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The last decade of Routemaster bus operation in London saw over
seven hundred surviving RMs and RMLs divided between several new
companies following the privatisation of London Buses Ltd's
subsidiaries in 1994. Now operating their existing twenty routes
under contract to LRT (renamed TfL in 2000), Centrewest, Metroline,
MTL London Northern, Leaside Buses, Stagecoach East London, South
London, London Central, London General and London United all
adopted their own predominantly red liveries, but by the turn of
the century these firms had clustered in pairs and generally sold
out to the emerging big corporate groups. Two independents, BTS and
Kentish Bus, had also won a Routemaster route each and were
similarly brought under the control of larger parents. In this
photographic archive, each company's last Routemaster-operating
decade is outlined in detail up to when each route was converted to
OPO one by one between 29 August 2003 and 9 December 2005. The two
heritage routes are then explored all the way up to their own end
in 2019.
Already depleted by withdrawals in the London Buses Ltd era, the
Leyland Titan fleet of T class was divided upon privatisation
between three new companies; London Central, Stagecoach East London
and Stagecoach Selkent. Together with a host of smaller companies
operating second-hand acquisitions, the Titans' declining years
between 1998 and 2003 are explored in this pictorial account that
encompasses both standard day-to-day routes, emergency deployments
and rail replacement services. Only small numbers remained to usher
out the type altogether at the end of 2005, when step-entrance
double-deckers as a whole were banished from the capital.
Following on from London Bus Routes One By One: 1-100, this volume
takes a look at the next hundred routes in Transport for London's
spectrum, from 101 to 200. Spread out across the city and with a
wealth of bus types from different operators, these busy services
are caught amid 2021's gradual changeover from diesel and hybrid
buses to pure electric and hydrogen operation. All the routes have
been subject to considerable change over the years they have been
in existence, from extensions and re-routings to withdrawals and
re-use of the same number, and later to operator changes in
accordance with competitive tendering. Illustrated with over 180
up-to-date colour photographs, this volume continues to build a
snapshot of the fascinating modern London bus scene.
In 1970, around 3,000 RTs were still in service in the UK's
capital. However, by 1984, transport in London was changing beyond
recognition and would continue to do so as a result of tendering
and devolution. London Transport 1970-84 covers the gently
declining years of London's bus operations, during which the
venerable RT and Routemaster types were compelled to give way to
ambitious modern buses like the Merlins, Swifts and DMSs. These
enjoyed less success, however, and their time in London was short,
affording the Routemasters a reprieve that would last for two and a
half further decades. In this book, 120 stunning color images from
the camera of noted bus and railway photographer R. C. Riley are
accompanied by detailed and informative captions, giving the full
picture of this time of huge change. AUTHOR: Matthew Wharmby is an
author, photographer and editor who specialises in London bus
history. 120 illustrations
Though they seem as immutable and traditional as the city they
serve, London's bus routes are always changing. From the regular
update of bus types to the competition for TfL contracts by a host
of commercial operators in the modern era, the scene in any given
year will invariably be substantially different by the next. In
this snapshot of 2021, Matthew Wharmby captures routes 1-100 at
their current physical extent and with their current operating
company. Illustrated with over 180 up-to-date photographs, this
unique volume gives an insight into what can be seen on each route
every day. AUTHOR: Matthew Wharmby is an author, photographer and
editor who specialises in London bus history. 180 illustrations
Mainstay of London Buses Ltd's fleet into the 1990s, London's MCW
Metrobus fleet of M class remained almost completely intact by the
time of privatisation in the autumn of 1994. In the hands of seven
new companies thereafter, there followed multiple new liveries and
new identities, but it wasn't until the end of the decade, when
this account takes up their story, that withdrawals commenced in
the face of new low-floor double-deck buses. Even then, the
venerable M class remained a solid option for second-hand
purchases, allowing examples to remain into service past their
twentieth birthdays. Between 1998 and 2004 the M fleets of Arriva
London North and South, First Capital and Centrewest, London
General, London United, Metroline and Metroline London Northern and
a host of smaller London contractors dwindled until the last
examples, lingering on school routes for Leaside Travel, signed off
at the beginning of 2006.
Following on from London Bus Routes One By One: 1-100, London Bus
Routes One By One: 101-200, London Bus Routes One By One: 201-300
and London Bus Routes One By One: 301-969, this fifth and final
volume in the series takes a look at the route numbers with letter
prefixes. They derive from the Reshaping Plan of 1966, whereby
established trunk routes were broken up, and their outer sections
turned into feeder services linking interchange hubs or Underground
stations. As these new routes were intended to be operated by
flat-fare buses, it was decided to distinguish them by using letter
prefixes based on geographical area. Flat-fare operation proved
unreliable and was soon dropped, though the lettered routes
remained, and the system was applied to the normal network when it
came time to further sectionalise bus routes because of London's
insurmountable traffic. As in previous volumes, a potted history of
the routes and their routeing details are accompanied by up-to-date
colour photographs showing the buses that operate on each route.
Illustrated with over 190 colour photographs, this volume
represents an up-to-date snapshot of the fascinating modern London
bus scene as it stands in the latter half of 2021.
Dissatisfied with the reliability of its AEC Merlin and Swift
single-deck buses, London Transport in 1973 purchased six Leyland
Nationals for evaluation. Liking what it saw of this ultimate
standard product, where even the paint swatch was of Leyland s
choice, LT took up an option to buy fifty more from a cancelled
export order and then bought further batches of 110, 30 and 140 to
bring the LS class to 437 members by the middle of 1980\. A year
later the last MBAs and SMSs were replaced on Red Arrow services by
sixty-nine new Leyland National 2s. Straightforward but reliable,
the LS satisfied London Transport s single-deck needs for a decade
and a half, often standing in for double-deckers when needed, and
then going on to help hold the fort during the tough years of early
tendering, during which some innovative LS operations introduced
several new liveries and identities. The type served the ten years
expected out of it with few worries, only starting to disappear
when minibuses came on strength at the end of the 1980s. Although
the LS was formally retired by 1992, refurbishment programmes gave
survivors an extended lease of life, bringing us the National
Greenway, the ultimate development of the Leyland National. Most of
the Red Arrow National 2s thus became GLSs, and lasted until 2002.
Matthew Wharmby is an author, photographer and editor specialising
in London bus history. His published books include London Transport
s Last Buses: Leyland Olympians L 1-263, Routemaster Requiem and
Routemaster Retrospective (with Geoff Rixon), London Transport
1970-1984 (with R. C. Riley), The London Titan and The London
Metrobus. He has also written many articles for Buses, Bus &
Coach Preservation, Classic Bus and London Bus Magazine.
Following on from London Bus Routes One By One: 1-100 and London
Bus Routes One By One: 101-200, this third volume in the series
explores what used to be the old London Transport's
highest-numbered block of routes. These numbers were once reserved
for single-deck services, but the weight of post-war expansion soon
filled in the sequence. As in previous volumes, a potted history of
each route is accompanied by a list of points served and one or two
pictures of the kind of bus that can be found in service today. The
pace of tendering and Transport for London's imperative towards
emissions-free propulsion has meant increasingly rapid turnover of
bus models, which are expected to last the length of two full-term
contracts of seven years before replacement. Illustrated with over
190 color photographs, this volume represents an up-to-date
snapshot of the fascinating modern London bus scene as it stands in
autumn 2021.
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