than a lot of other traffic including HOHo buses

Also nowadays your Oyster or contactless card payment on a bus gives you unlimited free transfers between routes for an hour after you first scan in.

We took buses all over London because of where our air Bnb was located. I was pleasantly surprised. They travel in a dedicated lane. Many are double deckers so we often sat upstairs.

We actually enjoyed them a lot and found them quite efficient for travel.

I like London buses, but don't have a lot to add. Everyone's info pretty much answers your question.

Yes, I wouldn't worry about it being too slow during the week outside of rush hour. Buses do tend to keep moving quite well generally.

Sunday is a quiet day in London. Traffic does to be lighter. I find that it can be absolutely dead (relatively speaking) before midday on a Sunday sometimes.

There's a protest march of some size almost every Saturday in London these days. Some of the bus routes that run up Whitehall and around Parliament may be diverted or slow because of this. I'm not sure how much effect this actually has in practice.

I used to take an 88 bus fairly regularly from Pimlico, sometimes going up as far north as Camden. It's a pleasant route that goes through central London past some of the well-known sights.

If you haven't used buses in London before, some things to be aware of:
1) Hold your arm out as your bus approaches to signal to the driver to stop. Different bus numbers share the same stop and many are request only so they won't automatically stop unless flagged down. Better safe than sorry.
2) Tap in at the card reader by the driver. It's a fixed fare however long the ride and however many zones you cross, so you don't need to tap as you get off.
3) When you approach your stop press the button on one of the posts to alert the driver to stop, otherwise he may sail past.

Officially "request stops" were abolished by TfL nearly 20 years ago. If someone is standing at any stop the bus should stop there whether or not the prospective passenger makes a signal. Making one shouldn't do any harm though especially if there aren't many there and you might not be seen.

Conversely if you are the only person at the stop it is polite to wave on a bus if it isn't the route you want to take. Of course it might stop anyway to let someone off.

There is also the Heritage Route T15 from Trafalgar Square to Tower Hill (currently Friday to Sunday only)-not a TfL route. A kind of interesting crossover between a normal bus and a Hop on Hop Off Bus- https://londonerbuses.co.uk/heritage-route-t15/

it is polite to wave on a bus if it isn't the route you want to take.

I'm old school. If it isn't my bus I take one or two steps backwards as it approaches, I've never tried waving a bus through.

Yeah you do it with body language if you don't want that bus. Waving will make the bus stop.

If it's late at night, for example, and things are quiet, it's common for a bus not to stop unless you stop it. If you're the only one at a bus stop which serves multiple routes, you need to be flagging it down.

Drivers are trained to stop at the bus stop sign, rather than the shelter, which may be a few feet apart. If you see your bus coming, standing by the sign is often going to line up with the doors when the bus stops. Sitting in a shelter not paying attention, late at night, is definitely a situation where a bus might roll on by you without stopping.

Yes the driver isn't going to stop if you are hiding in shadows in the shelter. My waves on get a friendly acknowledgement more often than not.

Waving down sn't without its issues if more than one bus is in sight but you don't want the first one. Flag and the first one might stop and the rest go by.

Really though this is well in the weeds & catching a bus isn't difficult!

People talk about British queuing habits, but it's not often you'll be queuing for a bus in London. Many stops serve multiple routes, so nobody knows which bus anyone is waiting on. It's polite to know who arrived at the stop first, but don't be upset if people get on the bus before you, or you accidentally get on the bus before them. Some people pay more attention to such niceties than others and it doesn't really matter.

The usual rules apply with letting others on before you if they have kids, have mobility issues, or if you want to be polite / chivalrous etc.

Really though this is well in the weeds & catching a bus isn't difficult!

It's interesting to talk about weird little bus details though. We haven't even got on to "this bus is on diversion" or "the destination of this bus has changed"

I used to regularly catch a 56 to Hackney at the stop just after Bart's, and I've had it run past me a couple of times at least when I wasn't paying attention. It's not difficult if you're looking at your phone and the driver isn't planning to stop because it's quiet out.

We haven't even got on to "this bus is on diversion" or "the destination of this bus has changed"

Today i went out to the yarn shop on Lower Clapton Road. Got on the 38 bus and only needed to go four stops to Hackney Down Station, but the bus gets diverted. Oh well i'm not in a hurry and just enjoy the ride and got off at Angel Station.

Today i went out to the yarn shop on Lower Clapton Road

You were five minutes walk from my house. They always have a very creative, woolly window display at that shop.

the bus gets diverted. Oh well i'm not in a hurry and just enjoy the ride and got off at Angel Station.

That's a journey I've done a lot. It can be slow through Dalston Junction at times. It also goes down Balls Pond Road, the name of which has always appealed to me. Such a random collection of words.

You were five minutes walk from my house.

Ha Ha, cool! I'd gone out there cause Loop was closed.

Ah that's rough you came all the way out and it was closed!

This is the relevant diversion notice (from bustimes.org).

MARE STREET, E8 Wednesday 23 July – Friday 14 November 2025 From 08:00 on Wednesday 23 July until 17:00 on Friday 14 November, ROUTES 38 242 N38 and N242 are on diversion in both directions via Dalston Lane due to works taking place on Mare Street. Heading northbound, bus stops from 'Stannard Road' (D) to 'Amhurst Road / Hackney Downs Station' (L) will not be served. Heading southbound, bus stops from 'Hackney Central Station' (T) to 'Stannard Road' (C) will not be served. Please allow extra time for your journey.

Something which is not on either Google maps or Citymapper

Ah that's rough you came all the way out and it was closed!

Oh no. Plans were Sunday at National Gallery and the Ashmolean on Monday. Sunday night as I checked to confirm Loops hours I saw they were going to be closed today. So I opted for Wild and Wooly instead.

Semper Gumby - always flexible

start taking about Loop on a bus thread and my mind goes to those sort of fast weirdly named Loop buses out in the 'burbs. Not any old loop, mind, but SuperLoop!!!

I first came across these super hyperbolically named buses while riding the Woolwich (free) Ferry.

Sorry, not much yarn in this reply

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Superloop

The superloop is good fun- I've gone all the way from Walthamstow to East Croydon via Heathrow in a long afternoon, before running out of time.

Now we have the new Bakerloop bus (Waterloo to Lewisham)- effectively a long term rail replacement for the proposed extension to Lewisham of the Bakerloo Line- a line that may never be built.

I opted for Wild and Wooly instead

Ah yes! That's the name of the shop in Lower Clapton Road. There's several small businesses doing ok on that strip of road. I see it's eleven years Wild and Woolly (two "l's" in British English btw, just like travelling) has been going. Kate Sheridan is well established too. Too many to mention now I think about it.

It's good to see new bus services like the Superloop. There's a bit of a fear that buses are a bit of a poor relation when it comes to investment. They're so important to a lot of people and keeping a good service is key. It's all well and good pushing people towards cycling, and a lot of people do it now, especially on rental bikes, but keeping buses moving as well as making space for cycling should be a focus. I lost the 48 route from London Bridge a few years ago and it's still something of an annoyance.