Bow Street Society fans know that if you want to find your way around its London, the person you need to speak to is the Society’s driver and veteran cabman Mr Samuel Snyder. What did real-life travellers in late-1890s London rely upon to get around, though? In this month’s blog, I take a look at one of the public transport options available to those who couldn’t afford to buy / maintain their own carriage and horses: omnibuses.
| LINE. | COLOUR, &c. | START. | ROUTE. | FARES. |
| ABNEY-PK (Weavers’ Arms) to VICTORIA STN. | Dark Green. “Favorite.” | 7.48 a.m. and about every 4 or 6 min. to 10.50 p.m. | Church-st, Albion-rd, Essex-rd, Angel, Rosebery-av, Gray’s-inn-rd, Holborn, Chancery-la, Strand, Charing Cross, Victoria-st. | To Angel 2d. Ballspond-gate to Westminster 4d. All way 6d. |
| ACTON and HANWELL | Red. | — | Via Ealing Common and Ealing Dean | All way 3d. |
| ACTON and CHARING CROSS | Red. “Acton and Charing Cross” | 7.30 a.m. and every 15 min. to 10 p.m. | High-st, Acton, Uxbridge-rd, Bayswater-rd, Oxford-st, Regent-st. | Acton and Victoria Tav, U.R. rd, Shep’Bush 2d. Nott-hill-ga 3d. Marble Arch 4d. Oxford-cir 5d. Charing Cross 6d. |
| ANGEL & ELEPHANT & CASTLE | Red. | 7.10 a.m. and every 3 or 4 min. to 11.19 p.m. | Goswell-rd, Aldergate-st, G.P.O, Cheapside, King William-st, London-br, Boro’, Newington-causeway | Angel to Bank 1d. All way 2d. |
| ANGEL (Islington) to LONDON-BR. | Dark Green. “Favorite.” | 8.20 a.m. and every 5 min. to 11.18 p.m. | City-rd, Finsbury-sq, Moorgate-st, Bank, K. William-st, London-br stn. | All way 2d. |
| BAKER-ST & WATERLOO. | Chocolate. | 8 a.m. to 11.15 p.m. | Baker-st, Oxford-st, Regent-st, Charing Cross, Whitehall, Westminster-br, York-rd. | Piccadilly-cir 1d. St. Thomas’s Hospital 2d. Waterloo 3d. |
| BAKER-ST & VICTORIA. | Chocolate. | 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. | Baker-st, North and South Audley-st, Hyde-pk-cor, Grosvenor-pl. | Oxford-st 1d. Hyde-pk-cor 2d. Victoria 3d. |
| BANK to SOUTH HACKNEY. | Red. “South Hackney.” | 7.25 a.m. and every 7 to 10 min. to 11.2 p.m. | Royal Exchange, Threadneedle-st, Bishopsgate, Norton Folgate, Shoreditch, Hackney-rd, Victoria-pk-rd. | All way 2d. |
| BARNSBURY (Hemingford Arms) to KENNINGTON. | Brown. “Islington.” | 8 a.m. and every 7 min. to 11.17 p.m. | Offord-rd, Liverpool-rd, Angel, Goswell-rd, Ludgate-hill, London-rd, and Kennington-pk-rd. | To Angel 1d. To Ludgate-cir 2d. All way 4d. |
| BAYSWATER to CAMDEN TN. | — | 9.57 a.m. and every 12 min. | Queen’s-rd, Porchester-rd, Warwick-rd, Clifton-gdns, St. John’s Wood-rd, Primrose-hill, Albert-rd, Park-st. | All way 4d. |
| BAYSWATER to LIVERPOOL-ST. | Dark Green. “Bayswater.” (John Bull.) | 7.45 a.m. and every 3 or 4 min. to 9.54 p.m. | Westbourne-gr, Bishop’s-rd, Edgware-rd, Ocford-st, Holborn, Cheapside, Moorgate-st, London-wall. | All way 5d. |
| BLACKWALL to PICCADILLY CIRCUS. | Blue. “Blackwall.” | 7.50 a.m. and every 7 min. to 10 p.m. | East India-rd, Commercial-rd, Whitechapel, Aldgate, Cornhill, Queen Victoria-st, Fleet-st, Strand and Regent-st. | To Bank 2d. Leman-st and Charing Cross 2d. All way 4d. |
| BOW to OXFORD-CIR. | Dark Green. “Bow and Oxford Circus” | 7.33 a.m. and every 8 or 9 min. to 10.24 p.m. | Mile End-rd, Whitechapel, Cornhill, Cheapside, Fleet-st, Strand, Charing Cross, Regent-st. | All way 4d. |
| CAMBERWELL-GREEN and KING’S CROSS | Blue. | 7.44 a.m. and every 5 min. to 10.45 p.m. | Walworth-rd, Waterloo-rd and br, Strand, Chancery-la, Holborn, Gray’s-inn-rd. | Waterloo Stn 1d. Holborn Town Hall 2d. King’s Cross 3d. |
| CAMBERWELL-GATE (Red Lion) to CAMDEN TN. | Blue. “Waterloo.” | 8.6 a.m. and every few min. to 11.22 p.m. | Walworth-rd, London-rd, Waterloo-br, Strand, Regent-st, Portland-pl, Albany-st. | Cambrwll-gn to Char. Cross 2d. Elep & Castle to Camden Tn 3d. All way 4d. |
Omnibuses were the preferred mode of transport for anyone wishing to travel across London without having to deal with the (somewhat) confusing and (sometimes) expense fares of hackney and hansom cabs. Omnibuses generally had two decks, but the top deck was usually without a roof. For this reason, many passengers preferred the top deck over the bottom as they could breathe (relatively) fresh air, rather than the foul-smelling air of the bottom deck. Regardless of which deck a passenger chose, though, omnibuses were usually overcrowded. The “cads” (or conductors) weren’t always honest, either, with some overcharging on fares so they could pocket the difference.
In The Case of the Curious Client (Bow Street Society Mystery 1) Mr Snyder searches for “Palmer” amongst the omnibuses on routes leading to and away from Bow Street. A mean feat when one considers that there were a further 10 pages of the timetable in Dickens’s Dictionary of London (1895) beyond the extract featured above.
I’ll be exploring other forms of public transport in future blogs, so be sure to join the Bow Street Appreciation Society Facebook Group and subscribe to the Gaslight Gazette to be amongst the first to hear when new blogs are published.
WOULD YOU HAVE TRAVELED ON A HORSE-DRAWN OMNIBUS IN LONDON IN 1897?
Tell me your thoughts in the comments below!
~ T.G. Campbell, February 2026
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