please empty your brain below

It's when it encounters a truck loaded with scaffolding that it becomes fun. It takes about 20 minutes for them to work themselves into a position where they can get past each other...
Was the "roundabout" name chosen for Orpington's minibuses because of this route? Or because for some reason "O" prefixes would be confusing and R is the next best thing for an oRpington bus?

One reason for not running two buses on the R5/R10 is probably to avoid the possibility of them meeting somewhere awkward. I recall DG saying that one route in the area has a rule that the westbound bus must not eneter a certain lane until it has passed the eastbound one.

When buses going in different directions both go round a loop in the same direction, there have been a number of ways of dealing with it. Different numbers for different directions is one: "A" and "C" suffixes (for (anti-)clockwise another. Historically black-on-yellow destination blinds were sometimes used for the same purpose. But some just rely on the destination blind: a friend missed this subtlety on the K3 in Claygate (where buses towards Kingston and towards Esher both go clockwise through the village to avoid meetinbg each other) and ended up in Esher after the last bus back to Kingston had gone.

Stats: this 63-reg is the newest on DG's current odyssey, and at 17 miles and 15.7mph is the second-longest after the N15, and the second-fastest after A10, which had the advantage of a morotway sprint. Four miles into this journey, DG passed the 100-mile mark and, 25 minutes in, he passed the 10-hour mark.


Should that be two trips and paid twice? And I guessing that there is a "reserve" bus in case of breakdown/incident...
Yes you could get a smaller bus (remember the trip on the H3) - but then you need a second bus to cover maintenance - so that's two buses.

When London Country operated it as the 471 (the 431 was a different route) they did use the rather wonderful GS.

http://www.countrybus.org/GS/GS62/62_GSG.jpg
... or should I say the Country Area of London Transport, or whatever it was prior to 1970.
"Any takers?"

Yes, but only if we get to see the War Memorial.
@ Timbo - the 464 is the route where buses wait until they see the other one pass by. The section between New Addington and Biggin Hill airfield is very narrow.

When Metrobus ran the R5/10 they did have narrow and short buses that sometimes ran on the route. However the unique 7.1m narrow width Optare Solos should really be used on the R8 - another twisty, turny route in the area.
I think Arriva's 402 is commercial, rather than specifically funded by Kent CC?
I like all the Orpingbuses, and this is the best of the lot.
This is the r bus I asked to be done so am very pleased. The bus is usually smaller than the one DG was on. There's only 1 bus and the his DG was on is the replacement (same happens with the R8, which is my regular bus).

Would agree that the landscape round here (cudham) is glorious but it's not populated by the green wellie brigade (that's westerham (bus 246) and beyond). Nope, round here it tends to be your taxi drivers and tradesmen.

dg writes: Point taken about Cudham...
so I've tweaked the text, thanks.

Did you bump into Farage?
Farage lives on the r8 route
@ Tom - Stagecoach took over the R5/10 a few months ago and use Alexander Dennis small buses. The little Optare Solo buses that Metrobus used to sometimes use on the R5/10 are now on the R8 (their proper home). With different companies running the routes there is no longer any chance of one bus type wandering between routes.










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