 The London Transport Museum is in a Victorian iron and glass building on the east side of the market square . It was designed as a dedicated flower market by William Rogers of William Cubitt and Company in 1871 , and was first occupied by the museum in 1980 . Previously the transport collection had been held at Syon Park and Clapham . The first parts of the collection were brought together at the beginning of the 20th century by the London General Omnibus Company ( LGOC ) when it began to preserve buses being retired from service . After the LGOC was taken over by the London Electric Railway ( LER ) , the collection was expanded to include rail vehicles . It continued to expand after the LER became part of the London Passenger Transport Board in the 1930s and as the organisation passed through various successor bodies up to TfL , London 's transport authority since 2000 . The Covent Garden building has on display many examples of buses , trams , trolleybuses and rail vehicles from 19th and 20th centuries as well as artefacts and exhibits related to the operation and marketing of passenger services and the impact that the developing transport network has had on the city and its population . 
