This ' Andrew Braddock ' geeza is nothing more than just another of oxygen waster Livingstons ' GRAVY TRAIN ' gang running round TFL offices day after day after day and he has the audascity & b-lls to say that ROUTEMASTERS have a fuel problem and were bad for emissions ......... well check this out

Routemasters with ' modern ' engines -- ie Scanias / Ivecos / Cummins ' C ' were all capable of giving fuel consumption figures of no less than 9 MPG average for a DAYS WORK expected to be around 250 miles per day per bus for the heaviest routes such as the 38 & 73 in the congested streets of London complete with Bendybuses for oppostion ..

On the other hand .......

The marvellous Bendies can do NO BETTER THAN 4 >> 4.5 MPG in the same scenario after replacing the RM'L etc . These figures are from a company that actually operated RMLs and Bendies at the same time as each other and therfore had direct comparisons to make available ....

The ' Q ' Master bus as designed by Colin Curtis as a replacement for the Routemaster & other types so heavily critised here over the months did infact have the best of all worlds for London work conditions ...
The company that was initially taking up the idea of this design was ' OPTARE ' of LEEDS . The design as they wished to interpret it was going to use much more Steel in the construction than Colin wished in the design so increasing the weight way beyond the ideal when set against other ' modern designs ' . The mechanical layout of the bus was for ease of maintenance and when required changing of indiviual units could be done so ' down time ' was considerabl;y reduced as compared to todays ' Modern monstroscities [ ! ] ' most of which can easily tip the weight scales at around the TFL required tonnage of ELEVEN TONS UNLADEN .... The ' Q ' master also incorporated all the requirements of todays buses with the added plus of fuel efficiency combined with reduced weight / speed of repair along with reduced down time thus also reducing operators overall costs .......... therefore dare I say also making the most of Livingstons ' cheap diesel ' from South America

So Mr Braddock when you say the Routemaster was ' expensive and environmentally unfriendly ' from the beginning then for the new year I suggest you crawl back into your cozzeee warm little office and keep your mouth shut only to open it when it is obvious you have something to say like I need to leave the room !! ... and my final word of wisdom for you is this ........... the WORLD FAMOUS RED LONDON ' ICON ' known to its new breed of owners and devoted enthusiasts as a '' ROUTEMASTER '' actually carried 72 SEATED PEOPLE IN relative COMFORT as opposed to todays plastic & fibreglass boxes on rubber that can only - other than the damned awful BENDIES - carry , if your lucky , a maximum of around 69 >71 fine people sitting on hard unrepentant dirty plastic seating using a totlly unco-oridinated coloured moquette that has never seen the likes of being cleaned since the day it was installed in the bus at the makers ... Your modern buses carry even less when required to carry a ' wheelie ' riden by some inconsiderate moron who happens to claim its their right to travel at the expense of others WHO ACTUALLY PAY [ but not on Bendies ] for the privilege OR ' 2 Buggies ' for other passengers who then have no means of lowering the ' flip down / up ' seats to meet that wonderful figure of 69 >> 71 ' seated ' passengers ... it must also be said that it is the likes of this ' TFL gravy train ' that are responsible for the reduction in the bus route information displays on bus fronts now so prevalant on London buses so as to make it impossible to tell where the hell its going anyway ........ IBUS ....... that wonderful modern invention , currently on version 3 , anyone yet been on one of these conversions ?? I did from Marble Arch to Victoria ... a route 148 >>> Camberwel Green , once the bus has stopped to allow incoming or alighting passengers a female voice says ' 148 [ pause ] to [ pause ] Camberwell Green ' .. not a hint of its actual routing or even exactly where the bus has just stopped , brilliant for the visually impaired then !! so you have an idea of where you wish to alight or how you get there by this particular bus route .... one reported little ditty for ''' IBUS ''' was a bus on route 81 to SLOUGH was giving out its destination as HARLESDEN , WILLESDEN JUNCTION .whilst another bus on route 220 was giving its destination as SLOUGH BUS STATION .

Note ----- for drivers of Londons marvellous ' Ibus ' conversions ==== there is a 4 digit code that you can enter into the WAYFARER SYSTEM which works in conjunction with IBUS system that will DISABLE the voice system so you and the passengers don't have to listen to it all the way to SLOUGH and any other destinations ... Garage engineers know this code so just ask politely .... another cat out of the bag then !!

I also fully support another ' poster ' on here who says if you kept quiet in ' Buses ' magazine then perhaps we could have some decent articles from people who know what they are talking about ..

A happy and peaceful new year to all of you ...... get drunk on new year eve lying down , its saves the embarassment of falling over !!

Andrew Braddock is a berk who comes out with sweeping statements regarding the Routemaster that have not a jot of truth or accuracy to them. Unfortunately, the powers that be at TfL have made their minds up and won't be confused by the facts.

Facts like - nobody (apart from fare evaders) likes Bendies, whether they be fellow road users stuck behind a convoy of them (436's and 12's) every morning in Peckham and Camberwell, passengers who have to put up with squalid, cattle-truck conditions and those who are unfamiliar with any route details and have to make do with a route number and final destination only.

On this final point Al, I too travelled on a 148 'IBUS' late the other night from Hyde Park Corner to the Elephant with the female voice actually telling me that I was on a 148 travelling to Shepherds Bush! Once again, great for the visually impaired who would have ended up on the wrong side of London in the middle of the night! And no, I wasn't that p*ssed to know which way I was travelling as I actually managed to get my 53 connecting bus at the right place!

We all know that the RM couldn't go on forever, but if LT and it's successors had had a coherent bus design policy - i.e. one that wasn't decided upon by politicians - then we wouldn't have had the situation of RM's being replaced by Bendies that were foisted on London for reasons of political correctness.

The Q Master was a forward thinking design that deserved to be built in the form that Colin Curtis designed and going back a few years, IF the FRM had been allowed to go into production (not allowed due to one Barbara Castle and her Bus Grant scheme), and if LT had still existed - and not been disbanded largely due to one M Thatcher - given LT's design policy of "evolution, not revolution", it would no doubt have evolved into a modern, user friendly, aesthetically pleasing low-floor design that Londoners could have been proud of.

The bottom line of all this - don't let politicians mess with public transport!

Happy New Year to you Al and all your readers.

Cheers
Steve

Hi All (and a belated 'Merry Christmas' and timely best wishes for 2008)

The government is crap at doing anything well (except voting themselves pay rises).

All the hot air spouted by politicians about 'transport' in the UK. The result? Nothing. Nowt. Nix. The only thing that John Prescot could get on top of during his time in office was his secretary and even then they didn't have the gumption to close the door.

The problem, it would seem to me, is that politicians are not paid for getting good results but for having 'ideas'. And, in the current climate, in which good ideas are strangled at birth in the name of political correctness, only idiots prepared to toe the Party line get hired in the first place. The prognosis is not good.

It's really time for change. This government has had its time and it's over. Whilst they've been bullshining about 'education, education, education', another generation of British school children have been let down by politicians who don't give a toss about education or anything except their own pensions. If they did care, why are the schools turning out so many kids who can't read or write? Why does the government have policies that they know will fail? BECAUSE THEY DON'T CARE. Simple, innit!

Oh, yes. Routemasters. Here she [he?] is. Snuggled up and cozy. The infra-red heat from the sun on the dark paint of the building keeps RML2603 above the outside temperature and the dry air is good. I started her up earlier in the day and ran the engine for about an hour to charge the batteries. I also moved her forward a little so that she was sitting on another part of the tyres. Not ideal but as I write it has been snowing again (total about 8 inches now) and taking her for a drive is just not an option.



Cheers!

What a splendid photo John.

Ken

If you want to have a pop at the current British government come back and live here and use your vote. Like it or not, the government is democratically elected and the people accept the result which evere way it goes. The US government is hardly a shining light of all things perfect. Lets keep this forum to Routemasters and leave the UK politics to UK residents.

Hi All

I make the comments on the British government because I DO vote and pay taxes in the UK. We recently sent off over 30 grand to HM Gov. and I am therefore fully qualified to state that they are making a complete balls-up of everything they touch. Brown is making more promises about change (again). But what about the last 10 years? Where has all the money gone and what benefits have they delivered? Answers on a postcard please.

This is relevant to RMs because transport is one of the tangible areas in which we can tell if a government is competent or not and this lot is a complete and utter shambles. I wouldn't trust them to organise a p***-up in the proverbial brewery.

Seriously, if this lot and their newly rehabilitated henchman in the mayoral office can implement a bus system with the following attributes who can possibly trust them?
1) Not enough seats
2) Revenue not being collected
3) No air conditioning (or even windows that open)
4) Passengers unable to get on/off at desired places
5) Poor security
6) Extremely worrying fire safety record
etc. etc. ect.

A recent post showed that RMs are back in service in Scotland. It is only a matter of time before Ken whatshisface is booted out and the capital can begin to make wiser decisions about transport policy.

Yes, the US has its problems. But Americans don't just suck it up. They TALK about it and through talk comes change. Britain needs change because the British government lied to get into power, has lied throughout its term in office and now Brown is telling lies to cling to power. They simply have got to go. How many police investigations have there been into the Labour party? They are rogues. Are we supposed to just sit on our hands whilst all this happens....? I don't think so.

I say all of the above because I want public transport in the UK to flourish. It is beginning to flourish here in Colorado. There are light rail services springing up and being extended. They are thinking of building a light rail service to provide an alternative to Interstate 25 for travel along the northern Front Range from Denver to Cheyenne (about 100 miles).

Britain already has a well developed public transport system but it is being systematically destroyed on the alter of political correctness.

Cheers!

J