This rendered the use of route number 225 superfluous and consequently the whole service was renumbered back to 25, albeit still running in overlapping sections.

[6] In January 2004, three hydrogen fuel cell powered buses were introduced on route 25 on a two-year trial.

[10] On 22 June 2013, route 25 was included in the sale of First London's Lea Interchange garage to Tower Transit.

[11][12] In August 2014, two buses on the route were fitted with equipment designed to enhance bus drivers' awareness of pedestrians and cyclists as part of a six-week trial.

[19][20] However rather than the usual duration of five years, the new contract only runs until November 2019 to allow demand to be reassessed after the opening of Elizabeth line.

In October 2007, a man was killed when he became trapped under an articulated bus on the route having got off it in Ilford High Road.

[23] In a three-day period in February 2010, while still a 24 hour service, 31 homeless people were discovered to be riding route 25 overnight to spend "two hours in the warm" when a taskforce noticed a large number of call-outs by drivers to have police and ambulance remove homeless from the bus, resulting in the buses having to wait before returning to service; social services groups responded by going to the bus garage and getting the homeless into overnight shelters.