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| Fake A2 Electrically Three |
As usual reading on The Bus Forum and reading posts (rarely ever reply), I stumble on a link and I just read it. Happens to talk about London and buses, how it took a turn for the worse to put it bluntly.
I happen to stumble upon a particular sentence that sparked my idea for this.
"A developer can access bus arrivals but not what facilities are available, how crowded the bus is or how the network is used."
Immediately reminded me of the trial on 59 using HV132-152's CCTV screens...
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Minibuses
The start of routes like H2 and PB1 in Potters Bar is attributed to trials, with Dial-a-Ride becoming one of the sources of aspiration one way or another. In mainland London though, today's C11, P4, W9 as well as B1 (now 314).
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| Eddie Lesley Mercedes 811D/Alexander Sprint MA22 (F622XMS), Chelsea? |
If not for these happening early on, what state would London even be in? Then again, the disasters of routes like 28 and 31 converting into minibuses could've been an avoidable tale. Such a thing leading to landscale single deck conversions of double deck routes but with higher frequencies ended in short term disaster but long term success with reconversions to double deck for the obvious stupidity, take 183 and the Battersea Bridge Road corridor. Though some unfortunate victims stayed down, 152, 164 and 355 with some having returned more recently, 200 and 313.
The network in London back in the 60s and 70s may have been swarming with red double deckers but it was a tale of sparsely connected places with loose ties in plain sight. Admittedly not every road can take a decker, but a bus is better than no bus and it serves it's purpose. Even the mobility routes that were withdrawn in favour of the Dial-a-Ride that served as the forefather to those routes.
A fun fact: B1, P4 and W9 all introduced the existence of Hail and Ride.
These minibus startup routes had flat-fares much like other prefix routes (e.g W3, W7) which at the time denoted such a change. Red Arrow routes were also flat-fare. Essentially you didn't have to pay more the further the distance you were planning to go, since buses also had zones just like the tube still does. A benefit for uniformity and being cheaper across the board than forking out a fortune but the cost is going one or two stops costing the same as going to the other end of whatever route it is you're on.
Dot-Matrix Displays
Blinds have been the new thing since painting it no different to ads on the side of the bus which probably had an open deck and may have been pulled by a horse or two. All you need to do is rotate a handle in circles to get to your desired display, may be rather strong to pull dependant on stiffness etcetera but you probably won't get an arm workout that you could've at a gym for a fee or something.
Now it's not as though TfL, much less their predecessors actively trialled them, but they did have them. At Camberwell (Q) which was and still is a centre for night bus route operations, except nowadays it serves as the rescue for any division that isn't Metrobus, so left right and centre MHVs on any London General/Central route as well as EL1/N15. These buses with dot-matrixes were Leyland Titans T1000, T1002 and T1005 though T929 had flip dot matrixes as an experiment in 1988 anyway, don't know how that went. Kind of like how Stagecoach can willy nilly send out 11034-11038 casually with the entireity of Stagecoach London easily plopped onto a USB into the control of the destinations. Truly convenience instead of blinds or A4 paper for a mass of routes inside one garage alone.
First used their articulated bendies for their Scotland empire which had dot-matrixes for 207, more on that later.
It would be rude to not mention countdown and iBus being dot-matrixes too, even if the display they are, are inside a bus or outside a bus for a bus altogether.
Rear door
I'm not talking about your casual 'rear door' at the centre usually near the staircase or roughly in the middle of the wheelbase or nearer the rear axle. I'm talking rear as in right at the back of the bus levels of rear. You see this in continental Europe in 3-door layouts which was the inspiration for Transbus' failure, the Enviro200 (the Enviro we hated being the Enviro200Dart as a result).
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| Aaron.K's Transport Photography V3 (A103SUU), Isle of Wight |
In the older case of Volvo's successful Ailsas, London had three and only one was bizarre, that was V3. With two staircases, one at the front and back, both curved, it led right to the door. Exactly like the New Routemaster except it's front staircase is not curved and it had a third door in the middle. Perhaps it was much helped by it having an extra staircase leading right to the door whereas in the Enviro200's case, you'd have to go out of your way, not helped at all by Transbus' collapse. Allegedly TfL refused to allow it further in London service as wheelchair passengers have to use the front door as there wasn't a centre one... but what about single door buses Sire TfL? I'd probably side with that argument if it were dwell times, at best, I stress.
Since the original Enviro200s were unique I'll mention their other oddities; superwheels at the rear axle (narrower than using two standard tires at the back, therefore maximising internal space, whereas other buses are 2x4s, this a 2x2), and fully low floor. Something that made the Enviro350H a selling point down the line. An addon since I forgot to mention, side mounted engines weren't particularly popular, as seen with the B7L President which went back to the drawing board.
In addition as well as to reiterate, you can't have a door behind the rear axle of the bus unless you have one relatively in the middle for good measure, unless it's a tram in the 1900s. The MAN Lion City DD, poster boy of Germany is a perfect mix of V3 and your bog standard LT with the addition of being tri-axle for far more capacity with sheer length. Also, no I think you'd be hard pressed to find a two-door bus in Europe where the rear door is behind the rear axle and not in front of the rear axle. They probably have the foresight not to risk take on unconventional means, take a hint from Volvo where only V3 was a test rat though that would be in cahoots with London Buses at the time, V1 and V2 had the usual centre door treatment.
Honourable mentions:
- ST812 being 10.6m compared to every other LT.
- Route 55 having crewed operation on ALX400s. This was due to lack of Routemasters to put on the busy route and also as an experiment against conventional one-person-operation and standard RMs/RMLs. The time savings was 4 minutes for a round trip amidst Old Street works so the experiment ended when 55 received it's third batch of new Tridents in 2003.
- Route 67 having experimental front-door entrance Atlanteans in 1966, followed by DMSs in 1971 as One-Person-Operation. Whilst old 234 was the first OPO route using the only front-entrance Routemaster FRM1 and an Atlantean in 1969. The same year that 67 got DMSs.
Which leads to this segue on to:
Low-floor
It goes without saying the Dennis Dart SuperLowFloor pioneered Britain itself into low-floor with the regular Dart already being a resounding success. The missing bus, the missing puzzle piece. We had double deckers left right and centre, we had full size single deckers, but the next smaller step were minibuses; vans with seats in reality. Those vans weren't built for constant human loading/offloading and I say this without sounding like a human trafficker.
So the smart folks at Dennis built the Dart with the first body being the Reeves Burgess Pointer, with it's design rights quickly bought by Plaxton, henceforth the Plaxton Pointer name, that's why many London Darts were coded DR/DRL/LDR and not DP until post-privatisation new Darts.
Whilst Dennis were having a roaring success with the breakthrough of a bus with a capable chassis yet small enough to literally dart around any possible street and alleyway, London Buses set out for wheelchair accessibility and trialled a few full size low floor single deckers in 1994.
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| citytransportinfo SLW25 (ODZ6125), North Woolwich |
Scania's N113CRL and Dennis Lance SLF on Wright's Pathfinder body.
You'd know this from routes 101, 144 and 120, 186, 222 respectively.
The 144 also had DAF SB220's on Plaxton's Prestige body coded DLP1-3 though they quickly left London and are still Arriva London's only full size single deck appearances.
To some unfortunate wish despite Scania's brilliance, those very Scanias deemed unreliable whilst Dennis' examples didn't fare badly seemingly. Though the point made through, low-floor is a successful concept.
The Dennis Dart SLF unveiled in 1995 replacing the Dart and the Lance. One of our first low-floor Darts being A10's L1-7 for Buslines.
The first low-floor vehicles in London, as much as I love to toot Germany beating us with MAN's 'handicapped-friendly' SD202 (1988) and genuine low-floor ND202 (1995) with America also beating us in 1991; came H20's CVE (City Vehicle Engineering) Omni vehicles (6.6m long) in the 80s in 1989, which are essentially ballooned and awkward Dial-a-Ride vehicles, birthed right out of London Borough of Hounslow's pockets to run their own new route at the time under Transport for London's grace today operated at the mercy of Abellio. The H20 did briefly go to step-floor in 1999 thanks to unreliability and scarcity of the CVEs, so spare MetroRiders became the saving grace before one of Abellio's predecessors won it with Dart SLFs. The next low-floor route was the 120 with those Wright Pathfinders with the first double deck route becoming 242 as you'd understand below.
For double deckers though; lest we not forget DLA1, a DAF DB250LF/Alexander ALX400 being the first ALX400 built, though still long beaten by an Optare Spectra with the same chassis up north with it's own fun stories of a game of 'I'm first', Abus in Bristol by chance knowing National Express' schedule and stealing the Midlands' glory by a morning on 4 February 1998. In any case, DLA1 was, as intended, London's first low-floor double decker before the turn of the century with roughly a dozen of the first DLAs headed for the 242.
In a fun turn of events, both Dennis and Volvo had a bit of trouble incorporating low-floor into their successful designs of the Arrow and Olympian respectively. DAF beat it to them in a simple manner. Creating a new bus from scratch.
Volvo also had another hiccup in attempting to score points with the B7L's eccentric European layout with an engine bay to one side on the left leaving only three seats at the very back. To-be-customers weren't exactly keen so Volvo went back to the drawing board on what we loved and appreciated as the B7TL.
Just too bad no one caught on it a decade later with the B5LH with hybrid being a more accepting excuse. Touché.
Internal CCTVs
One wouldn't think 122 was the basis of trialling the miscreant-seeking devices but alas London Buses, Stagecoach and the police got together into some form of triple trouble trap buster of crime and everything has been smooth ever since, with CCTV being the norm on new buses rather than just the front (a fake sometimes), but everywhere inside too.
Moreover, vehicle identification on the roof (three letter operator code + bus fleetnumber) has also come a little later on the white rooftops whose shade aims to reduce temperature into the bus.
Articulated single deckers, 'bendies'
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| Sludge G MA101, MA78, MA107 at Clapton Pond |
We had our short lived 38, the two-allocation 453 with ELBG losing the route thus our only facelift Citaro Gs being possible later found in Brighton and the rest which are just plebs 12 25 207 436 whilst Arriva (29 73 149) owned theirs and sent some of theirs to Malta which went really well in them getting kicked out. Routes 94 and 134 were considered, with a North Acton base being readied for the former. It's just a shame the likes of 108, 227, H37 or 358 haven't been converted with their low bridge(/tunnel, 108) restrictions. Then Boris came, the self-proclaimed bus enthusiast who loves modelling buses in his spare time, enough to rid of our people-movers which sure, had flaws... in favour of a vanity project called the 'New Bus for London' which still had the same fare evading problem due to being open boarding but vastly more widespread with more than 600 LTs. Even worse that the initial function of the LTs with discount conductors that serve more as passenger assistants got rid of after a while, then eventually just before the pandemic hit the open boarding feature went with it, thus making LTs functionally no different to your standard double decker but with two exit doors and two staircases instead of one exit door and one staircase.
A senior up in TfL mentioned the key problem with buses a long time ago, it was dwell times. Dwell times being the time a bus takes at a stop loading/offloading before going on it's merry way to the next bus stop and dwell time beginning again, so on so forth.
To paraphrase, you have two doors but one staircase. There's also people that don't like going upstairs.
Me personally I've only been on the upper deck at most 5 times before travelling alone for fun mid-teens so I can comfortably admit that. Going back to the paraphrasing though:
The solution was simple. Having one deck but three doors, and being able to board through any of the doors.
Voila, 150 capacity in an 18m bus as opposed to 87 people in a 10.6m bus. Quite the bargai- oh no it's Bojo.
Conversely now our biggest problem is road speeds but that's a topic for another day.
The actual first route to see them was 180 in 1992 with a Leyland-DAB for Sheffield Mainline. Neither this bendy nor the tri-axle (read next segment) could navigate the Hither Green portion of 180 which has been lost in 1994 with no compensation only to extend 225 12 years later. So the trial types ran as extras to Lewisham. Similar to how First Aberdeen's Volvo B7LAs and B10LAs (with dot-matrix displays) unable to navigate Uxbridge town centre which lead to 207's current terminus of Hayes-by-Pass which it had as shorts anyway. It's just that the Uxbridge to Acton shorts were numbered 427.
After the trials of 1992 and 2000, two demonstrators came. One from Scania, OmniCity 18m OM1 YN54ALO. One from Mercedes-Benz, Citaro G MD1 BX54EBC (with LEDs). The Citaro G eventually became EA1100 in 207's allocation having regained blinds when trialled on 73 after losing to LEDs after it's run-arounds in the country and gracing our 12 with LEDs.
Again in 2004 another bus came into London's views. Volvo B7LA/Hispano Carrocera (FJ53LZX) that saw Red Arrow 507 as well as the 436.
The Scania OmniCity saw practically every other route, odd to think 149 saw a Scania...
Decisively, it was the Citaro G that would claim the heart of London's snake xenzia. Until 2008's election that is... with 207 as the final bendy route in 2011 just before it's contract renewal with Scania as the only free manufacturer that could deliver double deckers, the final Scania OmniCitys London ever saw.
Tri-axle
Again in 1992 but 4 months later in August the 180 was the testbed of First's predecessor who used their leeway of connections to their Hong Kong side to just play with the big toy Leyland Olympian in London as a test. Though, 123 was also a lab rat, it didn't get displacement treatment that 180 got after failure of giving it to Selkent for use on the 53 after Waterloo Station height clearance issues. Oddly. Though it got artics as hoped, in the form of 453.
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| TA1 (LX18DGF), Camberwell Green |
It took until 2018, 7 years afer the withdrawal of the controversial bendies in no small part to our best friend in government Boris Johnson whom should shush,
Tri-axle (Hong Kong, particularly KMB's Enviro500s tested on route 5 and supposed to be tendered with it).
Oyster
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| Diamond Geezer Oysters |
The saviour of travel that speeds up dwell times from 2003 onwards by simply tapping the card on the Wayfarer ticket machine on the side and simply walk off into the inside, whereas the plebeian Victorian times of using cash to get a ticket.
But how did it start?
It's the 1980s. Electronic ticketing machines are being developed. Better late than never the first test victim was chosen all the way in Walthamstow. The 212. It showed valuable promise.
On to an even greater test subject.
Harrow.
Practically the entirety of Harrow was tested with these so called 'passports' and was a roaring success with the trial ending at the end of 1995. We could've been the first if we continued with the momentum but the Koreans beat it to us having seen our success. I don't blame them.
Contactless payment eventually came with the intent to kill Oyster circa 2012 where it's outdated logic showed in that it can't combine a tube+bus fare, a good idea Tramlink has bus fares for the lovely cheapskates (me included).
Again in 2012 came an evaluation, a trial so to speak, of doing away with destination codes when signing on with the power of new software. Just too bad the Wayfarer wasn't replaced as was believed possible at the time.
Then in 2014 cash payments, which frankly were on their way out with the previous two inventions, made it pretty useless to anyone who forgot to top-up their Oyster or didn't bring their bank card with them. Adieu cash, contactless cashless conquers.
Hopper in 2016 moved London's transport back into first world... except it's still only one bus to another bus within an hour (69 minutes of total time, noice). Eventually maturing to any bus within the hour time limit which includes Tramlink as well somewhat.
Honourable mention of integrated ticketing between Tramlink and feeder routes T31/32/33 then routes 64/130/314/433/464 (ID'd as T64/T130/etc) upon restructuring of routes in 2015, which was rid of when Hopper Fare was introduced.
Fun facts: Buses in Singapore and Trams in Netherlands require you to touch out as you exit, not just as you board.
Diesel-Electric Hybrid
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| WHY3 LX55EAE, Vauxhall Bus Station |
This would require a post of it's own but terribly summed up:
The 184 received an Electrocity (YG52CCX) then in circa 2005 more hybrids popped up, the production Electrocities for 129(R70) and 360. Optare made the Tempo Hybrid for 276(380) and E8, then ADL came with the Enviro400H for 482(27), 24/196, 16(210). RATP received single decker version Enviro200H on 371's contract renewal. Arriva weren't left out with the first B5LHs and a few DB300Hs together with First, although Arriva being a dealer of VDL didn't mean they'd get first dibs on the DB250H before it which went straight to Stockwell (SW) for 24.
All in all most of these hybrids were unreliable, particularly the single decker ones but the Electrocities on 360 had a change in engine from Vauxhall's dubious ones to Ford's more robust engines and practically had a thousand less problems since, to the extent of new ones joining in 2011. The push to hybrids saw double decker hybrids sought for whilst single decker diesel-electrics (excluding the Electrocity) already used the same sized engines on diesel variants so the only difference was the lack of a traditional gearbox and different powertrain, which proved to save little fuel. Wright's stance was to use a diesel engine found in a car and by the end it worked but no one was still willing.
School day route
2004. There's a gap between Muswell Hill and Highate. I think you can see where this is going. The school route that doubled as a quasi-mobility route running two trips in both directions in both peaks every weekday with a PVR of 2 and unlike school routes, this would run during school holidays as well. The 603 started shakily with reliability problems in the route itself as well as it's allocation choice but it stood the test of the supposed 6 month trial and exists amidst threat to withdraw it's school holiday service. In the end it lost only it's summer school holiday service, retaining other half terms and holidays.
Smartblinds and plug doors
For plug doors I remember a Merton (AL) PVL, PVL115 if I recall, being retrofit with the newer rear door type that is literally standard on every bus with two doors now that older Euro3 buses are long gone from service, so it stood out with the normal rotating doors found on any other PVL until PVL355. In any case, the plug doors were liked enough by Go-Ahead that the 53reg PVLs immediately got the newer type from new.
As for the blinds that move themselves into position, the first to widely adopt them was TfL themselves with the East Thames Buses division. The 02reg B7TLs and Cadets for 128/180 and 393. Go-Ahead did also dabble in with WVL151 having awkward blinds whose legacy would be carried on by WVL150.
Fun facts: The hydrogen Citaros has offside number blinds above the front axle, having blinds on all four sides.
Though it was beaten by an invention for the guided busway between the O2 and Charlton. Yes, M1 and M2 with a batch of SB220s (some fuelled by Liquid Petroleum Gas) which had smartblinds and air conditioning as well as announcements and visual informationadoodad, the good juices for knowing what where and when. Just like the New Routemasters that came after them though, no opening windows meant disaster as the air conditioning became a sparsely existent thing. At least TA1 has opening windows, as if 1000 LTs had to be a lesson.
Advertisement screens
Seen on 05reg WVLs, 04reg DWs, 04reg Stagecoach Tridents, some PVLs etc. I faintly remember them as a child whilst working and not just a blank screen but rather quickly they were replaced, being the obstruction on the lower deck as it was. Not exactly a shame though especially on the 04reg DWs obstructing valuable space since it was located right at the front of the seats by the front wheelarch.
iBus screens
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| Nico Hogg The original style. |
Circa 2008 for majority roll out. At first it would say something like "Route 49 to Shepherd's Bush" which is now more like "49 to Shepherd's Bush", as you can see in the 243 example above, there's no timestamp in the middle, instead a dot in the bottom left. Just a simple dot matrix display.
I know I've skipped past the correct timeline but countdown as a whole was trialled in Harlesden for the 18 in 1992 whilst a different type which didn't go well, TLDR buses didn't know where they were because no Global Positioning System used, BESI was trialled for the 36. The former won and areas converted to countdown, supposedly Hammersmith or Brixton being the firsts.
iBus was trialled in Tottenham (AR), with 149 being the first on 16/01/2006.
There's also been a trial in 2018 to replace the radio system, initially at Bromley (TB). Of course, it worked and voila, the entirety of London transitioned to it.
Turning back to the past with countdown whom has clear to read orange text nowadays, had less brighter and darker red colour text, sporting all capital text.
Speaking of radio systems, 1972 trial in Bristol, courtesy of BBC Archive Twitter.
Leather seats
Again in 2008 though this time London United took the hit for the team twice in a row with two sets of vehicles.
Fun fact: 285's DEs came new with leather seating. So did 148's few Scania N230UD Olympus buses which quickly left London since they served more of a stand-in with their reduced capacity as a result of being overweight meant more Scanias, this time OmniCitys with lovely old rock hard standard seating. Scania chassis are very heavy, enough for the Enviro400 body to be over the roads' imposed weight limit.
An honorary mention would be VLA123 refurbished for Arriva Sapphire but ended back at Garston (GR) after it's fire there, it promptly visited Norwood (N) where I rode it on the 417 to my delight. It returned to Garston (GR).
Another mention similar to this as per the article that inspired this post (Go North East's comfort invention) is Tower Transit's use of leather on the rear-facing seats of the refurbished ex-25 VNs, the seats people usually put their feet on because it's luxurious. Albeit just a part of the bottom part of the seat remains moquette whilst part of it is leather but it is something for ease of dirt cleanup if need be.
Whether leather is comfortable to sit on I leave it up to you, but it's a thing that happened for certain.
Seat counts
Trialled on brand new HV132-152 with a change of allocation from 319 to 59 circa 2014 this was the new toy to test with, the tech already trialled with DW515 on 141 with WHV1 dual wielding this and the upgraded iBus somehow, read this post for more knowledge. If you're unfamiliar, most operators usually don't incorporate CCTV screens in more than one quantity if at all but Arriva have a knack for consistently doing so since the 08reg Enviro400s, one at the top of the upper deck behind the front seats and the other right behind the staircase wall beneath the iBus display. In some cases some Go-Ahead B7TLs had their CCTV screens behind the drivers cab door but just infront of the staircase roughly by the front seats on the lower deck.
The trial eventually disappeared to an unknown end as the HVs moved to the 319 as the 59 became the next victim of the New Routemaster plague. The downfall... was there a downfall? Speculation alert but could probably come down to the location of the displays as, being honest, if you're going on the upper deck you'd rely on the screen whilst walking where you won't stand still in an environment of people a centimetre behind you, then on the stairs but you might still be unlucky enough not to see the upper deck screen in action and if you're planning on staying on the lower deck you can already see the capacity for yourself, I say as if there was a lower deck readout, there wasn't.
It's not like it didn't work, the exact opposite. Perhaps it was too niche in it catering only to the upper deck as useful as it undoubtedly is.
An improvement to this useful but short-lived trial would be to incorporate it on countdown displays and next bus info in apps, Citymapper etc. This way you wouldn't have to be constrained to a rather off-location screen behind the staircase or potentially unluckily not have the upper deck screen tell you the free spaces in time.
Metro newspaper
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| Trusty old 322 with new tech |
I've forgotten about these as they've become more or less natural, a nice to have for some as they litter the bus or just there in the way of your luggage. A deal was struck sometime with Go-Ahead who initially took to trialling it circa 2016 for these to show up inside buses in London, and they've also spread like wildfire among the other large companies elsewhere in the country.
Electric buses
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| EDDIE EB1 (LC63CYA), Waterloo |
BYD K9's EB1 and EB2 have since got scrapped but were tested on Red Arrow 507/521 routes. Then EB3 for a conventional size on route 360 before being followed by double decker K8SUR on the 98 as the world's first electric double deckers, now found on school routes 692/699 operated by Uno.
Honorable mentions include Irizar i2e's EI1/2 also at Waterloo (RA) but now at New Cross (NX) for 108 and the 10.6m model which has not entered service for long (if at all) at CT Plus but has run 153 out of service before and after Go-Ahead's takeover the route.
Cyclist/pedestrian detection
2014. The 25 and 73 are still big routes running down Oxford Street. VN36102 is one of two Tower Transit vehicles alongside two Arriva vehicles used to trial the new tech. Audibly alerting the driver. I wonder where I have heard that before...? Wink wink Abellio.
Larger iBus displays
Trialled on Red Arrow's Enviro200EVs eventually standard on Abellio's Caetano's as well as in tri-axle BCI Enterprise TA1, though before those was WHV1 on the 12, a WSH on RV1 apparently and a WHY on the 360.
Kinda reminds me of being inside Iveco Cityclass buses in Rome, with two square displays where 8 times out of 10 there'd be advertisements on but on the off 2 times out of 10, there'd be next stop displays for the next few stops ahead, and unlike our iBus display it would still continue to display time even when the bell has been pressed.
A greater example in Norway, screens that operate Windows XP Professional that sort of look like this:
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| 'Bus Stopping' would be lit red on the bottom of the current/next bus stop (Brugata) |
Stop-start
Abellio's Enviro400H 2442 or 2443 was the first hybrid with stop-start whilst the first diesels with stop-start were 265's DLEs. Not exactly worth mentioning as an anti-stop-start on diesels but I'll get it out of the way.
Wi-Fi
Remember whatever LT on 10 (Hammersmith-King's Cross) it was? LT148 I think it was? Yeah?
WSH62994 for RV1 and LT9/10 at Holloway (HT) also had them, and were earlier adopters, especially the latter. WHV1 with the seating count also received WiFi ability.
Whichever one, that had Wi-Fi along with maybe a few others. Deemed more of a fail for business, with London you wouldn't exactly see a magical uplift if there was free Wi-Fi everywhere unless it was 2005 in the best case scenario, just being early is the key point here. Out of London you have factors such as exorbitant fares which pay back the cost of running Wi-Fi in the first place, and it's gonna have to be as good or better than whatever data cap your phone is to attract the notion of saving data here. The WiFi was quick and simple, granted. Though was it truly worth spreading to the network at a time 4G would storm the new waves of internet access?
I don't know what I was trying to say but bottom line: A nice to have, but not a necessity, in fact nearer the bottom of the pecking order.
There's a Geoff Marshall video of 4G being available on the Underground, worth a watch.
Kindle displays, Kindle bus stops and not Kindle bus stop flag
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| Aubrey TEH1224 resting at Victoria... or "Crickloria" |
On TEH1224 which was glued to route 16, and for good reason. There was only the 16 programmed in and even then the displays weren't quite reliable. Sure the change between finalising your desired destination and the result was slow but having two Kindles on the front alone did induce some noticeable lag between the displays with one changing and the other following suit after however many microseconds.
Continuing on for Kindles: Waterloo Bridge had electronic timetables in place of the usual timetables on the bus stop pole. Given it has one of the highest routes at a given bus stop it was worth testing, though I can only imagine in the wildest of dreams what didn't make it pursuable.
2015. Supposedly also Parliament Square, Sloane Square and Piccadilly Circus, though Sloane Square is a real one. If I'm correct, as I read the Evening Standard article whilst recalling memories and blanking any thought of head-cannon hypothesis here, the cost wasn't exactly worth a full roll out, not immediately. I guess why beat paper and pen which may be more cumbersome but downright cheaper. Not like routes are gonna change left right and centre and there would be readily out of date information... no, nonsense...
Though, according to a 2020 article, they're still continuing the 'test', I should stress, 'test' though I don't blame them if being conservative of spending. Just continue funding cycle lanes few would use and destroying functional roundabouts instead of putting use to easily altered valuable information that could offer more information, or funding to maybe other departments of interest. Maybe not withdrawing routes outright is a good start.
On a non-pessimistic note, E-ink does have advantages in the field of low power consumption since it's, just like what's printed on paper, ink, so to speak and appears magically out of thin air. Ask me how I know, Science. Perhaps I'm harsh, with them wanting it to be self-powering through means of solar panels in a gloomy country which has more wind available to it.
Northwood Station bus flag.
An e-bus stop tile, battery powered with next bus info on the bus stop flag itself. Quirky. But you could just get a stop shelter with countdown in it. Though it is cheaper to opt for the flag option for stops without stop shelters where you'd have to install mains supply for the lighting of the shelter. Perhaps something the Germans already also realised. Still, the trial began in October 2016 and ended in February 2017 and I have heard nothing of this and seen nothing of it. You can read a post here to see it in it's glory.
There's another stop like this, "Broadoaks Way" for Bromley-bound 138 162 and N3.
LED displays
Light Emitting Diodes
The stuff literally every transport vehicle has outside of London. You don't have to be outside to check, just camp at Kingston or Heathrow and watch every non-TfL bus pass by. That said they do use lower-resolution versions since it is cheaper whilst TfL want that crisp beautiful font to appear fabulous. I sort of don't blame them, though if Metroline's Solos (weight problems) and Abellio's Caetanos (blinds wouldn't fit) are to go by, not particularly bad. Quality over quantity can have it's benefits and disadvantages, ask quality control in certain products from certain places. Ahem. Not China. Not at all.
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| Sludge G 11037 (SN18KUD) on NHS shuttle service |
So you have 11034-11038 whilst there was an LCD display in SEe9.
Liquid Crystal Displays, whilst crisp and almost akin to the standard blinds, they were quite the expense and if I remember correctly, had another disadvantage to them.
This paragraph would be long but to keep this short. It's a mystery why it's not rolled out... oh wait, the high-resolution LEDs cost more in the lifespan of a bus than blinds that have been replaced a few times over. Oof. Yikes. Though if the LT has taught anyone, vanity projects can decrease in price over time, and so does supply demand things, economics go stonks, Gamestop stock shorting style.
In addition to this, the 63 introduced something already done in other provincial operators outside the capital city, having destination blinds on the rear of the bus.
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| Recreation of rear-LEDs on TA1 the tri-axle |
Branding
Branding has been a thing in London longer than Barkingside would wish you to think but most of the time it was by the operator whether in agreement with TfL most likely and/or predecessors whilst TfL themselves imposed on Barkingside and Hayes, the beauty and the beast.
So quick rundown of some routes that had branding: 10(RMLs), 11(WVLs), 28/31(MAs), 36(RMs), 38(RMLs), 73(RMLs), 94(RMLs), 159(RM), 360(LDPs), 607(LSs/LXs), as well as former Docklands Express D1.
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| citytransportinfo Colours and blanks |
Barkingside Trials, 2017
This started off on a good foot, with leaflets delivered to the homes of many the message has indeed been getting across. A 75%-25% ratio of branded-unbranded buses was high, with fair amount of spares to remain generous for strays on other routes if need be, and for the most part, no branded bus has strayed on a different route. For the most part, as usual, there's been violations, it'd be unfair to stick a finger to Barking (DX) in particular with two routes (128/150) branded but it's a practice that's been seen time and time in other parts of the country. Allocations can be strictly enforced though the luxury of ease can't be denied, and in a sense, when they do stray it does advertise the route, say 128 whilst in Chadwell Heath on a 173, end of the day buses are indeed mobile billboards, the ads inside the frames work well for that.
Still, bus stops had colour coded tiles which were neat I admit.
There could've been improvements to it but since it was the first attempt by TfL, it is forgivable by and large. Nothing is perfect and there's always room to expand.
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| citytransportinfo A 140 in Hayes |
Hayes trials, 2018. Delayed.
One word: Pathetic. One phrase? A useless waste of resources and money better used elsewhere.
With the exact opposite, a 1:4 ratio of branded-unbranded and frankly, a ripoff of National Express West Midlands designs on their Enviros at best and only one large vinyl that obstructed the upper deck front window at worst.
I'll give one point though, the existence of colour around the points of interest outlined on the sides making it pop out more. Not sure a bold orange rectangle over the blinds is appealing at all, and not ugly.
By comparison to the Barkingside ones, there's the decrease in size of the route and frequency sticker, so who is being pleased with the less apparent and equally harder to pinpoint text? The coloured stripes which were an interesting and unique addition proved too costly here I imagine. Go hard or go home hits well here, if you're willing to do something, it's best done properly with the intention of seeing it through to the end. Not cheaping out.
Uno and 383, in 2019
It's had a warm welcome on it's dedicated day in Friary Park with locals and officials alike there, Ray Stenning the man known for design as well, so it's practically a success though at the timing it was done (just before it's contract extension) which could've, or still could end in a dramatic loss of the branding by operator change. The buses had their interiors refurbished and also given information on the inside as well such as timetable leaflets, local branding done very well. Take hints for your own projects eh, TfL.
Mobileye
Continuing on from Arriva and Tower Transit, Abellio taking the hit for the team and having this software and hardware that will eventually roll out from a certain year, whether it was 2022 or 2023 I've forgotten. The gist of it? It senses other road objects around the bus whilst it's moving and makes a beep sound. I imagine you can understand imaging the constant beeps going near parked cars or going right up to a vehicle in front no matter where and when. You can hear it as a passenger so rest assured you can suffer some of what the driver is suffering. Almost like a wake up call.
Intelligent Speed Assistant
Whilst I've forgotten the actual term but researched it above, you'd know as since the first ones new with the tech were 197's E40H MMCs if I'm correct where the bus using GPS would limit the speed of the bus to the speed limit of the road it's on. 2015 it was trialled on Go-Ahead's 19 and 486 specifically with Volvos (certainly the former). It's a janky technology but it does relieve some pressure from the likelihood of speeding since it is not exactly legal unfortunately. What should be illegal is the 20mph speed limits that half of London is on roads that were 30mph and God forbid, roads that were 40mph! Useless waste of pouring further pollution by means of vehicles at high revs whilst people find creative ways of near-miss accidents whilst trying to overtake slow cars. It does tell a tale when a city up north reduced the speed limit to 20mph in hopes of reduced accidents but instead the opposite happened, maybe a few deaths here and there. I'm going very dark now so let's move on. On new vehicles it was delayed until 2018 so, hey ho.
Hello London
An instant customer feedback of experience with staff, so if your bus driver pulled up the bus perfectly and drove the bus smoothly with a smile, you can report that as good customer service. The staff in turn would get a certificate, badge and a £25 voucher. As for on-bus feedback the 363 was the chosen route to trial for 3 months. Another trial took place at the same time at Stratford Bus Station where customers can fill in a questionnaire. Safe to say it's a success since you can do so at the leisure of your browser.
USB charging
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| From my "The 360's SEe's a great future" post |
I will never forget how narrowly the 227 escaped it when the next batch after those very StreetLites were 232's with USB charging ports. They're useful (if you were someone living in Babylon) and charge slow but better than nothing. They've been retrofit in X26's single-door B9TLs upon refurbishment and on every other new vehicle since 2019 after the 232.
Digital Mirror cameras
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| YouTuber thumbnail style: Camera location |
Not for benefit of passengers but for drivers, especially during night time. I'll make it brief, it is a plus, albeit with the drawback of not being able to adjust it. Metroline's DEL2612 was the lab rat whilst a Tower Transit VN was sus with both traditional mirrors and 'camera monitoring systems' for a photo displaying both as a sort of favouring the newer tech.
White strips and loud alarms for Oxford Street.
Willesden (AC) sure had their end of the deal for route 98 having two types of trials, in short, it's not been an exactly roaring success to aid with visibility and awareness of the big red bus on the roads to lower accidents on the street but sometimes you can't fix human nature of safety and risks by improving external factors but instead force human nature to adapt. See speeds going from 30mph+ slowing to 20mph increasing accidents.
Somewhat related is the addition of fake humming sounds on newer electric buses since they're so quiet compared to your trusty diesel that it can be a hazard to the impaired, starting with 100's BYD Enviro200EVs.
VWH2388 was the bus with the ugly white strips.
Future Bus Trial
There are plenty of videos on YouTube that you can reference even if you just type in "Abellio 63" so I don't need to have a photo or video as you'd more than likely have seen it already or reference what I have just said.
Alas, this is the peak culmination of the fruits of TfL's wishes to bring people 'back to the buses', simply put:
- High back seating
- Wood-effect laminate flooring
- Sunroof (on upper deck)
- No handrails on upper deck
- Priority seats in different colour (Sullivan E400 refurbs had this not long ago)
- USB cargers as standard with all new vehicles
- New large iBus displays as found on C10/P5's Caetanos and TA1
Indeed I have copypasted my snippet from my 2021 Behind Us year recap post.
Since making that snippet, TfL has reported that patronage has indeed increase since the implementation. Of course due to funding issues they can't proceed further with more buses like this but alas, even if this was perceived in the enthusiast community as a waste of money to some whilst others pessimistic about implementing on a Central route going into the city, it seems to have worked regardless. As for my opinions, I admit to being on the pessimistic side of the spectrum but some of the features (high-back seating) already existed in select vehicles whilst USB chargers became a standard on all new vehicles since 2018 anyways. Therefore the only upsides that were of priority to me was the larger iBus screens whilst the priority seat difference is something I haven't given much thought but appreciate now that I am aware.
I would've included hydrogen, exhibit a) hydrogen Citaros, b) to-be-hydrogen diesel-electric WHD1 to be trialled on 308 but on the basis of not being passenger centric improvement I've held back, even if it might be contradictory...
Fun fact: Boris Johnson pledged for orbital express bus routes as well as the controversial removal of 'bendy buses' (articulated single deckers).
Alas, this post was a few months in the making but I've waited for 63's electrics to enter service and during that time, I briefly mentioned in my 2021 Behind Us year recap post that I got ill, so I've made no updates and didn't and couldn't get round to finishing this. Perhaps this is a rushed ending, but either way I hope you enjoyed this list of time and innovations and I leave you with one final edit, as I wish you a good day and until next time, stay safe and healthy.
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| Crown Point/Beulah Hill, northbound |
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