Night buses
1,228 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 425 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 65 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.
All 322 towns with night buses, A–Z
By region
- South East England 165 night routes 31 run 24 hours
- Scotland 165 night routes 14 run 24 hours
- South West England 118 night routes 22 run 24 hours
- Ireland 102 night routes 24 run 24 hours
- North West England 66 night routes 9 run 24 hours
- West Midlands 65 night routes 5 run 24 hours
- Yorkshire & the Humber 38 night routes 3 run 24 hours
- East Midlands 38 night routes 5 run 24 hours
- Northern Ireland 19 night routes
- North East England 9 night routes
- Wales 8 night routes
- East of England 6 night routes 1 run 24 hours
- Isle of Man 4 night routes
South East England
- N279 Waltham Cross, Bus Station → Trafalgar Square Every night 23:58–06:36 Arriva London North
- N279 Waltham Cross → Charing Cross Every night 00:00–06:35 Arriva London North
- 757 Leagrave → Brent Cross Every night 24 hours Arriva Beds and Bucks
- A4 Heathrow, Central Bus Station → Cippenham, Moreton Way Every night 24 hours First Berkshire & The Thames Valley
- N25 Old Steine S3 → Sussex House Every night 23:52–05:34 Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company
- 703 Bracknell Bus Station → Heathrow T5 Every night 24 hours Thames Valley Buses
Scotland
- 100 Waverley Bridge → Terminal Every night 24 hours Lothian Buses
- 20A Bridge Street → Hillhead Of Seaton Every night 22:00–04:08 First Aberdeen
- N25 Leith Street → Heriot Watt Campus Every night 23:59–04:17 Lothian Buses
- N16 Silverknowes Terminus → Torphin Terminus Every night 00:13–04:30 Lothian Buses
- N30 Bridge Street → Westside Plaza Every night 23:50–04:44 Lothian Buses
- N26 Road End → West Maitland Street Every night 00:15–04:46 Lothian Buses
South West England
- U3 University of Bath → Bath Spa University Every night 24 hours First Bristol, Bath & the West
- A1 Bristol Airport → 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
- A2 Bristol Airport → Portishead Every night 24 hours First Bristol, Bath & the West
- A4 Bath Bus Station → Lulsgate Bottom, Airport Tavern Every night 24 hours First Bristol, Bath & the West
Ireland
- 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
- N4 Point Village → Blanchardstown SC Every night 24 hours Bus Átha Cliath – Dublin Bus
- 41 Abbey Street → Swords Manor Every night 24 hours Bus Átha Cliath – Dublin Bus
- 220 Ovens → Carrigaline (HSE) Every night 24 hours Bus Éireann
- 109A Dublin Airport → Kells Every night 24 hours Bus Éireann
North West England
- 142 Piccadilly Gardens → Parrs Wood Every night 22:00–04:21 Bee Network
- 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
- N1 Bus Station Night Std → Graduate College Monday–Saturday nights 00:30–03:55 Stagecoach Cumbria and Lancashire
- 143 Piccadilly Gardens → Central Road Friday & Saturday nights 22:00–04:10 Bee Network
- 17 Shudehill Interchange → Rochdale Interchange Every night 24 hours Bee Network
West Midlands
- X1 Dale House → Pool Meadow Bus Station Every night 24 hours National Express Coventry
- U1A Kirby Corner Interchange → Warwick Gates Heathcote Hospital Monday–Saturday nights 22:00–03:55 Stagecoach Midlands
- X38 Derby City Centre → Burton Friday & Saturday nights 22:00–07:00 trentbarton
- 63 Moor Street Queensway → Arden Road 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
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 425 London routes running in the small hours, only 65 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.