London Banter - View Single Post

Martin Rich · May 19th 08, 07:50 AM posted to uk.transport.london

On Sun, 18 May 2008 15:11:18 -0500, (Mark Brader) wrote:

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

As others have already said, one-person double-deckers remain the
commonest type in London. Among routes that have switched from
single- to double-deckers in recent years are 28 and 31, both of which
were converted from Routemasters to small single-deckers (at a much
higher frequency) around 1990.

One effect of the insistence on low-floor buses, whcih have really
only been the norm for double-deckers for the last ten years or so, is
that currently London has quite a young fleet of buses. About the
oldest one-person double-deckers that you see are 'S' registration,
which would have been new in 1998-9, but most are much newer than
that.

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

You don't now see many of the very small buses that were once popular:
there are exceptions such as routes H2/3 around Hampstead Garden
Suburb, which serve roads which could not accommodate bigger
vehicles.

Martin