In November 1997, Birmingham bus operator and National Express Group subsidiary Travel West Midlands (TWM) was awarded seven-year London Regional Transport contracts to operate routes C1 and 211 from June 1998. TWM formed a new subsidiary company, Travel London, to operate these routes, with new Optare Solo and Optare Excel buses purchased to run the routes using similar branding to TWM but painted into a predominantly red livery featuring blue and white highlights.[2]
In August 2000, National Express sold the business to Limebourne, who in July 2001 sold out to Connex. In February 2004, National Express repurchased the business.[3] Further expansion in 2005 saw the purchases of the London bus operations of Tellings-Golden Miller, acquiring depots in Twickenham, Hayes and Byfleet as well as various Surrey County Council contracts.[4]
In November 2007, National Express announced plans to re-brand all of their operations under a new unified National Express identity.[8] Travel London was to be rebranded as National Express London however this was shelved and all bus operations retained their existing identities.[citation needed]
Travel London Limited operated garages at Beddington Cross, Queenstown (Battersea) and Walworth Road, operating 66, 82 and 98 buses respectively (246 in total) when the company was renamed.
Beddington Cross operated London Buses routes 3, 152, 157, 434, G1, P13, and night route N3, and was opened by Connex in 2000 to house their newly won route 3.
Queenstown operated routes 35, 156, 211, 452, C3, 24-hour route 344 and night route N35.
Walworth Road (WL) operated routes 40, 100, 129, 188, 343, 381, C1, night routes N343 and N381. This garage, dating back to 1901, had laid dormant on lease by Go-Ahead Group for six years until late 2003, when work started on refurbishing the garage for Travel London following contract gains for routes in South London. When reopened on 24 February 2005 by Mayor of LondonKen Livingstone, it was the first bus garage in London to be powered with solar panels.[10][11]
Travel London won the contract for route 407, starting from 31 October 2009. This was used as the launch of the new Abellio name.[1]
Travel London (West) Limited operated the garages at Fulwell and Byfleet, the Byfleet depot being rebranded Travel Surrey in September 2007. Respectively, the depots operated approximately 94 and 50 buses (146 in total). Fulwell operated London Buses routes 235, 481, 490, H20, H25, H26, R68 and R70. Byfleet operated Surrey County Council tendered routes 218, 400, 426, 438, 441, 446, 451, 461, 471, 472, 513, 514, 515, 515A, 555, 557, 564, 566, 567, 570, 571, 572, 574, 637, 662, 663 and 690. Fulwell garage also operated Kingston University routes KU1, KU2, and KU3, until the contract was lost to Tellings-Golden Miller in 2009.
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