last routemaster bus countdown..check yr diaries pls

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Friday 28 October - last day of Routemaster operation on route 38.
Details of special workings here. Cobham Bus Museum's "Photographer's Special here. Note that specific vehicle IDs are no longer advised, although vehicle workings are identified by operator and running number. This is because operators are free to allocate vehicles dependent on availability on the day, and indeed vehicles may be switched during the day.

Thursday 8 December/Friday 9 December - The last mainstream Routemaster operation in London, the 159, is to be converted to driver-only buses on Friday 9th. On Thursday 8th it is planned that there will be an 'Enthusiasts Day', featuring guest vehicles. On Friday 9th itself, and instead of the buses running back to the garage on a late December evening, with all that the weather might throw at us, the changeover will be done during the day in daylight. This is being done because much public, media and enthusiast interest is expected, as well as for safety reasons, given that Brixton Garage is on a fast main road. The idea is to change over from the RMs/RMLs to VLAs between about 11:00 and 13:00 hrs, with the last scheduled RM journey over the full route likely to leave Marble Arch at Noon, preceded a few minutes earlier by several duplicates. Further details will be posted here as and when known.

are you ready for the big showdown? i thought the 38 would be the last one, thats the most iconic to me, with its "38" heart logo.

i would like to try and make one of these, they are quite an occasion. i was on the last ever 19 routemaster whcih was a few months ago. they wheeled out all these old buses from the stores to run the route all day.

the 159 one will be a total sellout though, so try and get involved early or something.

― ambrose (ambrose), Monday, 24 October 2005 20:08 (twenty years ago)

some more details here (which i haven't actually understood yet - how late is the 38 running as a routemaster on friday?!):

http://www.lots.org.uk/pdf/38281005.pdf

― toby (tsg20), Monday, 24 October 2005 20:12 (twenty years ago)

sorry yeah that except was from lots.org.uk
theres some other mentions of it around.

with the 19 one, it ran up to finsubry park going thru central london about midnight, then arrived finsbury park about 1 i think, then ran back down to battersea or whereever and got there about 2 or seomthing

― ambrose (ambrose), Monday, 24 October 2005 20:45 (twenty years ago)

'guest vehicles'!

― koogs (koogs), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 07:25 (twenty years ago)

Herbie!

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 07:40 (twenty years ago)

i'm really sad the 38 routemaster is ending! will be going into town on friday evening anyway, so will presumably get to ride one for the last time (are there special edition old ones scattered through the regular timetable? can you ride on them?)

― colette (a2lette), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 08:29 (twenty years ago)

Everybody should by this book (which is only coincidentally written by my grate pal, Travis). An ideal Xmas gift!

http://www.granta.com/shop/product-file/18/theb2418/product.jpg

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 08:55 (twenty years ago)

buy

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 08:56 (twenty years ago)

It is very good.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 09:02 (twenty years ago)

I thoroughly recommend it too. Grebt tales of Routemaster joy from Waterstones' finest alma mater.

― darren (darren), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 09:24 (twenty years ago)

I am going to write one called Routemasters Smell.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 09:26 (twenty years ago)

i don't understand london.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 09:28 (twenty years ago)

Midland Fox - A Personal Celebration

Wolverhampton Cityhopper - Cherish The Night

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 09:56 (twenty years ago)

PJ, the RM and RML were designed by LT for London. They work, they are compact, efficient, beautiful engineering marvels. Not a box stuck on a truck chasis.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 09:58 (twenty years ago)

But the RM and RML do have crap legroom and the engine rattles the chassis very vigorously and noisily when the bus is stationary. I can't think of any other bad points granted.

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 10:07 (twenty years ago)

You should ask my mate who fell off the footplate and knocked out two teeth, I imagine he'd have a few things to say about the design.

Also I am currently very glad that my bus is not a routemaster because in my current condition I wouldn't find them very useable at all. And if I had had to keep crutches, not at all.

I like them, mind.

― Tim (Tim), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 10:09 (twenty years ago)

http://www.petitiononline.com/routemas/petition.html

Can anyone remember an occassion when Routemasters have randomly burst into flames?

― Hello Sunshine (Hello Sunshine), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 10:33 (twenty years ago)

The Routemaster looks very nice and is wonderful in a nostalgic way but it really is atrociously designed for this day and age. No leg room, badly-placed stairs, awkward for standing in and absolutely useless if you can't walk properly.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 10:36 (twenty years ago)

The stairs are in the most sensible place!

― RickyT (RickyT), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 10:39 (twenty years ago)

Not if you slip down them they're not.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 10:42 (twenty years ago)

i've hardly ever taken one, but they feel a bit poky to me.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 10:43 (twenty years ago)

I get travel sick just looking at them.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 10:45 (twenty years ago)

Leg room is fine if you sit up straight, slouchers. According to Travis there was a project to design a new bus for london (rather than buy off the shelf) but it was quietly shevleved in favour of the bendy invaders.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 10:46 (twenty years ago)

I'd argue that having an open back that people can hop on and off at will makes them the perfect form of public transport for central London. Though I suspect that TfL is getting rid of them partly so it can claim that there's no problem with buses getting caught in traffic jams so everyone should use them...

Anyone else ever missed a bus by three seconds and then had to watch it standing in the stop for five minutes while it tries to pull back into the traffic flow?

― Hello Sunshine (Hello Sunshine), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 10:47 (twenty years ago)

you can't slouch, that's the problem!

i get travel sick thinking about how long i will have to stand on a packed 38 Bendy now though. Can't they just use modern double deckers instead?

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 10:49 (twenty years ago)

the hop-on/off thing is presumably some kind of insurance liability? but the leg-room thing -- maybe modern brits are too obese for the 'master.

bendies are pretty rub though.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 10:50 (twenty years ago)

But the bendy is twice as long, isn't it?

I bet they pollute less too, meanwhile, by the way.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 10:51 (twenty years ago)

i am not obese and i am under 6ft

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 10:52 (twenty years ago)

can anyone remember when the 94 stopped being a Routemaster?

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 10:53 (twenty years ago)

??e was a project to design a new bus for london"

Wouldn't take much, would it — take a Routemaster, add an accessable door on one side, sort out the suspension and bob kiley's your uncle.

I suspect that people who design modern buses have never been stuck in traffic, sat near the front on the top deck in blazing sunshine. It's like being in a greenhouse, as some muppet forgot to put opening windows in the front half, and those further back that do open a teeny little bit let no air in at all.

x-post:

Wouldn't suprise me if the main reason for scrapping the open back platform and the useful windows the Claims Direct culture we now live in, whereby if a kid threw a stone out of a top-deck window and hit someone, or if someone got drunk and fell off the back, TfL would be held responsible.

Which means, once again, life is made a little duller by trying to legislate for idiots.

― Hello Sunshine (Hello Sunshine), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 10:54 (twenty years ago)

The engines that got put in the RMs when they were upgraded recently are twice as fuel efficient as those in the Bendies. Mainly due to the RM's lightweight aluminium monocoque construction.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 10:54 (twenty years ago)

oh i'm a sloucher too, and need space for my bag n'shit.

xpost

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 10:55 (twenty years ago)

OK, Ed. I was wrong. In fact, that might make me wrong about everything, because it's the smelly engines I object to, remembered from 1974. And not in London.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 10:59 (twenty years ago)

No ones commented on the fact that the bendy buses are, to all intents and purposes, free. I've overheard them referred to on a couple of occasions as 'the free bus'.

I have a travelcard but if I didn't then I'm not sure I'd bother getting a ticket out of one of those machines.

I get the 12 fairly regularly and have never seen an inspector.

― Bidfurd__, Tuesday, 25 October 2005 11:00 (twenty years ago)

the Routemaster was often 'free' as well. many times have i boarded and sat on top without the conductor bothering to ask for my ticket/fare.

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 11:02 (twenty years ago)

I had my ticket checked on the 12, once. I was surprised.

The buses fill up so much that it quickly becomes more or less impossible for ticket inspectors to get around the bus, even if they did exist.

― Tim (Tim), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 11:03 (twenty years ago)

My favourite thing about the Routemaster was that, in the right conditions, it constituted a kind of motorized aeolian harp, with the wind rushing from front to back creating a flute-like tone. I'm sure if you experimented with opening different windows you could play a primitive version of the melody of 'Top Deck' by Baxendale.

Bendy buses surely also much more accessible to wheelchair users/mums with prams etc?

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 11:13 (twenty years ago)

the only ticket inspectors i've ever seen on a bendy bus were at 2am on sun night/mon morning. it was quite surreal. a few people got thrown off, but they believed me when i pretended not to speak english and not know how stuff worked.

best excuse for not coming to the first forget about the sugar was "omg i am so poor i can only travel on bendy buses".

― The Lex (The Lex), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 11:15 (twenty years ago)

I put it to you that this is the most you thing you have ever said.

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 11:39 (twenty years ago)

> it constituted a kind of motorized aeolian harp

ponce

my least favourite thing about the routemasters - that odd metallic lump in the floor by the rear seats on the lower floor. the number of times i've tripped over that _thing_...

― koogs (koogs), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 11:47 (twenty years ago)

i would've thought as a shoegazer etc.

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 11:51 (twenty years ago)

I suspect that odd metallic hump is a wheel arch. What would I know, though.

I thought koogybots were programmed to learn, but apparently not.

― Tim (Tim), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 11:57 (twenty years ago)

How rude!

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 11:59 (twenty years ago)

Sorry Koogy.

― Tim (Tim), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 11:59 (twenty years ago)

rear differential rather than wheel arch

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 12:00 (twenty years ago)

What's a rear differential then?

― Tim (Tim), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 12:01 (twenty years ago)

http://hometown.aol.co.uk/thermmanual/images/rm%20chassis%20cutaway.gif

bumpy bit near back l.h. wheel?

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 12:07 (twenty years ago)

yes. It allows the bus to go round corners without an axle breaking.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 12:13 (twenty years ago)

i think they also manage this feat of engineering, on the new buses, but without the bump?

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 12:14 (twenty years ago)

Right.

I have just this minute hopped off a 38 Routemaster. I travelled from Gray's Inn Road (ish) to High Holborn in the name of scientific research.

There was nothing good about it. I sat at the front, upstairs. It was indeed smelly, but not because of the bus itself. It was being used to transport a large number of derelicts, along with a rowdy selection of "Yeah But No But" kids.

You take your life in your hands getting on it (it pulled out before I was properly on board) and you take your life in your hands getting off it, at least if you are upstairs and do not wish to miss your stop. This is without taking the rear differential deathtrap into consideration.

It was very dirty.

The conductress did not check my ticket, neither did she look likely to.

Mind you, I will say this for it: It goes like the clappers. I was back at my desk long beofre I had intended to be.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Tuesday, 25 October 2005 12:17 (twenty years ago)

Skipping 35 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

As Rosa would never have been able to get a seat in the first place (bendies actually leave the depot with their half dozen seats filled with tailor's dummies), the entire history of race relations in America could have changed forever if the highly flammable german monsters had been in use in Alabama in the early fifties.

Maybe they'd have had separate ticket machines for whites and blacks.

― Hello Sunshine (Hello Sunshine), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 13:04 (twenty years ago)

toby you can write an email or phone tfl and they will send all the london bus network maps to you. NW, NE, SE, SW. not sure about spider maps.

cheers ambrose - do you just call a general enquiry number or something?

the only people i know who prefer bendy buses to routemasters are people with pushchairs, who do much prefer them. i think they're very much in a minority, though.

i probably only have 2 more journeys to go on a routemaster, unless i make a special effort :-(

― toby (tsg20), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 13:39 (twenty years ago)

probably just one journey, actually :-( :-(

― toby (tsg20), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 13:40 (twenty years ago)

i prefer bendy buses to routemasters

― Britain's Obtusest Shepherd (Alan), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 13:47 (twenty years ago)

That's just perverse.

― Paranoid Spice (kate), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 13:48 (twenty years ago)

They are a significant minority, those pushchair people. There are very few children to be seen on the streets of London, which is surely London's loss. Likewise, the lack of facilities for the disabled makes London's claim to be the world's greatest city ring hollow.

I think these things are more important than a bit of "I'll get you, Blakey" nostalgia.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 13:54 (twenty years ago)

the trouble with saying "people with pushchairs/wheelchair users" are a small minorty, so why change things for such a few people, is that the reason that that is the current situation is precisely because things are set up to be easy for those people. If things are made more accessible then it wouldnt be crazy to suggest that they might form a larger part of passengers overall.

toby, i would just contact:

Email: [email protected]
London Buses Customer Services
84 Eccleston Square
London SW1V 1PX
0845 300 7000 (0800-2000 Monday to Friday)

dont know how long it will take to send them out, but they will do it.

― ambrose (ambrose), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 14:03 (twenty years ago)

There was a piece in the New York Times a year or so back by a wheelchair-using New Yoiker who thought London was the best thing since sliced bread, access-wise. She especially liked the way kerbs are lowered at crossings.

― Hello Sunshine (Hello Sunshine), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 14:43 (twenty years ago)

Journey by a london bus - public info film made in 1950

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/films/popupmovies/1945to51_jbalbb.htm

― Britain's Obtusest Shepherd (Alan), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 14:44 (twenty years ago)

Do you know why they like bendies? I'll tell you. It's because they have a predicatble dwell time. That is to say that it is easy to know how long it will be at a stop as they are easy to embark and disembark.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 14:51 (twenty years ago)

We are experiencing high demand. Please be patient while the film downloads

That's you lot, that is.

Is that bad, Ed?

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 15:12 (twenty years ago)

I quite like bendy buses, even beyond the free thing. They bend, which is kind of cool.

I like routemasters too but the stairs do give me the ph34r.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 15:58 (twenty years ago)

i think i experience more inertia whilst descending the stairs on decelerating modern double deckers than Routemasters. i don't suppose there's any way i could back this up with science (something about descending from the rear meaning less inertia because you're furthest from the front which is where the force is concentrated? blargh, dunno).

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 16:06 (twenty years ago)

> because you're furthest from the front which is where the force is concentrated?

this would suggest that different parts of the bus are decelerating at different speeds. now that's what i call a bendy bus...

i think it's because the deceleration is happening in the same direction as you are travelling (ie forwards / backwards) rather than at right angles to it (you go left to right as you descend on a routemaster).

― koogs (koogs), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 16:24 (twenty years ago)

thanks ambrose!

does anyone here who likes bendy buses actually use them on a regular basis?

― toby (tsg20), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 16:48 (twenty years ago)

You will feel a greater force on you decending the stairs on a Routemaster if it is turning as the stairs are quite far from the center of rotation of the bus. Turning will of course include pulling into or out of a stop. Most modern busses try to place their stairs as close to the center of rotation as possible. Any lurching in a straight line is due to crap acceleration or breaking on the part of the driver, it may be easier to stop the modern busses in a gentler fashion.

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 27 October 2005 07:01 (twenty years ago)

> Most modern busses try to place their stairs as close to the center of rotation as possible.

wouldn't this be the back (over the back wheels anyway) given that only the front wheels steer? i'm dubious about the effect of this rotation compared with the braking.

― koogs (koogs), Thursday, 27 October 2005 07:43 (twenty years ago)

It's to the front of the rear wheels. The staircase on a routemaster is well behind the rear wheels.

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 27 October 2005 07:45 (twenty years ago)

This thread is really hotting up now!

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Thursday, 27 October 2005 08:18 (twenty years ago)

I use bendies about as often as I use anything else

i.e. now and then.

― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 27 October 2005 08:21 (twenty years ago)

at last the end of the death trap, i mean the routemaster on the route 38. they may look all fancy to to you anorachs but belive me they're filthy dirty smelly very uncomfy slow the list goes on and on............HAIL THE NEW BENDY BUS ON ROUTE 38.

― A 38 bus driver, Thursday, 27 October 2005 21:38 (twenty years ago)

even the buses have street teams on ilx.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Thursday, 27 October 2005 21:41 (twenty years ago)

Mrs the Nipper almost fell to her death off the back of a Routemaster coming back from Stoke Newington a couple of years ago, so I am glad to see the back of them.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 27 October 2005 21:45 (twenty years ago)

i cannot believe anyone can seriously argue against routemasters and for bendies or modern double-deckers!! in the summer routemasters are cool & in the winter they are (fairly) snug/whereas modern double-deckers are baking in the summer (due to the ridiculously small openings in the windows which let in little to no air at all) but in the winter they are still hot... yet this isnt a good thing cuz everyone has colds, the germs thrive in the damp warm conditions and there are no decent sized windows to airate the bus and clear out the germs... they are moving health hazards!
then you look at the ease at which you can jump on & off routemasters - for so many people the stop they have to get off at is quite a distance away from where they actually want to get to, a visa-versa in terms of catching a bus
bendy busses get cramped, hot & sweaty, fairs get 'bunked' more often & more easily than they did on routemasters, and along with modern double deckers they catch fire (im sure its some bus form of suicide - they know just how crap they are)
since realiging himself with labour ken has become a new labour lowlife with no sensible way of thinking or planning (what happened to the ken of old - organising free festivals et al under the glc??? it was before my time (im only 18) but if i didnt know better id swear the ken of before & the ken of today were two seperate people)
if he really wants people to stop using their cars (the point of the congestion charge... im lead to believe) then why the f,ck is he axing the single most iconic and treasured symbol of london, why is he upping public transport fairs to ridiculous prices, and then forcing us to use cards that supposedly offer us much better deals on fairs (if you use an oyster card you only have to pay £1.50 for a single journey on the tube - a MASSIVE saving of 20p! in the meantime those of us not using the cards will have to pay between £2-£3 more when the prices rise. various other 'great' savings you can save by using the card work out at between 20-50p - and all this crap boasted on the front page of kens very own newspaper the londoner (november edition))
as much as i dislike car drivers, i cant really blame them for driving in london when bendy busses & modern double deckers are SO slow, and when a normal days travel will work out at nearly the same price as the congestion charge, not to mention the sh,tload of extra hassle and stress that comes will public transport.
on a final note, tomorrow everyone should travel on a number 38, even if you dont need to, share a few kind words with the conductor (let them know theyre loved) and have a chat with the person sitting next to you, either they'll already know about it being the last day and chances are they'll feel the same way as you, or they wont, and you can inform them about the evils of ken/bendies/modern double deckers... or whatever other issue has been playing on your mind of late! :)
then after december 9th, when the streets will be devoid of any character, whenever you can, boycott busses or skip fairs. although its not fair on the driver cuz the fairs go towards his wages, when the drivers are as rude as dave b wrote about, they dont deserve a f,cking penny

― mr. scruff, Thursday, 27 October 2005 22:16 (twenty years ago)

http://www.msdivine.net/theyoungones/rickpeas.jpg

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 27 October 2005 22:21 (twenty years ago)

http://pages.prodigy.net/glc/wrhp/image/otbm13a.jpg

"is it really true?"

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 28 October 2005 01:22 (twenty years ago)

mr scruff you obviously are an anorach. i bet you will be out there taking pictures of these sad routemasters. i.ve got some news for you smell the coffee good morning them crappy busses are coming to an end welcome to the mordern age. i can also tell you one thing most of the conductors think you passengers are the biggest arsholes out there and are more then happy to see the back of these filthy busses and as for jumping on the bus 38 for the thrill of it GET A LIFE.............HAIL THE NEW BENDY BUS ON ROUTE 38. .

― a route 38 driver, Friday, 28 October 2005 04:52 (twenty years ago)

I need to get on a 38 today to actually go somewhere and if I can't get as seat because of nostalgists then I will be most grumpy.

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 28 October 2005 06:33 (twenty years ago)

What Tom said.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Friday, 28 October 2005 07:44 (twenty years ago)

When I regularly used a bendy 12 I found it incredibly stressful. The odds of getting a seat are slim, standing up on a packed bus is hard for an hour, and unless you’re near a door getting off is pretty unpleasant. Plus the heat in summer is fucking ridiculous. I swear the heaters were still on in July, and whoever thought up those minute windows is an idiot. I would leave work feeling fine and by the time I got home I would be exhausted and developing a headache. Eventually I gave up using that route and started taking a set of different buses to work.

― Dark Cilla (alix), Friday, 28 October 2005 08:05 (twenty years ago)

I saw a 38 this morning and the driver looked well grump he didnt look as if he was enjoying his last day and there werent many passengers and its raining and the conductor didnt look like they wanted to talk to anybody they will probably clobber somebody with their ticket machine before the days out if people let them know how much theyre loved all of a sudden after years of abuse.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Friday, 28 October 2005 08:21 (twenty years ago)

all londoners should be forced at gunpoint to use public transport (ie buses) in a variety of other cities for a week, to stop their moaning about fares, speed, reliability, information etc etc etc.

― ambrose (ambrose), Friday, 28 October 2005 08:23 (twenty years ago)

all the new 38 bendys are fully climate controlled so keep windows shut on hot days and make life comfortable for all

― abcd, Friday, 28 October 2005 09:53 (twenty years ago)

all londoners should be forced at gunpoint to use public transport (ie buses) in a variety of other cities for a week, to stop their moaning about fares, speed, reliability, information etc etc etc.

Click for yourself:

http://images.google.com/images?q=Bilbao+Metro&hl=en&btnG=Search+Images

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Friday, 28 October 2005 10:58 (twenty years ago)

i just saw one of the 'old' routemasters go past, but they weren't letting people ride. boo to that.

― colette (a2lette), Friday, 28 October 2005 11:08 (twenty years ago)

(Admittedly that is only one city, not a variety.)

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Friday, 28 October 2005 11:15 (twenty years ago)

London has by far the most comprehensive and integrated transport system in Britain.

― Hello Sunshine (Hello Sunshine), Friday, 28 October 2005 11:45 (twenty years ago)

A gentleman was outside filming the 38s earlier on, so I gave him all your email addresses.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Friday, 28 October 2005 14:02 (twenty years ago)

sorry yes i meant any othr city in england. bilbao seems an unusual choice for a model transport city. not because it is good, i had just never come into contact with it as an example of such

― ambrose (ambrose), Friday, 28 October 2005 14:53 (twenty years ago)

The Bilbao undergound is very good. But having said that, they started out with a blank page. Now they have trams too.

I used to complain about Barcelona a lot, but Porkpie et al were right.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Friday, 28 October 2005 14:55 (twenty years ago)

Well, every city started out with a blank page railway-wise at *some* point.

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Friday, 28 October 2005 14:59 (twenty years ago)

London had traintracks before there were even trains! What with them using old Lost River beds and all!

― Atheist of Love (kate), Friday, 28 October 2005 14:59 (twenty years ago)

Well, you're partly right - the very first railway in Greater London was built before the railway engine was invented. I think part of its route is now used for Tramlink, but I'm not 100% sure.

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Friday, 28 October 2005 15:01 (twenty years ago)

OK, they started with a blank page underground railway-wise *in the modern era*.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Friday, 28 October 2005 15:02 (twenty years ago)

Bah, I was wrong - it actually opened 2 years after the first railway engine was invented.

(I'm talking about the Surrey Iron Railway, which ran along the Wandle valley from Croyden to Wandsworth)

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Friday, 28 October 2005 15:05 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

The Last Routemaster will make its final trundle from Marble Arch to Streatham on the 159 route on Friday lunchtime. Sets off at 12:10pm, followed by an open-top bus full of journalists.

― Hello Sunshine (Hello Sunshine), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 09:41 (twenty years ago)

Awwwwww. So what's this "heritage routes 9 and 15" that the sides of the last few routemasters say stuff about?

― Control your ponies, children! (kate), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 12:55 (twenty years ago)

Lots of bus-related fun here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/features/bus-night.shtml

― Japanese Giraffe (Japanese Giraffe), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 13:00 (twenty years ago)

So what's this "heritage routes 9 and 15" that the sides of the last few routemasters say stuff about?

It means that Routemasters will continue to run on normal bus routes that normal Londoners use every day that just happen to go through tourist central. So all this "last Routemaster ever!" stuff is a load of old cobblers.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 13:31 (twenty years ago)

i checked my diary and it said

http://www.spleenville.com/journal/archives/careometer.gif

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 13:40 (twenty years ago)

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