Bus Shite

[cms206]

13 hours ago, busmansholiday said:

As for @Yossand @Leyland Worldmaster, trust me, some of the things that got sent on Nasty Excess to the smoke when you ran out of "decent" vehicles would make you cringe. Nobody would send a bus seated National, from up north, would they??????.

 

Says the man who had a National on a National Holidays trip.

The London services were hallowed territory for Eastern & Western Scottish, long service men on well appointed kit.

 

Summer Blackpools? You'd be lucky to get a panoramic Y-type Leopard with bus seats and forced air. At least they had boots 😂

[MiniMinorMk3]

Tilting Tests.

 

[busmansholiday]

The Crossley trolleybus and the Deutz engined Provincial decker (I remember them), are the best of the pictures (ignoring RM1 and CRL4).

[Yoss]

22 minutes ago, busmansholiday said:

The Crossley trolleybus and the Deutz engined Provincial decker (I remember them), are the best of the pictures (ignoring RM1 and CRL4).

It's not CRL 4 it's RTC 1. Also note the RM goes to 40° where everything else only goes to 30°. Because a Routemaster is ten percent better than everything else obviously.

 

Edit: RTC 1

 

[busmansholiday]

1 minute ago, Yoss said:

It's not CRL 4 it's RTC 1.

Knew it was something special, couldn't remember just which it was. 10% better ??

[Yoss]

9 minutes ago, busmansholiday said:

Knew it was something special, couldn't remember just which it was. 10% better ??

Actually now I think of it, it's 33% better what with 40 being a third more than 30. That's man maths in action. 

But slightly more seriously out of all the pics above this was my favourite simply because of the means of tilting. 

I've used that method a few times to get under a bus, though obviously not to that extent. 

[cms206]

Started a new job last week but yesterday was my first day on the road... lets compare June 27th 2022, versus June 27th 2023 (library picture for yesterday, it was shitting it down all day)...

[High Jetter]

Am I right in thinking that change is going to take some getting used to?

[cms206]

1 hour ago, High Jetter said:

Am I right in thinking that change is going to take some getting used to?

It's not been too bad truth be told but I've always been a bus driver, not a coach driver; I ended up on coaches but I've always been ambidextrous 😂

[Eyersey1234]

Good luck in the new job @cms206

[jon.k]

And give us some updates on what being a London bus driver is like!

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, jon.k said:

And give us some updates on what being a London bus driver is like!

There was a TV series about that, doubt it's changed much 🤣'Yack yack yack'

[cms206]

3 hours ago, jon.k said:

And give us some updates on what being a London bus driver is like!

I'm still being mentored up here! Expected to sign off on Friday, then on holiday for two weeks then the likelyhood is I'll do a week on my own at Cumbernauld before heading south.

I shall keep updating.

[Leyland Worldmaster]

Well I never... 

https://www.route-one.net/news/brighton-and-hove-to-drop-red-and-cream-in-rebrand/

[artdjones]

2 hours ago, Leyland Worldmaster said:

Well I never... 

https://www.route-one.net/news/brighton-and-hove-to-drop-red-and-cream-in-rebrand/

🤮 What is this fascination with teal and aqua?

The only bright spot in Cardiff changing to an orange livery in 1972 was that they didn't pick the aquamarine alternative.

[DLR]

I've made a return to coach driving for the summer. Only this time rather than doing day work, I'm tour driving. 

Started with 3 days in the Forest of Dean on a school trip, followed by 5 days in Somerset on a garden tour, with a cheeky day trip added on to Weston-super-Mare, then a couple of days off to wash my pants and I'm now away for a total of 20 days on a cricket tour. 

As I type this, I'm sat in the bar of my hotel in Croydon. There's light jazz playing, I'm working on a writing project for my MA dissertation and I'm 7 days into my 20 day stint. Tomorrow we transfer to a hotel in Cardiff for 9 days where I will be driving everywhere but cardiff - Devon twice, the Midlands and Wiltshire. The handy aspect of this part of the tour is I can nip home to Barry to break up the constant hotels and sleep in my own bed. 

I've always considered tour drivers to be an odd bunch. How do you know a coach driver is a tour driver? Don't worry, if the waistcoat doesn't give it away they'll soon tell you! But this small foray into tour driving has given me a new respect for them. It's draining being away from home so much and I can't wait to find some day work again. Considering a return to trucks, but I really want to try my hand at something new and be on the road less. 

But! This is the Bus Shite thread. So what of the vehicles? For the first two tours I had a little Plaxton Panther Cub, which is essentially a shortened Panther. Powered by Volvo and drove rather well. Full of quirks, like a loo that flushed when it wanted to and a drivers door that would only shut off the switch on the dash before killing the power. This made every exit at the end of the day something akin to that scene in Indiana Jones when he slides through the closing door, only less graceful and I occasionally got stuck. 

My vehicle for the 20 day tour is a Jonckheere something-or-other. Again, Volvo underneath. Has had a retrofitted wheelchair conversion, which means that one of the lockers is half-full of wheelchair lift and takes up valuable luggage space. Handy, when every passenger has a suitcase and a cricket kit bag! 

My only complaint of this coach is it still has haunting reminders of the previous allocated driver. These coaches have a nice window above the windscreen, only this one is a bit too "live laugh love" for my liking... 

Of course, this jump into tours followed a very chequered few months of jumping around, including Chinese coaches for Welsh operators, a shift on a Megabus in a coach I'd driven for an old employer, service runs round the Cotswolds in Evoras and a small spell on the Open Tops in Cardiff - happy to share if there's any interest? 

[High Jetter]

Enjoy. Your tips to maximise your trips from tourists?

[Yoss]

14 hours ago, Leyland Worldmaster said:

Well I never... 

https://www.route-one.net/news/brighton-and-hove-to-drop-red-and-cream-in-rebrand/

 

11 hours ago, artdjones said:

🤮 What is this fascination with teal and aqua?

The only bright spot in Cardiff changing to an orange livery in 1972 was that they didn't pick the aquamarine alternative.

Must say I was a bit surprised too. They've been red and cream for as long as I can remember. The new livery seems very reminiscent of the previous Unilink livery here in Southampton. 

New B&H. 

 

Old Unilink. 

Which would be handy as both are Go Ahead companies and not a million miles apart. I did in fact once see a Brighton and Hove bus in Shirley in service with Blue Star. Only trouble with that is those particular Unilink buses are now painted in Blue Star blue and the current Unilink buses have the shard livery. Same base colours but with four different coloured flashes. 

Still near enough to be interchangeable I reckon. 

[artdjones]

They have been Red and Cream for a long time.

[busmansholiday]

1 hour ago, artdjones said:

They have been Red and Cream for a long time.

Brighton Corporation Buses were pale blue and white until brought by GoAhead in 1997 and merged to form one company. The red buses disappeared for a time in the 70's and 80's as it was part of Southdown.

[quicksilver]

3 hours ago, Yoss said:

 

What on earth are those multi-coloured lines over the back wheel supposed to be? Sorry, but that just looks a mess compared with the stylish red and cream. I expect it's a Ray Stenning design and he's rehashed his favourite themes as he needs some new lycra shorts.

[Rust Collector]

1 minute ago, quicksilver said:

What on earth are those multi-coloured lines over the back wheel supposed to be? Sorry, but that just looks a mess compared with the stylish red and cream. I expect it's a Ray Stenning design and he's rehashed his favourite themes as he needs some new lycra shorts.

I think they're meant to represent people, and they're in the colours of the rainbow flag.

[Rust Collector]

I live locally, I only have memories of Brighton and Hove busses being red and white up until the service that comes through my area (12, 12A, 12X etc.) was rebranded the coaster at which point they became green and blue.

I quite like the new design, I'm not averse to a bit of change.

[quicksilver]

7 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

I think they're meant to represent people, and they're in the colours of the rainbow flag.

They look more like a load of lower-case letter 'i's or paint test swatches to me. A thought occurs: I wonder if Brighton's change of livery is connected with Go Ahead buying Pulhams, who are also red and cream. Given Go Ahead's reputation for individuality, maybe they don't want two separate fleets in similar colours.

[busmansholiday]

6 hours ago, Rust Collector said:

I think they're meant to represent people, and they're in the colours of the rainbow flag.

The rainbow flag and Brighton, well I never.

[Metal Guru]

15 minutes ago, busmansholiday said:

The rainbow flag and Brighton, well I never.

I remember Scotrail joining in with Pride one year. They interviewed some gay people about what they thought of Scotrail’s commitment to LGBTQ+ ( any more been added recently that I missed?).

One guy said “the thing gay people want most from Scotrail is to make the f@cking train run on time!”

 

[busmansholiday]

Noticed Stagecoach had painted one of our local buses in a rainbow colour scheme, actually it was on the route that goes near @bigfella2as well.

[Noel Tidybeard]

nat ex west mids has had a pride bus since 2019

[Yoss]

They must all be doing it. First Bus had one down here for a few weeks before they pulled out last year. It wasn't one of the regular Southampton fleet, I think it was doing a tour of the country. 

[artdjones]

20 hours ago, quicksilver said:

What on earth are those multi-coloured lines over the back wheel supposed to be? Sorry, but that just looks a mess compared with the stylish red and cream. I expect it's a Ray Stenning design and he's rehashed his favourite themes as he needs some new lycra shorts.

That's Mr. Stenning on the right.  He looks like just the kind of fellow to produce a tasteful* design.