Taking a break from the Amsterdam photos (which I’ll get back to: I’ve got lots more) for a couple of days in order to share some images from this week’s Tube strike. Here, one of the old-style buses that have been dragged back into service to cope with the commuter overflow. (On Tottenham Court Road.)
so much awesome-er than the new buses, which are, in and of themselves, pretty awesome.
These old buses are so cool, but they seem to have far less capacity than the new buses. And they’re probably gas hogs, too. A lot of the new buses are electric or natural gas.
ah yes… almost anything that hogs gas tends to be cool looking. no matter the morality and ecology sense of it — a 1976 Charger is always going to be cooler than a Honda Accord.
At the risk of sounding even more geekish than ever, I really must express my delight at seeing this bus still in service. It is a Blue Triangle AEC Regent III built in 1950, and I used to travel on buses of this type when I was a small child. RT buses were built from 1939 until 1954, when the Routemaster buses began to come into service. This example now belongs to the London Bus Company, and is sued for private hires. Not sure if links will work here, but here is the same bus being used as a wedding-car: http://www.thelondonbuscompany.co.uk/RT3871_56_Seat.htm
I commented already and my comment has disappeared! Maybe ‘cos I posted as a guest – can never remember my password, I remarked in my geeky way that this is a 1950 RT series bus manufactured by AEC between 1939-1954. They were later replaced by the Routemaster series. This particular example is now used for private bookings – including weddings! I alos said how gorgeous the bus is!
Your original comment didn’t post because it was flagged as spam (thanks to the link). I’ve now approved it, and it’s appearing now.
The great thing about these and the RMs was not just the ridiculous reliability and ease of maintenance; it was that, with two staff on board, the buses could move while fares were still being paid. This made them about twice as fast as a single-crewed bus when there was any sort of crowd. Even the horribly-flawed Oyster system doesn’t do as well.
i think there are double entry buses again…
Not “again” — the RMs only have a single entrance. The dual-door buses make the back one only for Oyster users, and everyone still has to swipe their cards as they get on.
Personally I think London should do as several European cities have, and simply make public transport free, no questions asked. The cost savings from not having to collect or enforce fares are huge, and so are the environmental savings from the decline in car traffic.