In article ,
Paul Corfield wrote:
Err it was a special service sponsored by the City Corporation IIRC.
TfL did not exist then so it was a London Regional Transport decision
and I'd guess it was to make things as distinctive as possible.

Is TfL actually a legally different entity, then, and not just a new
name for LRT?

I would point out that the local Hoxton / Islington route run by CT Plus
is numbered 812 and a route that served Clapton not so long back was
numbered 816.

Presumably those are non-TfL services, though -- do TfL get to set the
numbers for those or are they up to the operator?

-roy