Saw the most RMs at Trafalgar Square for months this morning. Two of the
heritage buses on the 15 (surprising for a half-hourly frequency). Plus
a couple of 159s there and RM85 at Parliament Square in well-presented
Arriva livery.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In message ,
Colin Rosenstiel writes
Saw the most RMs at Trafalgar Square for months this morning. Two of the
heritage buses on the 15 (surprising for a half-hourly frequency).
The routes are due to be 15 minute frequency. Has that altered?

(The timetable for the Heritage 9 on the First site certainly gives
every 15 minutes.)

--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

"Colin Rosenstiel" wrote in message
...
Saw the most RMs at Trafalgar Square for months this morning. Two of the
heritage buses on the 15 (surprising for a half-hourly frequency). Plus
a couple of 159s there and RM85 at Parliament Square in well-presented
Arriva livery.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Shouldn't be that much of surprise, its every 15 mins

Paul

In article , Paul @whydoyoucare.co.uk
(Paul) wrote:

"Colin Rosenstiel" wrote in message
...
Saw the most RMs at Trafalgar Square for months this morning. Two
of the heritage buses on the 15 (surprising for a half-hourly
frequency). Plus a couple of 159s there and RM85 at Parliament
Square in well-presented Arriva livery.

Shouldn't be that much of surprise, its every 15 mins

OK, thanks. Faulty memory syndrome.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On Mon, 14 Nov 2005 12:17 +0000 (GMT Standard Time),
(Colin Rosenstiel) wrote:

Saw the most RMs at Trafalgar Square for months this morning. Two of the
heritage buses on the 15 (surprising for a half-hourly frequency). Plus
a couple of 159s there and RM85 at Parliament Square in well-presented
Arriva livery.

The heritage routes run every 15 minutes on each service.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

"Colin Rosenstiel" wrote in message
...
Saw the most RMs at Trafalgar Square for months this morning. Two of the
heritage buses on the 15 (surprising for a half-hourly frequency). Plus
a couple of 159s there and RM85 at Parliament Square in well-presented
Arriva livery.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

any pictures of these buses anywhere?

"Paul Corfield" wrote:

The heritage routes run every 15 minutes on each service.

The last e/b route 15 working (18:33), is quite well timed to get me from my
Pall Mall office back to Eastcheap, and hence a short walk to Fenchurch
Street. I thought I had missed it today, but evidently traffic was bad and
it turned up ten minutes late.

The Stagecoach RMs are immaculately presented, and the staff friendly. One
nice touch is that the blinds between the drivers cab and lower saloon are
being left up, to give a better view. The driver didn't hang around (we
overtook a route 15 Trident), but even so, I left the bus without the
slightly nauseous sensation I often get on modern buses, which must be
something to do with the suspension set up or vibration. So *far* more
pleasant than taking the District Line from Embankment to Tower Hill, and on
a good day, just as quick.

A small detail, but it would be great to see the original Routemaster
mocquette applied to the cushions on these vehicles.

Unfortunately, I think these routes will struggle to generate significant
patronage. This is because:

i) Running every 15 minutes, you'd have to be *very* keen on Routemasters to
let two or three Tridents sail by, in the hope the next Routemaster is on
the way. Even as an RM enthusiast, there's a limit to the amount of time I'd
spend standing at Charing Cross, on a cold night after a long day at work,
waiting for an RM.

ii) The bus stops I looked at today didn't differentiate between 'Heritage'
and 'normal' 9 and 15 timetables. Therefore as a tourist, how would I even
know that the next bus might be 'something special'?

iii) Yes, the routes go past lots of 'the sights', but I would dispute
whether most of these are significant destinations for either tourists or
Londoners - whereas (say) Oxford Street, Victoria and Liverpool Street
station certainly are.

I think there will come a time when TfL will have to decide whether they are
primarily looking to serve:

a) 'Ordinary Londoners'
or
b) Tourists
or
c) Bus enthusiasts

If (a) they should vary the routes to serve significant traffic objectives.
Or possibly even combine resources and just run one route, Tower Hill -
Royal Albert Hall, to garner some cross-London traffic.

If (b) they could look to work with the sightseeing tour businesses, perhaps
by donating/hiring out RMs and offering free publicity, in exchange for
Travelcard discounts.

If (c) they could scrap the heritage routes, and spend the money on adding a
few RMs to the LT Museum collection, then organising some running days on a
variety of routes every summer, which would bring the RM to more Londoners
and garner more additional revenue.

Good luck to all the staff involved, and well done to Stagecoach and First -
I hope you all prove me wrong.

Chris

"Robert McCall" wrote in message
...

"Colin Rosenstiel" wrote in message
...
Saw the most RMs at Trafalgar Square for months this morning. Two of the
heritage buses on the 15 (surprising for a half-hourly frequency). Plus
a couple of 159s there and RM85 at Parliament Square in well-presented
Arriva livery.

Try the London Bus Page, specifically he
http://www.londonbuspage.com/051114.htm

Nice to see Stagecoach made a lovely effort with their allocation!

Regards
John M Upton

My Fotopic Collections:
South Central/Southern, Model Railway & Other Rail Pictures:
http://gallery39764.fotopic.net/

Bus Pics:
http://gallery42239.fotopic.net/

Barry Salter wrote:

The only indication of the "Heritage" operation is a "flash" at the
bottom of the timetable, along the lines of "Heritage Routemasters
operate on route 9 between Aldwych and Royal Albert Hall. Buses run
every 15 minutes from 0930 until 1830. These buses are not wheelchair
accessible."

Hardly promoting the new service, is it?

*new* service?

--
http://gallery120232.fotopic.net/p9683719.html
(Bubble car 55003 framed by foliage at Stratford-upon-Avon in 1982)

"Chris Read" wrote in message
...

"Paul Corfield" wrote:

The heritage routes run every 15 minutes on each service.

The last e/b route 15 working (18:33), is quite well timed to get me from
my
Pall Mall office back to Eastcheap, and hence a short walk to Fenchurch
Street. I thought I had missed it today, but evidently traffic was bad and
it turned up ten minutes late.

The Stagecoach RMs are immaculately presented, and the staff friendly. One
nice touch is that the blinds between the drivers cab and lower saloon are
being left up, to give a better view. The driver didn't hang around (we
overtook a route 15 Trident), but even so, I left the bus without the
slightly nauseous sensation I often get on modern buses, which must be
something to do with the suspension set up or vibration. So *far* more
pleasant than taking the District Line from Embankment to Tower Hill, and
on
a good day, just as quick.

A small detail, but it would be great to see the original Routemaster
mocquette applied to the cushions on these vehicles.

Unfortunately, I think these routes will struggle to generate significant
patronage. This is because:

i) Running every 15 minutes, you'd have to be *very* keen on Routemasters
to
let two or three Tridents sail by, in the hope the next Routemaster is on
the way. Even as an RM enthusiast, there's a limit to the amount of time
I'd
spend standing at Charing Cross, on a cold night after a long day at work,
waiting for an RM.

ii) The bus stops I looked at today didn't differentiate between
'Heritage'
and 'normal' 9 and 15 timetables. Therefore as a tourist, how would I even
know that the next bus might be 'something special'?

iii) Yes, the routes go past lots of 'the sights', but I would dispute
whether most of these are significant destinations for either tourists or
Londoners - whereas (say) Oxford Street, Victoria and Liverpool Street
station certainly are.

I think there will come a time when TfL will have to decide whether they
are
primarily looking to serve:

a) 'Ordinary Londoners'
or
b) Tourists
or
c) Bus enthusiasts

If (a) they should vary the routes to serve significant traffic
objectives.
Or possibly even combine resources and just run one route, Tower Hill -
Royal Albert Hall, to garner some cross-London traffic.

If (b) they could look to work with the sightseeing tour businesses,
perhaps
by donating/hiring out RMs and offering free publicity, in exchange for
Travelcard discounts.

If (c) they could scrap the heritage routes, and spend the money on adding
a
few RMs to the LT Museum collection, then organising some running days on
a
variety of routes every summer, which would bring the RM to more Londoners
and garner more additional revenue.

Good luck to all the staff involved, and well done to Stagecoach and
First -
I hope you all prove me wrong.

Chris



Like most people here I hate the idea of having the RM`s as "Disney" routes,
however I am looking forward to travelling on a RM from Charring Cross,
through the City to the Tower again. I have missed travelling on the 15. The
coffins that they have running on this route now are so uncomfortable and
crammed. Also it was a stupid idea to get rid of the 25 running via Tower on
weekends which has only added to the problems of overcrowding.

I am finishing work early on Friday, so will try to pop up west and ride on
both of these routes :-)