Paul Corfield wrote to uk.transport.london on Tue, 1 Feb 2005:

Well I did promise to give you an update on the 159 when more details
emerged.

Thank you; I appreciate it.

The new contract award was announced yesterday for the 159 - it
is staying with Arriva London South but will get new double deckers
which certainly means it loses its conductors as well.

Well, thank goodness it will be double-deck; I do take it quite
frequently (it's one of four buses I can catch between Brixton and
Streatham stations - only, although as a Routemaster it is marginally
faster, it so often has a crew change at Brixton garage that it's a
gamble as to whether it's worth catching or not!), and I really don't
care for bendybuses unless you get one of the three front seats - and
the rightmost one very often has no view because the driver has hung up
his jacket. On the other hand, you do get a better forward view in a
bendy than you do on many other single-deck buses.

The vehicle
requirement has only gone up marginally so either the route is being
shortened or it is being reduced in frequency because it is normal for
the number of vehicles to rise when conversion to OPO happens as the
buses take longer to travel over the route.

It can't be much shorter, unless it is cut back to between Oxford Circus
& Brixton garage.

No date has been announced but I am told that the 159 will vie with the
38 to be the last RM route in London with both of them being converted
in October this year. All the other routes go before then with the 19
being next on 2 April 2005.

The 38 is being converted to bendy buses so will stay with RMs to the
last day. I would not be remotely surprised to see the 159 go the same
way as the 137 which had lost almost all of its RMs by the official
conversion date. No information has leaked out about the 13, 14 and 22
conversion except they are some time in the Summer.

The 137 only started losing its RMs about a month before the conversion,
though - for awhile it had any old thing! The 159 is frequently served
by a doored bus, which is a pain for the conductor as everybody
automatically tries to use their Oyster on the reader and the conductor
has to say "Go and sit down, I'll come to you in a minute" to every
single passenger boarding at every single stop!
--
"Mrs Redboots"
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/
Website updated 23 January 2005 with new photos