London Bus Services bus (X173 FBB)

English: X173 FBB is an open top double-decker bus owned by Transport for London, who use it for promotional purposes. It is operated by London Bus Services Ltd, which is a subsidiary of TfL. It is a Volvo B7TL with Plaxton President bodywork. It was one of a batch delivered new in February 2001 to Durham Travel Services as their No. VP173. DTS used the batch on their first London transport contract, London Buses route 185, running the buses using the trading name London Easylink. X173 FBB entered local authority ownership when DTS folded on 21 August 2002, which saw the batch passed to TfL's arms length operator London Buses Ltd (trading as East Thames Buses). Due to the tranfer the batch were renumbered, with VP173 becoming VP20. All the buses and contracts operated under the ETB name were eventually sold by TfL in October 2009 to one of the private London operators, London General. VP20 was not part of the sale however, it was instead retained and transferred within TfL from London Buses Ltd to London Bus Services Ltd. Having been converted to an open top bus, it was turned out in the standard livery used on all London route buses, allover red with the 'Buses' white roundel of LBS. Unlike a standard London bus hovewer, instead of an operator logo, it is branded with both Transport for London and Mayor of London lettering. In LBS operation it also no longer has a fleetnumber.