On Sun, 30 Oct 2005 09:56 +0000 (GMT Standard Time),
(Colin Rosenstiel) wrote:

In the back of my mind is the idea that RTs were pre-selector boxes
and the RM(L)s were fully auto boxes. Can anyone confirm or deny?

That's my understanding.

The RMC, RCL and those RMLs built for the Country Bus department
(and thus passed on to London Country) were only semi-automatic. No
third pedal, but gears were selected manually - you had to change up
and down the box. It was the same with most buses of that (my!) era.
We had no fully automatic buses of any description (and more than a
few fully manual ones, but that's getting off the topic in hand).

--
Bill Hayles

http://billnot.com

wrote in message
oups.com...

Mark Etherington wrote:
Paul Corfield wrote:
For those fans of the Routemaster, Route 38 or those who wish to sample
the last really large scale RM operation in London then the last day is
this Friday 28 October 2005.

There will be a fair sprinkling of additional special vehicles running
too. Details via www.lots.org.uk and click on 38 / 159 button.

Then retire to The Old Red Lion for a celebration of the Number 38.

http://www.oldredliontheatre.co.uk/tlml/pubevents

--
Mark Etherington


Just a quick word of thanks to all those who made the last day of
Routemasters on the route 38 on Friday such a memorable occasion.

My abiding memory, apart from a lovely journey on RMF1254 (the first
time I had travelled on this fine bus - complete with Sung yellow
ceilings and red moquette seats!) - will the the utter astonishment and
disappointment expressed by every single "non enthusiast" to whom I
spoke, that they are losing their Routemasters. The hordes of "ordinary
people", for whose views Ken Livingstone, Peter Hendy-Bendy and their
cohorts do not give a fig. The "ordinary" people of London being so
badly served by their "elected" representatives. They should all hang
their heads in shame like the monstrous morons (Ken's phrase, not
mine!) they are.

I love the routemaster, and I know that most users of london busses would
prefer a new-fangled bus to stop at their stop, than a classic RM drive past
because it's full. You can fit many, many more people on a bendy bus than a
RM, and tall-ish people like me actually fit on a bendy-bus. Travelling for
miles on a crowded RM, hunched over because the standing-room is only about
6', or wedged in a seat that has less leg-room than I have leg-length is NOT
the best start to a day. At least now I know I'll not be having muscle
spasms when I get off a bendy bus. Couple that with the air-conditioning
and the decent performance, and it's a far nicer experience in all.

I do love the routemaster, with all its faults, though. I will miss it, but
I'm not too upset.

And the best of luck to all the staff (still so freindly and helpful to
the last) from Clapton Garage who will lose their jobs as a result of
this "progress".

Marc.

Air conditioning on bendy-buses? Have I missed something?!

The SEATING capacity on a bendy-bus is less than on a Routemaster and
it weighs almost twice as much. Not a particularly efficient use of
energy, methinks!

What about the muscle-spasm or knocked heads that are inevitably
experienced when bendies go over bumps or around corners?

Marc.

In article ,
(Bill Hayles) wrote:

On Sun, 30 Oct 2005 09:56 +0000 (GMT Standard Time),
(Colin Rosenstiel) wrote:

In the back of my mind is the idea that RTs were pre-selector
boxes and the RM(L)s were fully auto boxes. Can anyone confirm
or deny?

That's my understanding.

The RMC, RCL and those RMLs built for the Country Bus department
(and thus passed on to London Country) were only semi-automatic. No
third pedal, but gears were selected manually - you had to change up
and down the box. It was the same with most buses of that (my!) era.
We had no fully automatic buses of any description (and more than a
few fully manual ones, but that's getting off the topic in hand).

What happened to the ex-London Country buses that came back to LT? Did
they change the gearboxes?

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In article .com,
() wrote:

Air conditioning on bendy-buses? Have I missed something?!

The SEATING capacity on a bendy-bus is less than on a Routemaster and
it weighs almost twice as much. Not a particularly efficient use of
energy, methinks!

What about the muscle-spasm or knocked heads that are inevitably
experienced when bendies go over bumps or around corners?

More to the point, has the 38 as many bendy-buses on it as it had
Routemasters? The 73's frequency is a shadow of it's former RM self.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On Sun, 30 Oct 2005 14:10 +0000 (GMT Standard Time),
(Colin Rosenstiel) wrote:

In article .com,
() wrote:

Air conditioning on bendy-buses? Have I missed something?!

The SEATING capacity on a bendy-bus is less than on a Routemaster and
it weighs almost twice as much. Not a particularly efficient use of
energy, methinks!

What about the muscle-spasm or knocked heads that are inevitably
experienced when bendies go over bumps or around corners?

More to the point, has the 38 as many bendy-buses on it as it had
Routemasters? The 73's frequency is a shadow of it's former RM self.

There has been a slight reduction in peak frequency but it is slight -
from every 2-3 mins to every 3.33 mins. The 38 had 50 RMs in the peak
and the guesstimate for the bendies is 44. It is worth noting that TfL
ordered two extra bendies for the 38 and also that allocations have been
swapped about to add one or possibly two extra buses to the 73's
allocation since it went bendy. I'd still agree with you that the 73
needs more buses than it has now even with more people using the 476.

There was also a larger scale swap between Stagecoach's route 453 that
had a reduction in frequency to provide another 5-6 buses to their route
25.

To the best of my knowledge there have been no such swaps of London
Central / General vehicles between the 507, 521, 12 and 436.

Oh well only the 29 left for bendy conversion and that's it.

--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

On Sun, 30 Oct 2005 14:10 +0000 (GMT Standard Time),
(Colin Rosenstiel) wrote:

In article .com,
() wrote:

Air conditioning on bendy-buses? Have I missed something?!

The SEATING capacity on a bendy-bus is less than on a Routemaster and
it weighs almost twice as much. Not a particularly efficient use of
energy, methinks!

What about the muscle-spasm or knocked heads that are inevitably
experienced when bendies go over bumps or around corners?

More to the point, has the 38 as many bendy-buses on it as it had
Routemasters? The 73's frequency is a shadow of it's former RM self.



Waiting for my daily 341 to Waterloo outside Angel station, there seem
to be plenty of 73's. It's bad enough when two arrive together
followed by my bus, I'm not looking forward to tomorrow when the 38's
add to the congestion.


Dave

On Sun, 30 Oct 2005 08:48:23 +0000, Colin McKenzie
wrote:

Harry Spencer wrote:
To me, they all seemed a bit naked without any adverts. Which got me
wondering how much lost revenue there now is from running bendy buses.
Forget running costs of the service itself, surely the lost revenue from not
having any adverts on each side is quite some loss?

The extra costs of running bendis over Routemasters are considerable,
but many of them do not accrue to the operator. Most are due to the
fact that a bendibus weighs twice as much as a Routemaster, the rest
to the facts that it's wider and longer and has no conductor.
- extra vandalism of the bus
- extra traffic congestion
- extra fuel used
- extra damage to the road
- extra delay/danger to cyclists
- extra walking to and from bus stops

Any more?



Ticket machines at every stop. Would be interesting to know how much
money some of them take in a day!


Dave

Ian Jelf wrote:
(snip)
I would have liked to see the Heritage 9 or 15 extended down Whitehall
either to Parliament Square or even across Westminster Bridge to serve
the London Eye. These are the two "missing icons" from the repertoire
enjoyed by these routes.

Remember that running Routemasters on these routes is "OK" because they
are completely mirrored by accessible buses. To run the Heritage 15s to
Parliament Square, they'd need to be Heritage 11s instead (and thus
wouldn't serve the Tower of London).


--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

In article ,
(David) wrote:

On Sun, 30 Oct 2005 14:10 +0000 (GMT Standard Time),
(Colin Rosenstiel) wrote:

In article .com,
() wrote:

Air conditioning on bendy-buses? Have I missed something?!

The SEATING capacity on a bendy-bus is less than on a Routemaster
and it weighs almost twice as much. Not a particularly efficient
use of energy, methinks!

What about the muscle-spasm or knocked heads that are inevitably
experienced when bendies go over bumps or around corners?

More to the point, has the 38 as many bendy-buses on it as it had
Routemasters? The 73's frequency is a shadow of it's former RM self.

Waiting for my daily 341 to Waterloo outside Angel station, there seem
to be plenty of 73's. It's bad enough when two arrive together
followed by my bus, I'm not looking forward to tomorrow when the 38's
add to the congestion.

As far as I'm concerned I'm glad there aren't that many 73s on Euston
Road when I'm trying to get from King's Cross to Judd Street on my bike.
They are a total nightmare to pass when stopped.

--
Colin Rosenstiel