"Tony Wilson" a@a wrote in message
...
Of all the horrors of the early years of tendering in London, something
which really bugged me (out of all proportion if I'm honest!) was the
taking
away of our red buses. This was particularly true where I lived at the
time
as even the route London Buses retained were transformed into the
horrendous
Bexlybus operation. It really felt like they were taking some of our
London
heritage away, which is all the more sensitive when the Royal Mail tells
everybody you live in Kent.

So, I was delighted when Ken reversed the livery requirement and was
wondering...

1) What percentage of routes are now red liveried?
2) How long until they are all red? If an existing non-red operator, such
as
Metrobus on the 161, has modern low-floor buses and retains the route with
existing vehicles, do they have to repaint or is it only on new bus
orders?

Thanks


----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony Wilson" a@a
Newsgroups: uk.transport.london
Sent: Tuesday, January 11, 2005 7:50 AM
Subject: Red buses


Of all the horrors of the early years of tendering in London, something
which really bugged me (out of all proportion if I'm honest!) was the
taking
away of our red buses. This was particularly true where I lived at the
time
as even the route London Buses retained were transformed into the
horrendous
Bexlybus operation. It really felt like they were taking some of our
London
heritage away, which is all the more sensitive when the Royal Mail tells
everybody you live in Kent.

So, I was delighted when Ken reversed the livery requirement and was
wondering...

1) What percentage of routes are now red liveried?
2) How long until they are all red? If an existing non-red operator, such
as
Metrobus on the 161, has modern low-floor buses and retains the route with
existing vehicles, do they have to repaint or is it only on new bus
orders?

Thanks


Broadly speaking I agree with your observations about red livery in London,
although there are a few cases where the blanket policy ought to be
questioned, Metrobus for instance, whose livery was part of the build up a
very strong and respected local image.

I don't believe however that LBSL have got it right in the way it is being
implemented - all over red needs some sort of relief even if it is just a
central band.

There were also some very attractive liveries lost, personally I think
London United had a very nice livery and would have liked to see this
adopted as the London standard! But that's down to personal taste.

I can't answer your question about percentages, but it should take no longer
than 7 years from the original policy decision to get to 100% red, based on
contract renewals and possible extensions under the Quality Incentive
regime. In reality probably most will have been done within 5 years. The
repainting of existing buses would always be negotiated as a contract
requirement for a renewal, and in any case no bus should go without a
repaint for more than 5 years which helps facilitate this.

Finally, you mention Bexleybus as an example - I agree with you about the
gruesome colour scheme however by far the worst thing that happened as a
result of Bexley and other similar "low cost" operations in the 80's was
what the staff were put through in terms of worsening of pay and conditions.

Rob L.