please empty your brain below
No doubt the future will bring driverless cars with (on certain routes) kerbside-edge doors.

Bob L-S | 04.07.16 - 7:14 a.m. | #

If the money runs out, then perhaps in the future we'll see a return to 'shabby chic', after all the Piccadilly and Bakerloo line stock is due to all go past the half century soon.

| 04.07.16 - 8:09 a.m. | #

The busiest place did seem to be Moquette Land when we were there yesterday.(Did you see the moquettised Dangleway?)

I was chatting with the AlexDennis rep on the Enviro400H City. He told me that it was their proposal to replace the Boris Bus when that contract expires. It doesn't seem as cramped upstairs as the BB. The moquette has little roundels as it was designed in collaboration with TfL. I'll be posting pics of the inside of this bus today if anyone is interested.

HoosierSands | Homepage | 04.07.16 - 8:37 a.m. | #

@ Hoosier Sands - the Enviro City is just a restyled and more expensive version of their standard E40H model. It's far too early to be "replacing" the NB4L whose deliveries continue for another year. There are Enviro Citys now running on the 26 and 78. Blackpool Transport have also ordered some. However far, far more of the standard version of the E40 have been ordered for London service.

PC | 04.07.16 - 8:53 a.m. | #

I agree with DG that this festival didn't have the same "feel" as Year of the Bus. I found it a bit dull and poorly put together. There was no great overriding theme that was evident through the displays. I know design was supposed to be the theme but it just felt more like a "TfL and partners" self promotion show rather than a genuine celebration of something.

PC | 04.07.16 - 8:58 a.m. | #

I was going to go to this but went to the Pub for lunch and the beer got the better of me.

Agent Z | 04.07.16 - 9:01 a.m. | #

I wonder how many Bus Stop Ms there are in London.

GA Annie | 04.07.16 - 11:45 a.m. | #

The double decker bus with the LT roundel seat moquette seemed bright and airy compared to the Boris bus and the other double decker that lacked rear windows downstairs.

| 04.07.16 - 12:12 p.m. | #

@ GA Annie - 436 stop Ms based on a list issued by TfL in response to a FOI request in August 2015. As stops keep getting altered the number may have changed slightly over the last year. It was a DG article about Countdown that led me to the FOI list! And, yes, the famous Stop M is on the list.

PC | 04.07.16 - 12:18 p.m. | #

It was an imaginative idea and much was interesting, but occasionally it could be a tad underwhelming. Admittedly, it must be difficult to fill the whole length of Regent Street with full fat exhibitions, so it's understandable that there was a fair bit of padding with lots of kiddies' play areas and open air bench seating, but sometimes the focus was lost unless you quizzed the enthusiastic staff.

Unfortunately the imagination seemed to have petered out at times, e.g. when the electric vehicles were just plonked down. The Metrocity EV Single Deck bus boasted that it runs on pure electric (sic) and has brail (sic) on the bell push, but that was it. You could climb into the cab and take photos, but otherwise it looked like just any other red bus and the essential punchline was lost. I imagined that it would be freezing in winter and asked whether they had considered adding a box of hot bricks, cf. night storage heaters. Turns out they're trialling exactly that in Inverness where it can get very cold in winter. (It's not quite pure electricity - there's also a diesel powered heater.) Curiously, the Enviro 400H City looks like a poor man's Boris Bus, but at least you can see out the back from the top deck if you need to catch a following bus.

Similarly, the Metrocab Plug-In Range Extended Electric Taxi claimed to be Zero Emissions Capable but gave zero details, and if you didn't spot the safety features of the Conway Aecom Mercedes Benz Econic cycle friendly truck they weren't telling you.

The ivy climbing frame hoardings are a great idea, simple but effective, but sadly TfL hadn't hidden any of its smelly diesel generators behind them. And if Regent Street exhibitions are to become regular events, surely the street infrastructure should include mains outlets?

Gerry | 04.07.16 - 12:30 p.m. | #

Is London really so different to the rest of the UK that it needs its own bus?

Adrian | 04.07.16 - 1:41 p.m. | #

@ Adrian


Yes.

E | 04.07.16 - 3:24 p.m. | #

That 1959 "New" Routemaster - this is obviously some strange usage of the term "new" of which I was previously unaware. However, unlike the other bus, it is a proper Routemaster.

dg writes: I was going by what it said on the back.

Timbo | 04.07.16 - 4:00 p.m. | #

Not only was there no tea, there were no toilets either. When I asked about loos, I got told to go to Starbucks!

Gopher | 04.07.16 - 6:31 p.m. | #

Touch'e !

And with the blinds set for the 8b in your honour, no doubt.

Timbo | 04.07.16 - 6:47 p.m. | #

@ Timbo - as I am sure you know RM5 was the first (?) production RM bus and no doubt emerged into service in 1959. At least LT spent 3 years rather than 3 months evaluating and testing the real Routemaster. Even that was no guarantee against problems but we don't seem to have learnt anything in 54 years given the woes still afflicting the NB4L.

PC | 04.07.16 - 7:21 p.m. | #

@ Gopher

Very many moons ago there were toilets in Oxford Circus station. But London Transport decided that we didn't need them...

Many moons ago there were toilets just north of Oxford Circus in Upper Regent Street. But when it spent squillions on 'improvements', Transport for London decided that we didn't need them...

Gerry | 04.07.16 - 7:58 p.m. | #

A Canadian tourist from Vancouver in the moquette tent asked about the dirty seat covers on the Piccadilly line. The member of staff/volunteer explained that the renewal of the trains had been delayed. She asked if this was due to Brexit.

| 04.07.16 - 10:45 p.m. | #

@PC

Wasn't RM8 the first production Routemaster

Agent Z | 05.07.16 - 9:32 a.m. | #

Re: RM5 (and Agent Z's mention of RM8).
Here actually is RM8, as seen at the Dartford Steam Fair held in May.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/32293736@N04/26308081834/in/photolist-G5KNaQ

RogerW | 05.07.16 - 9:49 a.m. | #

@Agent Z

RM8 was indeed the first to be completed, in 1958, although as it was used by Chiswick for tests it didn't actually enter public service until 1976. The chassis originally intended for RM5-7 were also originally used for test purposes, without bodies fitted.

The comprehensive website Ian's Bus Stop suggests that RM5 was the first in public service (now with a body!), on route 8, in May 1959.

Csution is needed in identifying Routemasters anyway, because body and chassis overhauls took diferent lengths of time, it was fairly normal for a body to go in to overhaul on one chassis and come out on a completely different one - indeed, as the chassis consisted of two sub-assemblies, there was no guarantee that they would remain together anyway. The bonnet number applied by the works to such chimeras was supposed to be that of the chassis, but it has been suggested that even this was not always the case in practice.

timbo | 05.07.16 - 2:16 p.m. | #

Odd - no sign of the most ubiquitous red black and grey moquette applied to the seats on all aluminium bodied trains from 1959 to 1972 Mk 1. It survived until withdrawal of the 1962 Central Line stock.

Len of London | 06.07.16 - 2:07 p.m. | #

I agree, it wasn't nearly as good as the bus cavalcade of two years ago, but the grandsons (now almost 6 and nearly 3) had fun - and I scored some free peppermints. My favourite thing was the old 1940s-50s taxicab, which is on the borderline of my memory as a "thing"....

Annabel | Homepage | 08.07.16 - 9:30 p.m. | #











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