A publicly owned company, Buses for London, will start running services in the capital next year, Transport for London has announced.

TfL said the launch was a “major milestone” in its plans to improve buses for drivers and passengers.

The new public company will take over a handful of London’s bus routes, which number nearly 700 in total, from late 2027, starting with route 6, which runs between Willesden and Victoria station.

A further four routes to be run by the public company from 2028 are to be announced.

TfL said the creation of a publicly owned bus company would give it greater control over how services were run, allowing it to make buses more reliable and safe, and to reinvest profits into improving the transport network.

At present, TfL contracts bus services to eight privately owned operators.

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “This is an opportunity to reimagine our bus network so that it provides better value for money, supports our climate goals, makes our roads safer, and overall just works better for passengers and drivers alike.”

London’s buses have been getting gradually slower and passenger numbers have fallen over the past decade, as they battle with congestion and demands on road space in the capital.

Lorna Murphy, TfL’s director of buses, said the public company marked “an exciting new chapter”, with a depot in the Old Oak regeneration area that would be “the first home of a new generation of zero-emission buses … helping us to build on the progress we’ve already made towards a more sustainable transport system”.

Unions welcomed the move but private operators said the taxpayer would foot the bill for investment and take on more risk.

The Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham, said: “Unite has long been calling for London’s bus services to be returned to public ownership. Outsourcing to private companies hasn’t worked well for workers or passengers.

“For too long, bus workers have been subjected to intolerable working conditions and passengers have experienced worsening services, while bus firms and their shareholders rake in huge profits.”

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The union’s national officer for passenger transport, Wayne King, said it was “only the beginning”. He said Unite expected Buses for London to “lead the way in workers’ pay, terms and conditions and treatment and will hold TfL and the mayor to account on this”.

The Confederation of Passenger Transport, representing bus firms, said it would not fix London’s buses. Graham Vidler, the chief executive of CPT, said: “Passengers don’t need a new public bus operator. They need faster, more reliable journeys and investment should be made where passengers will actually feel the difference: tackling congestion, giving buses priority and getting London moving.

“Regardless of who operates the service, buses typically travel at just 9 mph in London – slower than the average cyclist.”

He said private operators had made significant investment in London’s bus network, including new vehicles and technology, adding: “The uncertainty created by a new publicly owned operator risks making it harder for private operators to make the case for continued investment in London in the future.”

Labour’s bus overhauls since 2025, which push wider franchising and public control of services, have also made it possible for local authorities nationwide to establish new publicly owned companies. A few municipal companies, such as Reading, Blackpool and Nottingham, survived deregulation and privatisation in the 1980s.