If the plot to rid London of it's favourite bus succeeds, would a private
bus operator be allowed to operate a service with Routemasters instead? I
don't think the London sightseeing tour buses have to have disabled access,
so what about an "Oxford Street Shopping Bus" to do the job that
Routemasters have always done best?

This could be run by a private company which could buy up a small fleet of
Routemasters. For a flat fare it could provide Oxford Street shoppers with
the convenient service they are used to, allowing people to get on and off
directly outside the shop they want, or wherever the bus is stationary. It
could run up and down Oxford Street, turning round at Marble Arch and Centre
Point. You might even be able to hail the bus like a taxi. It could use a
conductor who would also fill the role of the tour guide on a sightseeing
bus, telling tourists when they have reached Selfridges for example. I think
a bus service like this would be very popular, and it would also be the only
bus you could board without a travelcard in Oxford Street, since all the
other routes now require a ticket from the machines in the street which
don't work. The buses could be sponsored by Oxford Street traders, making
them even more profitable, carrying advertisements for this month's event at
Selfridges or John Lewis etc. inside and outside. The conductor could even
hand out discount vouchers for particular shops, and the "Crystal Eyes"
video screen could show some of the same video advertisements shown on the
screens in store at shops like Top Shop & Selfridges. The idea sounds like a
winner to me, so (a) is anyone planning to do it, and (b) would they be
allowed to?

Red ken does have a plan to keep these dinosaurs running on a tourist route
so it looks as if your wishes will come true. He is presently looking for
operators to volunteer to operate them.
D. Robinson


"Stephen" wrote in message
...
If the plot to rid London of it's favourite bus succeeds, would a private
bus operator be allowed to operate a service with Routemasters instead?

"Stephen" wrote in message ...
sip
For a flat fare it could provide Oxford Street shoppers with
the convenient service they are used to, allowing people to get on and off
directly outside the shop they want, or wherever the bus is stationary. It
could run up and down Oxford Street, turning round at Marble Arch and Centre
Point. You might even be able to hail the bus like a taxi. It could use a
conductor who would also fill the role of the tour guide on a sightseeing
bus, telling tourists when they have reached Selfridges for example. I think
a bus service like this would be very popular, and it would also be the only
bus you could board without a travelcard in Oxford Street, since all the
other routes now require a ticket from the machines in the street which
don't work. The buses could be sponsored by Oxford Street traders, making
them even more profitable, carrying advertisements for this month's event at
Selfridges or John Lewis etc. inside and outside. The conductor could even
hand out discount vouchers for particular shops, and the "Crystal Eyes"
video screen could show some of the same video advertisements shown on the
screens in store at shops like Top Shop & Selfridges. The idea sounds like a
winner to me, so (a) is anyone planning to do it, and (b) would they be
allowed to?

LT tried something like this (flat fare, Oxford St route, conductors
trained to call out stops, corpaorate sponsorship) in the early 1980s
called Shop Linker and run by red/yellow RMs. It was not a success,
lasting only a few months.

stephen

stephen

"Stephen" wrote in message
...
If the plot to rid London of it's favourite bus succeeds, would a private
bus operator be allowed to operate a service with Routemasters instead? I
don't think the London sightseeing tour buses have to have disabled
access,

Er ... yes there they do.

Duncan Robinson wrote:

Red ken does have a plan to keep these dinosaurs running on a tourist route
so it looks as if your wishes will come true. He is presently looking for
operators to volunteer to operate them.

As described, this won't work. It needs to be a genuinely useful
transport route, charge normal fares, and run at least every 12 minutes.

For DDA reasons, it also needs to be entirely on roads covered by
other routes. Marble Arch to Victoria via Oxford Circus and Trafalgar
Square might work.

Colin McKenzie

"Colin McKenzie" wrote in message
...
Duncan Robinson wrote:

Red ken does have a plan to keep these dinosaurs running on a tourist
route
so it looks as if your wishes will come true. He is presently looking
for
operators to volunteer to operate them.

As described, this won't work. It needs to be a genuinely useful
transport route, charge normal fares, and run at least every 12 minutes.

For DDA reasons, it also needs to be entirely on roads covered by
other routes. Marble Arch to Victoria via Oxford Circus and Trafalgar
Square might work.

I'm not sure your interpretation of DDA is right!

rRichard Collier wrote:

"Stephen" wrote...
If the plot to rid London of it's favourite bus succeeds, would a private
bus operator be allowed to operate a service with Routemasters instead? I
don't think the London sightseeing tour buses have to have disabled
access,

Er ... yes there they do.

How?

On Tue, 20 Jul 2004 00:48:22 +0930, (Aidan Stanger)
wrote:

How?

And anyway, where's the requirement[1] (other than from TfL) for bus
services to be operated with disabled-accessible vehicles? Outside
the profitable PTE areas, many bus operators thrive on second-hand
high-floor vehicles from London.

[1] Highly desirable, yes - but I don't think it's legally required.

Neil

--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
To e-mail use neil at the above domain

"Barry Salter" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 19 Jul 2004 22:59:00 GMT, (Neil
Williams) wrote:

And anyway, where's the requirement[1] (other than
from TfL) for bus services to be operated with
disabled-accessible vehicles? Outside the profitable
PTE areas, many bus operators thrive on second-hand
high-floor vehicles from London.

Isn't it a DDA requirement from 1st October that providers
of goods and services need to make reasonable modifications
to their goods/service to make them accessible?

Is scrapping a huge fleet of buses a reasonable modification?

--
John Rowland - Spamtrapped
Transport Plans for the London Area, updated 2001
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acro...69/tpftla.html
A man's vehicle is a symbol of his manhood.
That's why my vehicle's the Piccadilly Line -
It's the size of a county and it comes every two and a half minutes

On Tue, 20 Jul 2004 10:13:20 +0100, Barry Salter
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Jul 2004 22:59:00 GMT, (Neil
Williams) wrote:

On Tue, 20 Jul 2004 00:48:22 +0930, (Aidan Stanger)
wrote:

How?

And anyway, where's the requirement[1] (other than from TfL) for bus
services to be operated with disabled-accessible vehicles? Outside
the profitable PTE areas, many bus operators thrive on second-hand
high-floor vehicles from London.

Isn't it a DDA requirement from 1st October that providers of goods and
services need to make reasonable modifications to their goods/service to
make them accessible?


The DDA final stages mean waiting for a bus is a slow process if you
are disabled....

October 2004
Businesses and organisations may have to remove, alter or find a way
around any physical feature that makes it hard for disabled people to
use services: e.g. tube stations with no lift access.

2015 - 2017
All public transport buses must be accessible to disabled people.

2020
All public transport coaches must be accessible to disabled people.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/ouch/news/dda/ddadates.shtml

Paul Dicken