Riding the New Bus for London
I finally caught up with the New Bus for London this afternoon. As I got to my stop to go to Islington, it was going the other way towards Hackney, so I got on the next 38 and asked the driver to ‘Follow that bus!’ Which of course he did, as all 38s go the same way. If there had been a bit of congestion and he’d manage to overtake my intended ride, I’d have just hopped-off one bus and hopped-on the other.
But we were held up and so a couple of stops before the turn around at Hackney Central, I disembarked and crossed the road to the Victoria-bound stop. Twenty minutes later and LT2 arrived.
I immediately went upstairs and the first thing you notice is how light and airy the inside is.
Upstairs on a New Bus for London
Colours are best described as classy and more subtle than most other buses, but light is good with LED downlighters everywhere. The windows are wide and aligned with the seats, as this view shows.
Wide Windows on the New Bus for London
Lincolns Inn Fields can be seen through the windows. Note too, the generous leg-room, compared to some other buses.
As we progressed towards Victoria I took a lot of pictures from the right hand side, with my elbow resting on the window frame, just like the gent in the previous picture is doing.
Hugh Myddelton Looks On
I wonder what Sir Hugh would have thought of it all.
Whatever the bus may be it is a superb place to film central London. I don’t think that the tours will be pleased as routes like the 38, will offer a similar experience for the price of a normal bus fare. How long before someone starts offering a smart phone app, that provides a running commentary, based on GPS. Or could the app tap into a signal from the bus to keep everything in sync?
At on point, the bus was fairly clear and I was able to look at the seats.
Upstairs Seats on a New Bus for London
They are comfortable and shaped to give good lumbar support. As I have said the legroom is good and you don’t feel crushed in because of the large windows and the ability to rest your arm on the window sill. You could also put a small bag underneath a lot of the seats. Compare this seat with that on the standard Wright product, that is very common in London.
The Seat on a Standard Wright Bus
The New Bus for London certainly has a better seat, with better support and if you’re on the window side, you have somewhere to rest one arm.
After a time I was able to move up-front.
Up Front on a New Bus for London
The view is again good and there is the usual grab rail beloved of kids of all ages. Strangely, I suspect that you might get better pictures from the side of the bus, due to the wide and deep windows.
As we progressed through London, the most astounding thing, was that everybody was looking at the bus.
Eros From a New Bus for London
Quite a few of the crowds on Eros were photographing the bus. As I think was this lady.
Caught in the Act
But we were outside Fortnums, so she might have been photographing the shop. At Victoria the cameras were out again.
The New Bus for London at Victoria
It’s when you see it here, you realise that the bus is only marginally bigger than the standard buses. Although, on the roads, the curves make it look bigger.
Soon we were off again and i took this picture of a visiting Pole in the back seat of the top deck.
On the Back Seat of the New Bus for London
On the old Routemasters and the RT’s before them, this seat was always popular for a cuddle. I suspect that it will get used for the same purpose on this bus.
I should say, that as someone, who is a bit weak down the left hand side, I didn’t find the stairs too difficult. In fact because there are two staircases, you use the one most convenient to where you are sitting. So I suspect on a crowded bus, you’d probably get off quicker and a lot easier. They are certainly no more difficult to use than those on the standard London buses. The picture shows the front staircase.
The Front Staircase on the New Bus for London
I think they might be a bit wider too. This picture was taken from the window seat just behind the staircase, which I think could be one of the best seats to take pictures from the bus.
So how do people like the bus?
I did talk to a few people and they were generally enthusiastic. Many too, were taking pictures on their phones or like me, had cameras with them.
Finally, I got off the bus and walked the short distance home.
But this couple were in a hurry and hopped on the bus, whilst it was stuck at the traffic lights.
Hopping On a New Bus for London
So will the hop-on/hop-off facility work? It seems to be what Londoners want. It will help me, as often when I walk round the corner to get a 38 to Islington, one is stuck at the traffic lights, so it might save me a couple of minutes waiting for the next one.
To summarise, I think that the designers have generally got it right. The bus is light and airey, the windows give good visibility out, the staircases are easy, the open platform appears to be working and the driver I spoke to liked the bus, which is surely important.
Quite a few men, seemed to be interested in the technical details like the hybrid power system, which gives the bus very good fuel consumption. When did you last discuss how your bus or train worked with someone?
Only one lady thought there might not be enough spaces for buggies, but she did like the seats and the big windows!
Another passenger didn’t like the new smell, as I didn’t on the journey to Victoria, but that will go away in a couple of weeks.
I think my biggest conclusion about the bus is summed up in a quote by David Hockney.
Art has to move you and design does not, unless it’s a good design for a bus.
There would even be space on the top deck for a dachshund under the seat.
I Finally Catch A New Bus for London in the Balls Pond Road
I only managed to catch it with a camera, as I had my shopping with me and was just going home.
A New Bus for London on Route 38
At least though they are not a figment of London’s imagination.
My last memory of it as it crossed towards Islington, was of the conductor balanced at the bottom of the back stairs, just like he would have been on an old Routemaster.
I should say, as I was taking the picture, I was approached by a well-dressed black guy about half my age, who’d just got off the bus. He was truly enthusiastic about the bus.
So does good design appeal to everyone?
Wot No New Bus for London!
I’ve only seen the New Bus for London twice, despite the fact that it passes the end of my road. And one of those sighting was during testing and in the other it was going the other way and I just saw its curved backside.
There wasn’t even one in this impressive row of ordinary buses on route 38 at Victoria station today.
38 Buses at Victoria Station
But then as it takes 68 buses to provide a full service and at present there’s just a solitary new one, it is a bit like looking for a needle in a hay-stack.
Miners Have a Go at the Iron Lady
The BBC has reported that the Iron Lady film has had protests in Chesterfield, which lost their coal mines, when she was Prime Minister.
My view is straightforward. Coal is a dirty fuel, that causes lots of ill health and is a major cause of global warming. Even with the small number of pits we have now, the death of miners is not unknown.
Mrs. Thatcher may have been the Prime Minister, who actually shut the mines, but in my view it was done about twenty years at least too late.
North Sea oil and gas, gave us the opportunity to abandon coal production and it should have been done in a managed and gradual way. I’d love to know, whether Prime Ministers before Mrs. Thatcher had thought of shutting the mines. After all, when the railways abandoned steam engines, a lot of coal wasn’t needed any more. So do those who want more mining jobs, want steam trains as well? And domestic coal fires, which created the smog of the sixties? Many days, I had to walk home from school in thick pea soup.
I should also say, that I’ve met quite a few people, from mining families and all were advised to get an education and avoid going down the pits.
How have other countries weaned themselves off coal? I found this article about the rise and fall of the German coal industry. It seems that German industry has managed to survive the loss of its prime energy source.
I suspect they have managed the run down of their industry much better. I can remember a proposal in The Guardian to use redundant miners to insulate our rather poor housing stock. Nothing happened, as far as I know!
We don’t learn either! Most of our vehicles are powered by fossil fuel, which don’t help the stopping of global warming. So when we bring forward proposals to help like wind, wave and tidal power, new electricity networks and rail lines, the Nimbys come out in force.
We can’t have it both ways, even if the Americans and the Chinese think they can.
I think I’ll prefer to go to hell on my two legs, a bicycle or a New Bus for London, rather than a fossil-fuel powered handcart.
So This Is Clapton Pond!
Coming back home yesterday after lunch in Walthamstow, I changed buses at Clapton Pond.
Note the bus stands on the roundabout. This where the 38s turn round. So will Clapton Pond become a tourist destination, when the New Bus for London enters service on that route on the 20th February 2012.
Double-Decker Trains for HS2
According to the Sunday Times today, a design consultancy, Priestmangoode has been asked to make the trains on HS2 as sexy as possible.
I’m all for this and have stated that we should make trains more passenger friendly several times. Here’s a piece where I advocated a better approach to the trains to the West Country and the north of Scotland from London using rebuilt High Speed Diesel Trains.
Transport for London have used this design-led approach on the New Bus for London and I hope it goes well for them, when the bus is introduced next month.
So get the trains right and of course build them in the UK and we might have a railway to be proud of. As someone, who’s travelled from London to Nice on Eurostar and a TGV Duplex, we don’t have much competition from the French. The TGV Duplex may look impressive on the outside, but inside it’s rather cramped and stuffy and the ride is not as good as a High Speed Diesel Train.
Another London Bus Route Goes Non-Bendy
This picture shows one of the new buses on route 25 at Stratford.
A Proper Bus on Route 25
It replaced one of the dreaded Spanish-built bendies.
Note that the bus is a Wright Eclipse Gemini 2, built in Northern Ireland. Wrightbus is incidentally a family owned company. So hopefully not for them the problems of external shareholders, who want to paddle someone else’s canoe. The company is very much involved in developing the New Bus for London. We may worry about the demise of trainmaking, but do we have in Wrightbus a company that is going places in that much neglected and very unsexy part of transport; buses?
A New Bus For London
Last night, I went to a presentation by Stuart Wood of Heatherwick Studio at the London Transport Museum of the proposed New Bus for London. Stuart is the lead designer, who is working in partnership with Wrightbus, who will actually be building the new buses.
A Routemaster, an RT and a New Bus for London
This picture shows the bus alongside two of its predecessors, the Routemaster and an RT. I probably travelled on more RTs, than any other bus, as I used the 29 or 29A to get to school for several years.
When I first saw pictures of the bus, I must admit I wasn’t sure that the three-door, two-staircase design would work. In fact, as the talk revealed, it is one of the design strengths as it enables all of the parts of the hybrid-drive system to be kept out of the useable space, with the battery and fuel tank under the front staircase, the engine/generator under the back one and the electric motors inside the rear wheel arches.
What did surprise me, was that some of the things, they’d have liked to have done, fell foul of the various regulations. For instance, they would have liked to have the handrails in bare metal, as on the original Routemaster, but regulations mean they must stand out, so that those with limited vision can see them. In the end they used a light yellow-gold colour.
Rear Lower Deck Layout
This picture shows the handrails in the proposed layout at the back of the lower deck over the rear axle. Note the high seat backs in this picture on the back-to-back seats over the rear axle. One of the design ideas here was to create some slightly better seats and as there are two groups of four, they also have the advantage of being suitable for families or friends travelling together.
In fact the interior design can be described as quirky in some ways.
- Both staircases are glazed, with the rear one being curved. They are infinitely better than those on the French TGV Duplex trains, which are straight and dark.
- I actually feel that for someone like me with a limited left hand, that I would use the rear staircase to ascend to the top deck, as this would mean I’ll be better balanced. I have climbed onto the top deck of a Routemaster since my stroke and found it not too difficult.
- The design also incorporates a love-seat at the top of the rear staircase, just like the old RT did. I can’t say, I’ve ever sat there on the top deck of a Routemaster, but did a lot on the old 29’s to and from school.
- The rear downstairs seating as the picture showed is definitely quirky with high-backed seats and groups of four. In a way the groups reminded me of how my mother would put me at the age of six on a 107 at Oakwood to go to my aunt’s for piano lessons, on the longitudinal seats of an RT. The conductor would look after you. Although the buses may have conductors at times, these seats might well become family seats, for say father travelling with three or more children.
- I said three or more children, but as the seats all over the bus, are of a bench design, three small ones could easily sit together.
- I also think that those like me, wo do their shopping on the bus, will like the seating, as a bench design will allow you to share a bench with your shopping. I do this regularly on a 56 or a 38 from the Angel, when I return from Waitrose, on the half-empty buses in mid-morning.
So have they designed a bus for all people?
- It has a large capacity that will mean it should be a good commuter bus.
- The large amounts of glass and good visibility might make it a sightseeing bus on central routes.
- The layout is family friendly in my view. For energy saving reasons we must get children to like public transport.
- I do a lot of shopping on the bus. Does it fulfil that role?
- The seating on the lower deck, might encourage people to use buses for longer distances. I used to go miles as a child on the 107 to visit relatives. Now, there is no way other than to drive. But if the bus is comfortable, quiet and spaceous, would people be tempted to use it, in these times of high-energy costs?
Only time will tell if the concept works. But I like it!
The Anonymous Widower 