For half a century, operation of London bus services for public transport was under the direct control of a number of entities known as London Transport. New legislation in the mid-1980s, however, obliged the establishment of an arm's-length bus operating company and the offering of routes to competitive tender, introducing private operators to the market. This set the ball rolling for privatisation, which progressed over a decade until ending with the selling off of the remaining routes in the mid-1990s. Since then, direct provision of bus services in London has been run entirely by various private companies.