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London Scratch Pad |
Not quite the planned visit to old haunts to update Busworld, but in July 2004 I got a chance to survey the London Bus scene for myself, here is my HTML notebook made with Notepad™. The old enemies of geography, chronology and meteorology all conspired to limit photographic opportunities, but I managed to find a few examples of current types to add to my archives taken in Whitehall outside St James's Palace.
The first change that struck me in Central London was the presence of Transport for London (TfL), adopting the London Transport Bullseye on posters and signs for a whole raft of traffic restrictions and regulations. It may well be an indication of underlying trends that the symbol tracing its history back to the London General Omnibus Company’s wheel motif could be so devalued.
At the junction of the A23 and the South Circular Road (A205) just behind a block of flats called Christchurch House stands an anonymous building with a large roller shutter entrance with the words LCC Tramways in polished silver letters over the lintel. At certain times of day the shutter is opened to reveal Arriva’s Greenline coach preparing for a commuter run into Maidstone. In the cavernous interior tram tracks pattern the floor and the single coach is dwarfed by the size of the building. Towards the back wall Routemasters are tightly packed, driven straight in for quickness and awaiting their fate as victims of civic vandalism.
For anyone who enjoys the game of making words from classifications some interesting combinations of letters have been applied to the many low floor classes being rushed into London to replace Routemasters.
with their policy of multi-sourcing bodies and chassis set themselves a challenge as different combinations of maker vie for the same letter groups.
The DW code familiar to West Londoners from Centrewest’s Dart Wright Handibus 8.5m "minibuses" and applies to two separate classes of chassis with Wright body. The double deck Eclipse Gemini on a Dennis Trident chassis comes in DW and DWL forms while the single deck Cadet bodied DAF SB120 can be DW or DWS
Alexander bodied buses on 10.8m Dart Low floor chassis introduced late in 1999 representing the longest standard (as opposed to Super) Dart available give the class code ADL, pronounced addle and you will be with some of these Pseudo Pseudonyms
DAF DB250LF long wheel base chassis with Alexander ALX400 double deck bodies reorganise the chassis/length/body initials to give DLA most motorists’ opinion of a bus delay!
Service number 42 between Denmark Hill and Liverpool Street operated by East Lancs bodied Scanias of the ELS class gives us ELS1 = Elsie, ELS10 = Elsie Zero, ELS11 = Elsii, ELS12 = Elsie II, etc..
Long wheelbase Volvo B7TL Wright Eclipse Gemini low floor double deckers rearrange into VWL Ms. Vorderman would be proud "I’ll have a vowel please Carol".
trading as London Central and London General take the team prize in the Name Game with classes including
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London General (Go Ahead) LX53BEY WVL152 Volvo B7TL Wright Eclipse Gemini |
London General (Go Ahead) PJ02PZZ PDL26 Dennis Trident II SFD Plaxton President |
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win the wooden spoon hands down for their move away from class letters representing chassis and body details plus registration matching stock number to 5 digit ¡National Fleet! numbers, with no instant association with class, registration or any facet of vehicle identity. If First were in the area they could share the prize with their confusing SemaVoyager scheme.
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Stagecoach Selkent TA119 V119MEV Dennis Trident II SFD Alexander ALX400 |
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From a very brief drive in one I knew Bendy Buses were scary, but sharing the road with them really frightened the pants off me. We are always reassured that the back wheels follow exactly the same path as the middle ones. OK fine, my problem is that they do so out the driver's sight. My old driving instructor always converted speeds from miles per hour to feet per second to help illustrate how rapidly situations can change. Consider this,
We are taught defensive driving as part of our PCV handling skills. Where we fit into the lane markings we must not cross lines. Where offered two lanes use the left or inner lane. If we need to steal a bit of road to get the bus through just make sure nobody else wants it. Above all maintain and defend a safety area around your bus. The body language from a Bendy modifies this code. We don’t fit so cross the lines. Where offered two lanes take both. We need all the road we can get so prevent others using it. Seal all entrances to your safety area while you can still see them!
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Stagecoach Selkent 23017 LX03HCY Mercedes O530G Citaro Articulated Citybus |
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One amusing sight was First’s MAL15 on suspended tow. The concertina section allows the front half of the bus to slope up to the hook while the rear maintains stately progress parallel to the road. I have a genuine respect for the driver who piloted the whole rig through South London rush hour traffic
First London training vehicles noted in Parliament Square perpetuate the use of time expired MCW Metrobuses with large areas of yellow applied over the London red
London United also use time expired MCW Metrobuses, but have abandoned the special cherry and cream livery of their original trainers in favour of applying large areas of yellow over the London red, even leaving the distinctive grey roof of later refurbished examples.
Go-Ahead fielded a modern bus, possibly an Alexander bodied Dennis Trident, in all over blue with yellow graphics dedicated trainer livery complete with Routemaster registration WLT346.
Travel London Limited formerly known as Connex Bus had a Caetano bodied Dart, again, with liberal yellow over its formerly plain red service bus paint.
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