1894 1933 see london united tramways . this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . march 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message scania omnicity on route 148 on westminster bridge in june 2011 parent ratp group founded 1 april 1989 headquarters fulwell service area greater london service type bus services routes 53 may 2015 depots 8 fleet 797 may 2015 website www.ratpdevlondon.co.uk london united is a bus company operating in greater london . it is a subsidiary of the ratp group and operates services under contract to transport for london . contents 1 company history 1.1 mergers and demergers 2 livery 3 garages 3.1 fulwell fw 3.1.1 history 3.1.2 bus types in use 3.2 hounslow av 3.2.1 history 3.2.2 bus types in use 3.3 hounslow heath hh 3.3.1 history 3.3.2 bus types in use 3.4 park royal pk 3.4.1 history 3.4.2 bus types in use 3.5 shepherd s bush s 3.5.1 history 3.5.2 bus types in use 3.6 stamford brook v 3.6.1 history 3.6.2 bus types in use 3.7 tolworth tv 3.7.1 history 3.7.2 bus types in use 3.7.3 kingston christmas park & ride k50 3.8 twickenham nc 3.8.1 history 4 fleet 5 references 6 external links company history edit original london united logo ratp group london united logo london united 1 commenced operating on 1 april 1989 as one of 12 operating subsidiaries of london buses in preparation for privatisation . in november 1994 it was sold in a management buyout . the company s name was derived from the former london united tramways that operated trams and trolleybuses in west and south west london until absorbed by the london passenger transport board in 1933 . london united adopted the former tram company s ensignia based on the coat of arms of the city of london as its logo . in january 1995 london united purchased westlink 2 with garages in hounslow heath and kingston upon thames . 3 in august 1997 london united was sold to transdev . in 2002 transdev purchased fellow london operator london sovereign from the blazefield group . 4 in april 2006 both operations were rebranded with the transdev name and logo removing the london united and london sovereign brands although both companies continued as separate legal entities . in november 2009 transdev purchased ncp challenger with seven transport for london contracted routes 87 buses and garages at park royal and twickenham . 5 these were integrated into the london united business . in 2015 a charter unit was established under the united transit brand with a grey and red livery . 6 mergers and demergers edit in 2009 transdev s majority owner caisse des d p ts et consignations commenced negotiating with veolia environnement to merge transdev with veolia transport . as part of the resulting agreement it was agreed that the ratp group which had a minority shareholding in transdev would take over ownership of some of transdev s operations in lieu of cash payment . this resulted in london united transferring to the ratp group while london sovereign remained with transdev and become part of the merged veolia transdev group . 7 8 9 10 this agreement took effect in march 2011 and ratp group renamed its newly acquired business london united . 11 livery edit london united had an all red livery with a light grey skirt . this was later changed to all red to comply with transport for london requirements . garages edit london united operates eight bus garages . fulwell fw edit main article fulwell bus garage alexander rh bodied volvo olympian on route 281 in hounslow in original london united livery in september 1998 as at may 2015 fulwell garage operated routes 33 65 71 267 281 371 391 671 681 and 691 . 12 fulwell also operate shuttle buses to and from twickenham stadium on behalf of the rugby football union on match days . history edit when new the 11 acre 45 000 m2 site was described as one of the finest plants in the country and was the main depot of london united tramways with 20 covered tracks . the garage is nowadays divided into two sections one used by london united with an entrance off wellington road and the other by abellio london with an entrance off stanley road . fulwell was the first garage in london to receive trolleybuses in 1931 and together with isleworth was the last to operate them until 1962 . the last trams operated from the depot in 1935 although some of the tram tracks were until recently still visible in the cobbled surface of the stanley road entrance . the garage has never reached its capacity even taking in much of the work from twickenham when it closed in 1970 and in 2001 107 buses were allocated . in 1999 the garage housed 13 london country buses after arriva croydon & north surrey shut its leatherhead garage . the buses on route 85 were operated from the forecourt with arriva drivers . the large forecourt is at present partly used as the bus stand for route 267 . on 5 september 2011 route 110 was transferred to this garage from hounslow av garage . on 4 october 2014 the route moved back to hounslow av garage . on 1 october 2011 route 290 passed to abellio london . on 2 march 2013 route 33 was transferred to this garage from twickenham nc garage . on 31 may 2014 route 391 was transferred to this garage from stamford brook v garage . on 4 october 2014 route 110 was transferred to hounslow av garage from this garage . on 8 august 2015 route 216 was transferred to hounslow heath hh garage from this garage . on 2 july 2016 route 216 was transferred to this garage from hounslow heath hh garage . on 2 july 2016 routes 71 and 671 was transferred to tolworth tv from this garage . bus types in use edit alexander dennis enviro 200h 10.2 m hde for routes 565 571 and 572 alexander dennis enviro 200 dart 10.2 m de for routes 33 216 565 571 and 572 alexander dennis enviro 200 dart 10.8 m dle for route 391 dennis dart slf 10.2 m plaxton pointer 2 dps for route 216 dennis trident 9.9 m alexander alx400 ta for routes 371 and 391 dennis trident 10.5 m alexander alx400 tla for routes 267 and 691 optare versa 10.4 m ov for route 391 scania omnicity 10.8 m sp for routes 65 71 281 391 and 681 scania omnidekka 10.6 m sle for route 267 volvo b5lh 10.5 m wright eclipse gemini 3 vh for route 65 hounslow av edit as at may 2015 hounslow garage operated routes 81 110 111 120 203 222 696 697 h32 h37 h98 and n9 . 13 history edit hounslow garage was opened by the london general omnibus company in 1913 on the former site of the district railway s hounslow town station . the garage along with many others was requisitioned in the first world war . hounslow was the subject of two firsts in 1925 and 1930 with the first pneumatic tyre buses and the original dennis dart allocated respectively . the garage had one problem though the roof was too low and only open toppers and single deck vehicles could use the depot until the mid 1930s when the roof was raised . a london transport survey in 1947 found that 92 vehicles were allocated to hounslow a garage with a capacity of 72 . this was mainly achieved by parking buses on a plot of land behind the garage that was also used to stand vehicles terminating there on layover . the garage was rebuilt in the early 1950s and included a new bus station in front of the garage . the planned allocation was now up to 120 vehicles although the allocation in 2002 was 127 . hounslow s first one man operated double deckers were mcw metrobuses delivered in 1982 for routes 111 and 202 . with the allocation still high hounslow runs a number of night services on behalf of other london united garages to enable it to fit the buses into the garage . it was also the first garage in london to operate a low floor bus with the arrival of wright pathfinder bodied dennis lance slf in december 1993 . 14 there were plans to relocate the garage away from the town centre and allow the expansion of the adjoining bus station . in 2005 an unsuccessful planning application for a site in hanworth road was lodged . this was largely due to a campaign by residents overlooking the site . in late 2007 the bus station in front of the garage was closed for rebuilding . the overall roof was removed and the eight bus bays demolished . in their place have been built just two stands for routes 120 and route 281 . the other seven routes that previously served the bus station now stand on the garage forecourt the old bus station but pick up passengers in the road outside . one exception was route 81 where buses ran out of service to and from the bus stand at isleworth fire station . this has since been discontinued and buses again layover on the former bus station . bus types in use edit alexander dennis enviro 200 dart 10.8 m dle for route h98 alexander dennis enviro 400 10.2 m ade for routes 81 120 and 222 dennis dart slf 10.2 m plaxton pointer 2 dps for route 110 dennis trident 9.9 m & 10.5 m alexander alx400 ta tla for routes 696 and h32 mercedes benz o530 citaro 12.0 m mcl for route 203 optare electric metrocity 10.6 m oce for route h98 optare tempo 12.0 m ot for route h37 scania omnicity 10.8 m sp for routes 81 111 120 222 697 h32 and n9 to be introduced on route 696 from 21 january 2017 hounslow heath hh edit plaxton pointer bodied dennis dart with route 285 branding at heathrow airport in june 2004 as at may 2015 hounslow heath garage operated routes 116 216 285 423 635 698 h22 and h91 . 15 history edit hounslow heath was the original operating base of stanwell buses a company set up by london buses just prior to deregulation . they traded as westlink hence the garage code wk and initially operated routes 116 117 and 203 which were all joint transport for london surrey county council contracts . in 1999 westlink was taken over by london united and recoded internally as hh . london buses still use the code wk . the depot has also been extended over the former travellers coaches yard next door . bus types in use edit alexander dennis enviro 200 dart 10.2 m de for routes 216 and 698 alexander dennis enviro 200 dart 10.8 m dle for route 423 dennis dart slf 10.2 m plaxton pointer 2 dps for route h22 dennis trident 9.9 m and 10.5 m alexander alx400 ta tla for routes 635 and h91 scania omnicity 10.8 m sp for routes 698 and h91 volvo b5lh 10.5 m wright eclipse gemini 3 vh for routes 116 and 285 park royal pk edit as at may 2015 park royal garage operated routes 220 283 440 and e11 . 16 history edit park royal was opened by ncp challenger on 26 may 2007 on the site of the former metroline garage hr in atlas road harlesden which had closed in 2005 . the garage is actually located in a three places boundary which are park royal north acton and old oak common . on 20 october 2012 the daytime service for route 220 was transferred to this garage . citation needed bus