Once again TfL have silently published their annual spreadsheet listing the number of passengers using every London bus route and how many kilometres those buses travelled. Data is for April 2025 - March 2026. Comparisons are with the previous year.
London's ten busiest bus routes (2025/26) 1) -- 18 Euston - Sudbury (12.5m) 2) -- 149 London Bridge - Edmonton Green (11.6m) 3) -- 29 Trafalgar Square - Wood Green (11.2m) 4) ↑2 5 Canning Town - Romford (10.6m) 5) ↓1 207 White City - Southall (10.22m) 6) ↓1 86 Stratford - Romford (10.21m) 7) -- 243 Waterloo - Wood Green (9.8m) 8) ↑3 35 Shoreditch - Clapham Junction (9.7m) 9) ↑3 25 Holborn - Ilford (9.5m) 10) ↓1 36 Queens Park - New Cross Gate (9.2m)
The next ten: 279, 109, 53, 38, 43, 141, 65, 21, 158, 140
For the seventh year running London's busiest bus is the 18, long-term plier of the Harrow Road. The runners-up remain two northern workhorses, the 149 and 29. The 149 may tumble next year given TfL now have plans to divert it. Three east London radial routes find a place in the top 10 (5, 86, 25). The 207 is the all-stops version of Superloop service SL8 (which is in 21st place). Within the top 10 only three routes go south of the Thames (243, 35, 36), none exclusively so.
n.b. Only six bus routes conveyed more than ten million passengers, down from thirteen before the pandemic.
The next ten: 146, 209, 464, 467, W14, 359, 404, R2, 379, 485
These are all the usual suspects, topped off by a pair of brief turns in Barnet connecting daytime residents to the shops. The 399 to Hadley Wood has 21% fewer passengers this year, so is even less used than usual. The R5 and R10 operate the same route in rural Bromley but in opposite directions, and would be in 7th place if their totals were combined. Only fifteen passengers separated the R10 and H3. Six of the top 10 are circular routes. Route 18 is busier than the forty-four least used buses put together.
n.b. Routes 549 and 347 and were both withdrawn during the prevous year, leaving space for the routes below them to shuffle up a couple of places. The 549 was merged into the W14 which still only manages 15th place. The 347 was merged into the 346 which doesn't even appear in the bottom 50, so could be described as a great success.
London's ten most travelled bus routes (2025/26) 1) -- SL7 Croydon - Heathrow (2,140,000 km) 2) ↑1 111 Kingston - Heathrow (1,890,000 km) 3) ↓1 18 Euston - Sudbury (1,889,000 km) 4) -- 5 Canning Town - Romford (1,878,000 km) 5) ↑2 102 Brent Cross - Edmonton (1,780,000 km) 6) ↓1 86 Stratford - Romford (1,740,000 km) 7) ↑4 96 Woolwich - Bluewater (1,730,000 km) 8) ↑2 53 Lambeth North - Plumstead (1,700,000 km) 9) -- SL8 White City - Uxbridge (1,690,000 km) 10) ↑470 129 Lewisham - Gallions Reach (1,680,000 km)
The next ten: 466, 182, 38, 113, 207, 25, 174, 229, 221, SL3
This is a list of the routes whose vehicles travelled the greatest distance in one year. Long distance buses (like the SL7 and 111) and high frequency buses (like the 18 and 86) tend to travel the furthest. Superloop route SL7, which traverses 24 miles across southwest London, remains top by a considerable distance. Expect the SL8 to climb to second place next year as its frequency was recently increased from every ten minutes to every eight.
n.b. The 129 really has climbed 470 places to reach the Top 10. It was previously a runty Lewisham-Greenwich route but was extended through the Royal Docks when the Silvertown Tunnel opened and boosted to run every eight minutes (a frequency which ridership would suggest is unjustified).
n.b. The 389 remains London's least travelled bus route, covering just over 8000km per year.
London's ten most crowded bus routes (2025/26) 1) -- W7 Finsbury Park - Muswell Hill (9.0 passengers per km) 2) ↑2 35 Shoreditch - Clapham Junction (8.2) 3) ↓1 149 London Bridge - Edmonton (8.0) 4) ↑4 238 Stratford - Barking (8.0) 5) ↑1 109 Brixton - Croydon (7.9) 6) ↓1 29 Trafalgar Square - Wood Green (7.8) 7) ↓4 98 Holborn - Willesden (7.7) 8) ↓1 9 Aldwych - Hammersmith (7.6) 9) ↑1 41 Archway - Tottenham Hale (7.2) 10) ↓1 104 Stratford - Beckton (7.1)
This Top 10 is determined by dividing the number of passengers by the number of km travelled to get a 'number of passengers per km'. The higher the number, the less likely it is you'll be able to find a seat. By this measure the most crowded bus is the W7 which, along with the 41, delivers residents of Muswell Hill and Crouch End to nearby tube stations. Haringey is scoring highly here. The 195 is the most crowded single decker (5.1 passengers per km) so is arguably more crowded than some of these double deckers. Most London bus routes carry 2-5 passengers per km.
The next ten: 205, 243, 120, 58, 14, 207, 69, 18, 94, 220
Six of these buses serve the rural fringes of Bromley, London's emptiest outlier. Other buses which failed to carry 1 passenger per kilometre include the 246, 434, R3 and R7.
The ten routes with the biggest increase in passengers: 129, 310, 45, W12, W9, 298, 108, 14, W13, B14
Five of these aren't the same route they were last year (129, 45, W12, W13, B14). The 310 is new and now has its first full year of data. The W9 and 298 have recovered their reliability under a new operator. The 108 and 129 were free all year, so obviously popular. The two routes with the biggest increases that aren't explained by operational changes are the SL2 and SL3, up 21% and 17% respectively.
The ten routes with the biggest decrease in passengers: W14, 283, 30, 472, 399, 452, 56, 138, 352, 242
These ten routes all lost more than 15% of their passengers last year. The W14 is what the minor 549 morphed into. The 283 and 472 were withdrawn so don't have a full year of data. The 30 and 452 have both been shortened. The 56 and 138 had their frequencies reduced. The 399, 352 and 242 are just less popular than they used to be.
London's ten busiest nightbuses: N15, N25, N18, N207, N29, N9, N279, N8, N98, N140 London's ten least busy nightbuses: 486, 213, 365, N33, 85, N72, 321, 474, 24, 381
Passengerwise the N15 is 40% ahead of its nearest competitor, the N25.
London's ten busiest single deckers: 235, 195, C10, 316, 108, 170, 112, 214, W15, 366 London's ten least busy double deckers: 467, SL6, 481, 412, 317, 298, 498, 215, 492, 428
All those single deckers are busier than all those double deckers.
