How did London buses get their numbers?

Readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific concepts
  
  

Oxford Street-bound … but how do they figure out the numbers? Photograph: Frank Baron for the Guardi
Oxford Street-bound … but how do they figure out the numbers? Photograph: Frank Baron for the Guardian Photograph: Frank Baron/Guardian

How did London buses get their numbers? Certain numbers used to have digits in common if they were following the same route for a stretch: for example, going to school in London in the 1950s, I could catch the 3 or the 53; my friend could catch the 24 or the 134. Do these kinds of similarities still exist, and how did they come about in the first place?

Sandy Rowntree, Tunbridge Wells, Kent

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