On Sun, 18 May 2008, Mark Brader wrote:

I haven't been to London for a few years. But I've heard a lot on
this newsgroup about the elimination of Routemasters except for a few
"heritage" services, and the widespread introduction of articulated
single-deck buses.

'Widespread' is perhaps too strong. Twelve routes (i think) use bendies.
They are some of the busiest and most important, though, so you see them
quite often if you're somewhere that's anywhere.

What I haven't heard about is the status of the *other* double-deckers,
the ones operated only by a driver. Are these still in use on some
routes or have they been totally replaced without my hearing about it?

They're still around, and account, i'd say, for the vast majority of
buses.

If they are still in use, are they expected to be totally replaced?

No. Bendification was only ever planned for the busiest routes, as it's
fairly expensive and requires good, wide roads. Double-deckers were always
slated to carry on serving the majority of routes. Now that there's a
moratorium on further bendification, and a possible rolling-back of
bendies under the Boris, that's guaranteed.

And what about the smaller single-deck buses that I used to see on some
of the quieter routes?

Yes, there are still plenty of those.

And are there other important subcategories these days that I didn't
think to ask about?

A tracked, armoured bus is being trialled in Peckham.

Are there statistics somewhere about how many buses are in use of each
of these types, or how many routes they operate on? I'm just looking
for a general idea here, and I don't particularly want to know about
specific models of bus unless they differ in important ways.

I can't immediately find any such data. I couldn't even find a definitive
list of bendy-bus routes!

tom

--
These spoiled youths forget that when they are shaven they look like
boiled potatoes. -- Tara Singh