It certainly looks very striking, but why does it have a handrail
on the near side upper deck?

Protection from overhanging branches of roadside trees.
--
Richard J.

Funny, that's what I had surmised, but never knew for certian till now. Thanks.

Marc.

Ian Jelf wrote to uk.transport.london on Tue, 7 Sep 2004:

Am I alone in finding that RMs have much *better* legroom than newer
buses?

No, you aren't; especially in the upstairs front seats (where I like to
sit, if possible, as I am less likely to feel carsick in them - don't
even think about asking me to sit in the bendy portion of a bendibus) -
on some modern models you can barely get your feet in to sit down, never
mind stretch out a little!
--
"Mrs Redboots"
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/

Ian Jelf wrote:

I'm still eagerly waiting to discover more about the proposed "heritage"
operations which have been mentioned in only the vaguest terms.

There's a piece in today's Times which says that Stagecoach have a fleet
of 28 RMs which they want to use on a "heritage route". Details of the
route aren't given, but apparently travelcards and freedom passes will
be valid. Go-Ahead are also said to be interested in operating such a
route.

--
John Ray, London UK.

Ian Jelf wrote:

I'm still eagerly waiting to discover more about the proposed "heritage"
operations which have been mentioned in only the vaguest terms.

There's a piece in today's Times which says that Stagecoach have a fleet
of 28 RMs which they want to use on a "heritage route". Details of the
route aren't given, but apparently travelcards and freedom passes will
be valid. Go-Ahead are also said to be interested in operating such a
route.

--
John Ray, London UK.


And the "Public Agenda" section of the same newspaper had an interview with
Peter Hendy-Bendy-Bus, who said that he had to pull out of a North London
Routemaster bus rally (presumably the Finsbury Park one) because he didn't
think he'd get out alive. Indeed. And to top it all, the hypocrite apparently
hired a Routemaster for his wedding - presumably he and his guests would all
have been seasick if they'd travelled on a Hendy-Bendy-Bus!

Marc.

Helen Deborah Vecht wrote to uk.transport.london on Sat, 4 Sep 2004:

I am too large for quite a few bus seats. At a whopping 5'5½"(166cm)
tall, I find my long??!! legs mean my knees are crammed against the seat
in front, even on some modern buses. My hips are too wide for some of
the seats too but I'm not overweight.

It's not necessarily how tall you are that dictates whether you can fit your
legs into bus seats (or plane seats, or theatre seats, etc, etc) but how
long your femur (thigh bone) is. Helen has trouble fitting in her 166cm
height yet she may find herself crammed in next to somebody exactly the same
height as she is who has no problem at all because he or she has shorter
femurs, thus requiring less horizontal distance from hip to knee when
seated. It's all down to genetics!

That being said, I don't know anyone over 8 years old who can sit
comfortably in those cursed little PDs that Stagecoach East London brought
in from Oxford. Travelling anywhere twice in those things was enough to
send anyone into the arms of the nearest car dealer.

"Annabel Smyth" wrote in message

I am overweight, but not as badly as some people, and I find modern train
seats so tiny that a journey of more than ten minutes or so is a penance!

I'm not grossly overweight, either and usually find the width ok in Summer
but Winter's coming on and then it will be miserable trying to fit people in
big overcoats and parkas side by side in narrow seats without the person on
the aisle side having one buttock suspended in space!

While we're on the subject of stupid seat design, does anybody know why so
many train seats are so low down and close to the floor? They're not
comfortable & for anyone with a back problem or arthritic hips, the seats on
(eg) the class 315 stock that runs out of Liverpool St are difficult and
painful to get out of.

K-Type.

"Mait001" wrote in message
...
-- "Mait001" wrote...

Today, for those of you that don't know it, sees the largest withdrawal
of
Routemaster buses from London since the current withdrawals began last
year:
from tomorrow, Routemasters will be no more on routes 9, 73 and 390.

That's a "sad day"? Why???: It sounds more like a cause for celebration.
Those crappy old buses will finally be gone, and we'll have ones that are
actually tall enough for people to stand up in!


If you cannot see that, for many, it is a sad day, then you are beyond
redemption.

As for standing, yes, I hope you will enjoy standing between, for example,
Tottenhama and Victoria, because the number of seats per passenger has
been
drastically reduced with bendy buses. Personally, if I pay a fare for a
journey, I expect to be able to sit.



This is an incredibly sad "improvement"

Why? We're going to get proper large buses fit for the tall 21st century
travellers, not those cramped dinosaurs the should've been scrapped years
ago. How is that not a great improvement?

Because the number of seats is being reduced.

Yes, your "large" buses might be fit for modern cities with grid-patterm
streets and wide multi-lane highways, but this is so patently untrue of
London
that I am amazed it needs explaining to you.

, and I would like to record both my
dismay at the wanton vandalism that is being visited on London's bus
routes by
T.F.L (or whatever quango-based morons now control these matters)

Ahhh... You must be part of the evil conspiracy of skinny midgets that
thinks that everything *has* to be designed *only* for people under 6ft
3in.
(E.g. It's because of your lot that I can no longer go to the cinema
anymore, because I know I'm not going to fit in the seats.)

It's nobody fault if you happen to be too large for ordinary bus seats.

Well, if TfL
are one of the few organisations finally willing to stand up against your
conspiracy, then they're not vandals or morons but *public* *heroes*.
(If
only cinemas and airlines would follow their example!)

If you say so.

my sincerest thanks to the Routemaster buses and their crews who
have so faithfully served London for the last few decades.

And my sincerest contempt for the evil midgets who designed them in first
place.

If 99.9% of people manage to fit in ordinary bus seats, you can hardly
accuse
them of being designed by midgets, unless that 99.9% also happen to be
midgets
without realising it.

Only a handful of Routemaster-operated routes remain

Why???? Why haven't TfL replaced them *all* with comfortable modern
buses,
instead of continuing to inflict them on us?

Be sensible. Do you think that bus operators are magicians? Do you realise
just
how expensive these new buses are, how long crew-training takes and just
how
few new buses are actually manufatcured each year?

Farewell friendly Routemasters

Friendly??? How is giving a painful crick in the neck everyone over 6ft
3in
friendly?

The vast majority of people are not over 6' 3" tall.

That isn't friendly, it's evil! Buy a dictionary and learn the
difference between the two words.

This is just a prejudiced rant. I happen to be very short and find stairs
very
difficult to manage. That's just my bad luck. Why should the entire bus
fleet
be designed on the assumption that either all of its passengers are very
short
or very tall?

Marc.

Hey maybe wheelchair users will be ALLOWED to use public transport in
Londump now.

Nimbo

"Axlegrease" typed


It's not necessarily how tall you are that dictates whether you can fit your
legs into bus seats (or plane seats, or theatre seats, etc, etc) but how
long your femur (thigh bone) is. Helen has trouble fitting in her 166cm
height yet she may find herself crammed in next to somebody exactly the same
height as she is who has no problem at all because he or she has shorter
femurs, thus requiring less horizontal distance from hip to knee when
seated. It's all down to genetics!

And sex differences. Women tend to have longer thighs and shorter shins
for a given leg length. The point is, I'm NOT exceptionally leggy, even
if my femur may be an inch longer than Ms Average (and possibly the same
length as Mr Average). If I can't fit in comfortably, half the adult
population won't either. That is poor design.

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

Hey maybe wheelchair users will be ALLOWED to use public transport in
Londump now.

Nimbo

I'm not holding my breath that wheelchair-jams will occur on buses even when
access is guaranteed!

Just how many people in wheelchairs do you think would actually use the
services that are so expensiely and detrimentally (for Routemaster lovers)
being provided for them?

I doubt that, London-wide, it will get much beyond 3 figures.

Marc.

"Mark Brader" wrote in message
...
Neil Williams:
If it wasn't for the sue-everyone culture, there could quite
easily be an open-platform version of such a bus developed.

Adrian Chapman:
And yet California - the home of that sue-everything culture -
manages to retain the San Francisco cablecar, with passengers
hanging off the outside like lemmings...

The trick is, first you get them declared a National Historic Landmark.

(Having said that, I don't know if this has actually been a factor in
any court cases; but it seems likely enough.)
--
Mark Brader, Toronto "I seem to have become a signature quote."
-- David Keldsen

That hasnt stopped a few court cases happening when accidents on the SF
Cable Car systems have taken place.

In article ,
(Mait001) wrote:

You missed route 13 from Golders Green to Aldwych which is rumoured to
be losing its recently modernised Routemasters very soon to former
route 9 RMLs. Note this is a rumour that has just emerged and it may
have no foundation at all.

Yes, I think I also missed the 38.

Farewell friendly Routemasters - may you ever reign supreme in our
affections.

Yep - I cannot imagine what the events will be like when the very last
one leaves service if the experience of the last days of route 8 and
now 9/73 and 390 are anything to go by.

I made a point of taking my younger (12 years old) daughter for a
Routemaster ride this summer before it was too late. Luckily this was last
week. We were twice able to benefit from the big RM benefit in my book,
getting on and off at traffic lights and not being restricted to stops.
This helped us get a 73 in Euston Road near King's Cross and a 14 at the
bottom of Putney Hill.

I found the seats comfortable (I'm 6' 2 1/2") and my daughter loves the
longitudinal seats downstairs. At her age I was frantically riding the
remaining London Trolleybuses and hopping along to Hammersmith Broadway
after school to see the remaining routes. At that time I didn't much like
RMs because they were replacing the much better trolleybuses.

But there seemed to be no information about the changes. The trolleybus
replacements were notified on buses and at stops.

It seemed very strange on Monday morning that there were no Routemasters
at King's Cross any more. The 9 seemed to be half non-RM last week and
neither the 12 nor 159 seem to be 100% RM any more.

Have they cut the 73 back to Tottenham Court Rd Station or was that a
short working I saw today? They were struggling with the turn into New
Oxford Street tonight.

--
Colin Rosenstiel