🌙 Night buses

1,279 bus routes across the UK and Ireland run between 01:00 and 04:29, when almost everything else has stopped. Here they all are — with the nights each one actually runs, which is very often Friday and Saturday only.

London night buses

London runs 450 routes through the night — more than the rest of the country put together, and the only network in Britain where you can plan around a night bus on any day of the week. Only 66 of them are “N” routes; the rest are ordinary numbers that never stop.

All London night buses →

Night buses by town

Outside London, night service is concentrated in a few cities. These are the places with the most routes running in the small hours.

By region

• South East England 181 night routes 49 run 24 hours
• Scotland 160 night routes 19 run 24 hours
• South West England 132 night routes 32 run 24 hours
• Ireland 98 night routes 37 run 24 hours
• North West England 78 night routes 8 run 24 hours
• West Midlands 75 night routes 12 run 24 hours
• Yorkshire & the Humber 38 night routes 6 run 24 hours
• East Midlands 37 night routes 10 run 24 hours
• Wales 12 night routes 7 run 24 hours
• North East England 7 night routes 1 run 24 hours
• East of England 6 night routes 1 run 24 hours
• Northern Ireland 5 night routes 1 run 24 hours

South East England

• N279 Waltham Cross, Bus Station → Trafalgar Square Every night 24 hours Arriva London North
• A4 Heathrow, Central Bus Station → Cippenham, Moreton Way Every night 24 hours First Berkshire & The Thames Valley
• N279 Waltham Cross → Charing Cross Every night 23:58–06:34 Arriva London North
• RA2 Guildford Rail Station → Heathrow Terminal 3 Every night 24 hours First Berkshire & The Thames Valley
• 757 Leagrave → Brent Cross Every night 24 hours Arriva Beds and Bucks
• 700 Littlehampton Anchor Springs → Chichester Bus Station Every night 24 hours Stagecoach South

Scotland

• 100 Waverley Bridge → Airport Monday–Saturday nights 24 hours Lothian Buses
• N25 Leith Street → Heriot Watt Campus Monday–Saturday nights 00:07–04:41 Lothian Buses
• N16 Silverknowes Terminus → Torphin Terminus Monday–Saturday nights 00:13–04:30 Lothian Buses
• 727 Aberdeen Union Sq Stance 1 → Aberdeen Airport Airport Terminal Every night 24 hours Stagecoach Bluebird
• N30 Bridge Street → Westside Plaza Monday–Saturday nights 23:50–04:44 Lothian Buses
• N26 Road End → West Maitland Street Monday–Saturday nights 00:15–04:46 Lothian Buses

South West England

• A1 Bristol Airport, Public Transport Interchange → Bristol Bus Station Every night 24 hours First Bristol, Bath & the West
• A3 Weston-super-Mare Rail Station → Bristol Airport Every night 24 hours First Bristol, Bath & the West
• m1 Cribbs Causeway → Hengrove Park Every night 24 hours First Bristol, Bath & the West
• 2 The Hard Interchange → Allaway Avenue Shops Every night 24 hours First Portsmouth, Fareham & Gosport
• 76 Hengrove → Henbury Every night 24 hours First Bristol, Bath & the West
• 75 Hengrove → Cribbs Causeway Every night 24 hours First Bristol, Bath & the West

Ireland

• 220 Ovens → Carrigaline Every night 24 hours Bus Éireann
• 15 Clongriffin → Ballycullen Road Every night 24 hours Bus Átha Cliath – Dublin Bus
• 39A UCD → Ongar Every night 24 hours Bus Átha Cliath – Dublin Bus
• 109A Dublin Airport → Kells Every night 24 hours Bus Éireann
• N4 Point Village → Blanchardstown SC Every night 24 hours Bus Átha Cliath – Dublin Bus
• 41 Abbey St → Swords Manor Every night 24 hours Bus Átha Cliath – Dublin Bus

North West England

• 192 Piccadilly Gardens → Hazel Grove Park & Ride Every night 24 hours Bee Network
• 43 Piccadilly Gardens → Manchester Airport The Station Every night 24 hours Bee Network
• 142 Piccadilly Gardens → Parrs Wood Every night 22:00–03:51 Bee Network
• 36 Piccadilly Gardens → Bolton Interchange Every night 24 hours Bee Network
• 17 Shudehill Interchange → Rochdale Interchange Every night 24 hours Bee Network
• V1 Manchester Royal Infirmary → Leigh Bus Station Every night 24 hours Bee Network

West Midlands

• AIR B'ham Int Rail Stn → Birmingham Airport Every night 03:30–07:00 Air-Rail Link
• X1 Dale House → Pool Meadow Bus Station Every night 24 hours National Express Coventry
• 63 Moor St Queensway → Arden Rd Terminus Every night 24 hours National Express West Midlands
• 74 Colmore Circus → West Bromwich Bus Station Every night 24 hours National Express West Midlands
• 97A Church Centre → Birmingham International Station Every night 24 hours National Express West Midlands
• X38 Derby City Centre → Burton Friday & Saturday nights 24 hours trentbarton

How we decide what is a night bus

There is no official definition, and the obvious one does not work. Route numbers beginning with N look like the answer until you check them: of the 450 London routes running in the small hours, only 66 carry an N — the 24, the 43 and dozens of others simply never stop. Meanwhile Louth's N1 and N2, out in Lincolnshire, are daytime buses that finish at 16:20.

A wide time window fails differently. Take “23:00 to 06:00” and you flag a third of every route in Britain, because a quarter of the network is still running at 23:00 and a quarter is back on the road by 05:00 for the early shift. So we use the hours when the network has genuinely stopped: a route is a night bus if it serves any stop between 01:00 and 04:29. That works out at about one route in twelve.

Routes running right around the clock are marked 24 hours rather than given a night span, because a span would understate them.

Frequently asked questions

What counts as a night bus?

On this site a route is a night bus if it serves at least one stop between 01:00 and 04:29 — the hours when almost the whole network has stopped. We do not go by the route number: most of London's night service runs on ordinary numbers like the 24 and the 43, while some "N" routes elsewhere in the country are daytime rural buses that finish in the afternoon.

Does a Friday night bus show as Friday or Saturday?

Friday. A bus at 01:30 on Saturday morning is the one you catch after a Friday night out, and that is how we label it. Operators publish that same journey either way — some as Friday 25:30, some as Saturday 01:30 — and we normalise both to the night of Friday, so "Friday & Saturday nights" means the nights you can actually travel.

Why does my town have no night buses?

Because most of Britain genuinely has none. Outside London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester and a handful of other cities, the network winds down between 23:00 and midnight and does not start again until about five in the morning. If your town is not listed, check the last bus on your route page and plan a fallback.

Are night buses more expensive?

Not usually. Night journeys are normally charged at the same fare as daytime ones, and the England £3 single fare cap applies at any hour. London night buses cost the same £1.75 Hopper fare as daytime buses. Some dedicated airport coaches price separately.

Night service is worked out from the operators' own published timetables via the DfT Bus Open Data Service, Translink and the National Transport Authority, and rebuilt weekly. See also first & last buses and all bus routes & timetables.