American Reacts to The Famous London Buses
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these buses are actually quite easy to drive, its normally the customers that are difficult.
i have to agree with you
As an ex London bus driver, I have to agree but 99.99% customers are no problem it's the other .01% that stick in your mind.
Some of you bus drivers do have an attitude problem. I don't care if you've had a bad day...if you can't smile at every customer you shouldn't deal with them at all
@@blahmcblahface3965 instead of complaining go get your licence and do the job yourself, within 1 shift you will see what we mean
James may: "easiest job ive ever done, as easy as sitting here. You can have a joint" 😂😂😂
We've got Double Decker buses all over Britain.
and the world there is nothing unique about them, americans just cant use tax payer money to buy foreign busses so they buy trash american busses. Mexico is right beside the the usa and has so many of them too.
All over Europe too.. In the Continent they are used for longer routes like town to town trafiking. And even in NY, USA has some.. upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/DATTCO_Van_Hool_Astromega_coach.jpg/440px-DATTCO_Van_Hool_Astromega_coach.jpg
Not fake routemasters tho, that's only central London. Even the suburbs don't get them.
You are one of the few "reaction youtubers" that seem genuinely interested in the topic they're reacting to. That makes your videos especially nice to watch because I am learning too.
I agree
Greetings from a London bus driver! I drive the 427, the 207, the E10 and E11!
Keep up the good work, I was on the 6, 52, 260 out of AC & 4, 17, 134 & W7 out of HT, now living in Australia and not driving buses. There is a guy in Sydney who runs a RT & a RM on private hire.
I've just read a post by another who said the buses are quite easy to drive ( his words not mine ) anyway its the customers that cause most trouble.
@@user-ze5tu4ck1t that’s correct! There’s trouble with other motorists sometimes!
@@jean-fabl6187 The Thought of driving a bus around London streets brings me out in a Cold sweat. I'm 64 Driven Cars and vans since 19 .But never in London, And something the size of a Bus .That's why I always say Thankyou Driver when I get off the Bus.
The Cool Red Car is a Volvo P1800.
2+2 Sports Car Manufactured between 1961 and 1973.
Famously driven by Simon Templer (Rodger Moore) in the iconic British TV series The Saint.
They're beyond gorgeous.
Made by Jenson Motors West Bromwich...
It was also Roger Moore’s own car! I think it ended up on Jay Leno’s garage… and the video also showed a small electric fan fitters to the rearmost pillar behind the driving seat - I think they said the filming equipment/lighting required made it hot in there. Oh, and also Moore sometimes missed the stubbed on the dash 😝
Nearly forty years ago, a friend of mine got a gig driving a used Routemaster from London to Arizona where some guy had bought it t go outside his restaurant/bar. Mike had to drive it to Southampton, put it on a ship bound for New York, then, a couple of weeks later, flew to NY with his girlfriend, picked the thing up and drove it across the States to its new owner. Bearing in mind, this was probably 1982 or thereabouts and it was an old, retired bus, but it made it all the way and never broke down once.
GREAT STORY. I'M HOPING IT WAS A BRITISH MADE BUS ? SO RARE NOW.
The crazy looking one was designed as a tribute to the original bus, glass swooping down at the front to tribute the single cab buses of old, as well as the rounded roof at the back, the window design was for optimal natural light, and viewing potential, also makes sure that both stair wells, front and back are fully windowed, adding an open feel to a fairly narrow vehicle.
So many Americans are like "I don't know how I would handle driving in London" Simple - DON'T!! It's a lot slower than walking, bus, tube etc and will cost you a fortune in congestion charges. If you are only here for two weeks then you would probably only need a car 3-4 days max.
*"It's a lot slower than walking"*
Same thing can also be said about Los Angeles and New York City, though New York City especially in Manhattan is constant gridlock 24/7.
@@automation7295 I'm sure they are also a nightmare but unless you live in London and have to drive to work there's no reason to drive there, UK roads are also smaller than New York roads, no straight lines here.
@@-The-Darkside True NYC have bigger roads and mostly a grid like most American cities. I know UK roads are smaller, they're even smaller than many road in mainland Europe.
I would agree if you're only going to Central London or the West End, but there's a lot of London that isn't just in the middle. Get outside of the south and north circular and there's still loads to see and do (and still plenty of London and other busses of course) but you can move a lot quicker than walking pace
Living in south west England I've driven through London once and decided that's enough. Buses, underground and foot are much easier.
A lot of towns in England have double decker Busses
Tbh I like the black pool design, the grey and yellow
Yes, many rural areas also have double decker buses. My local bus company only has 4 routes although they are all over 20 miles long, and they have 20 double deck buses and 10 single deck buses. They also use the double decker's on the school services.
@@martinwebb1681 This can lead to the incongruous situation where you have double-decker buses going through little villages in the middle of the day with no more than a dozen passengers on ... because it's a lot cheaper to use the double-decker that you have for the school runs than to buy an additional small bus.
@@stevieinselby ... That's true, but our local bus company usually runs its single deckers on routes during off peak hours and the double deckers in the peak hours, except on the main route which is busy most of the day so is always served with double deckers which run every 30 minutes.
buses
Great vid man, notice the old type bus with the open back door. Back in the day when safety wasn't a thing you could jump on the back while the bus was moving. The conductor was there ready to take your cash.
read somewhere the jumping went both ways
Even in the 90s I could ask "can I get off here" (undesignated stop) and the drivers would open the door and you were pretty much jumping out of a moving vehicle.
@@-The-Darkside No doors in the earlier days. You just missed the bus? Run as fast as you can and you might catch it up, especially if there's a bit of traffic ahead. And you want to get off between stops? Wait until it slows to go round a bend and off you hop.
" Along the Queen's great highway, I drive my merry load,
At twenty miles per hour in the middle of the road.
We like to drive in convoys, we're most gregarious,
The big six-wheeler, scarlet painted, London transport,
diesel engined, ninety-seven horsepower omnibus."
Flanders and Swann "A Transport of Delight".
You legend!
Hold very tight please. Ding, Ding.
Haven't you seen Harry Potter, The buses can fold up. And drop for Low Bridges, your seat drops to the bottom.
We have lost the famous Routemaster double deckers ..the ones we used to jump on and hang off the open back, it had a conductor so you paid cash on board.
No you haven't. They run old routes throughout London, and during bank holidays they run the Imber range path here in Wiltshire during bank holidays.
They are more popular than other buses......... 🙄🙄
Lots of Routemasters in preservation, fortunately - and they often give rides to the public at bus meets and transport museums. They also seem to have become quite popular tourist buses around the world, too - many converted to open-top double decker buses. You might recall seeing one being used by Austin Powers in Las Vegas!
@@juniusvindex769 ... AEC Routemasters finished in regular service in London in December 2005. They no longer operate in London. There were two heritage routes (routes 9 and 15) where they continued to operate for some time but they were discontinued in 2020. No old Routemasters are used in London anymore.
With the cool machine that he turned the handle on and pumped out your ticket. I loved them.
The left hand drive Leyland bus was probably built for export. Leyland used to have a huge export business.
You have ex UK double deckers acting as tour buses in both the US and Canada. In fact we saw one of the old Routmasters in Vancouver, Canada. They can be dangerous for passengers as the entrance door is on the wrong side for driving on the right if in original condition.
If you have another look at your "three in a row" section at around 13mins 20sec you'll see that they all have different numbers and different destinations. They would have come from different directions, met at around the point where they were filmed and then headed off in different directions where appropriate.
The iconic, old school London buses are the AEC Route Master, if you like these buses you'll love the AEC Matador military vehicle.
And it's pronounced "Rootmaster", not "Rowtmaster".
The old RouteMaster busses they showed in this, used to have to undergo some crazy tests. Like a tilt test and a skidpan test.
You can see it in this old British Pathe film from 1957: ua-cam.com/video/42f3Cn6XlSk/v-deo.html
Those double deckers are everywhere across the whole UK (except the new RouteMasters) - Where I live in Manchester, the fleet colour is bright yellow for the city instead of red.
Yeah every area has its own colour buses, our local ones are dark blue and cream. I remember some years back that Manchester's buses were Orange.
@@martinwebb1681
We used to have the cheerful 'rhubarb and custard' red and yellow buses in Stoke on Trent but now they're mostly just grey with other shades of grey 😂
Also loved the old Cymru buses from the 70s to the 90s, usually a nice grassy green!
My late husband used to drive the double deck 'round London sightseeing' buses. One day, whilst crossing Westminster Bridge a lady stepped off the pavement about 6 feet away from him, as she forgot to look right. He swerved away but just clipped her shoulder and she fell over. She wasn't hurt but the police were called. The passengers, when questioned explained what they had seen and said it wasn't the drivers fault. The policeman said 'it happens all the time'
Typical bus driver...late
Before these buses there were double decker buses that were hop on/hop off, 12:13. No door just open platform. You can jump on and off when the bus was moving and pay a conductor for a ticket. This was up to late 70s at a guess. There are also double decker tourist buses in red with no roof. Sidewalk in the UK is a pavement.
Hi dude. The old buses inside the building were the original Routemaster buses. They were designed in the 1950s and started service in 1956. They were phased out in 2005. They are the famous AEC Routemaster. The bus everyone thinks of when they think of London buses. They had a weird semi - automatic gearbox.
The AEC company made some absolutely amazing military trucks. Check out the AEC Matador gun tractor. Everything on these is super heavy duty and built to last (except for the cab which is wooden and suffers with rot). They are super low geared with massive torque.
Associated Equipment Company of Southall, Middlesex owned by London Transport.
Pre selector gearbox, you engage the next gear and the bus changes up when it's time. I was fascinated by them as a kid sitting behind the driver.
@@andrewlaw RM's have a 4 speed auto which can be used manually as a semi automatic. The RT had a 4 speed pre select box.
Originally owned by Electric Underground Railways of London and London General Omnibus Co. before becoming London Underground then London Transport when the GLC formed the London Passenger Transport Board. The LPTB later sold AEC off to Leyland Vehicles, hence from the late 50's AEC's and Leyland trucks looked similar. The AEC name, both companies producing their own chassis and engines, remaining until the collapse of Leyland Truck and Bus. LT's Aldenham bus works and Leyland's parts depot adjoined each other.
@@tonys1636 that's correct.
the old Routemasters used also to have a conducter inside to sell tickets. and a bell to warn passengers that the bus is moving off "Ding! Ding! Hold very tight, Please!"
"Hold on tight" and "move down inside please" were common shouts by the conductors, along with "any more fares please".
The unusual one that you see on route 27 was built specifically for London. They first entered service in 2012 and there are some 1000 of them built. They are referred to as New Routemaster as a tribute to the iconic Routemaster that you see in the West Ham bus garage later in the video. Perhaps you could do a reaction video on this specific vehicle as their unusual design carries on inside the bus.
The Routemaster (pronounced Root-master) was designed using aircraft principles of a monocoque shell. It makes is strong, lighter than a normal bus and much bigger inside. The ones with the curved back windows are the modern version of the Routemaster.
And they started off with a conductor, just like the old Routemasters. I knew that wouldn't last long and, sure enough, they soon canned the conductors. Probably thought paying people money to do a job was a waste of resources.
I drive double-decker bus in Cornwall, South West England on some of the narrowest roads in the UK. Even on single track lanes where if you meet on-coming traffic, the driver closest to a lay-by has to reverse so you can pass each other. Best job ever
I lived in London for 45 years and never stopped marveling how drivers got these things around London streets - and not just central, either. There's loads of tight maneuvers in the burbs too. Back in the day, they used to drive them like they were in F1! To this day, do NOT argue with a DD if you're in your car. They have right of way when pulling out into traffic, and they take it. These days they're more calm, being GSM tracked. An incredible responsibility too, yet they earn way less than the pampered Tube drivers. If you ever realised a Euro trip, I would love to host!! We could sit outside the local pub (at busy T junction) with a pint of Blackthorn and just stare at the traffic. I already do, for unhealthy periods. I'm interested in the difference in cars between NE London and where we are now (Bath). Very noticeable. Way more bangers here!
@12:30 when I went to London as a kid there were still some of those old types in service. The cool thing about them was that they had an open platform in the rear, so people would just jump on and off when the bus slowed down
Loved your reaction, I always sat at the top and up front.
I'm a pensioner, and I've travelled on double-decker buses all my life. Americans should realise that only in London are they mostly red; they're all sorts of pretty colours elsewhere !
My memory goes back to when there were two bus company employees: a driver, and a 'conductor', who used to take your fare and keep order on the bus. Many of us felt that when - for economy reasons - they scrapped the conductors and made the drivers do everything, it led to less order on the buses.
I remember when the back of the bus was open. For years you could smoke upstairs. It is still the case that you can take your dog on the bus, provided it doesn't sit on the seats.
In my local buses there are spaces for baby buggies, and they can take one wheelchair user. When a wheelchair user wants to get on or off, the driver gets out of his seat and lets down a ramp.
In the West Midlands there is a bus museum with many old buses.
I'm old enough to remember 'trolley buses' which were powered by overhead wires. Until about 1960 there were trams; and we now have them back again!
London does occasionally get snow. The urban "heat island' effect tends to discourage it, but just outside London the county of Kent gets heavy falls.
Yes, I remember we had trolley buses in Walsall in the 60s. They had to carry a long pole to rehook the connecting rods to the overhead power lines on occasions when they got detached.
The Wrightbus model is sometimes referred to as the Boris Bus, because that design happened when he was Mayor of London. They make fully electric and hydrogen powered busses. The company is owned by the same family that own JCB.
Ahh The Bamfords, famous Tory donors and buyers of influence, such a surprise they get huge public sector contracts.
Mmm my comment disappeared, it wasn’t that controversial.
Double deckers make the perfect mobile bar and mobile home,seen many converted.
In the UK, its a 'pavement' you walk on next to the road.
You’ve opened a rabbit hole with these; from the electric fleet with rapid charging, to the fleet of hydrogen busses; and of course, the old school Double-Decker Bus Racing.
The electric ones are crap and have already started to burst into flames apparently.
@@felixalbionNot a lot of EVs have caught fire. Most bus fires happens to diesel buses, i mean a few months ago a diesel double decker caught fire in Bristol. And its one of the more modern ones, not one of the aging Volvos.
I used to travel to school by public transport buses - it actually took two buses each way as you had to change from one route to another. In my are there were buses with three different liveries. There were two from the two local towns, one cream and blue, the other yellow and green, and a third that was red and white. From choice we always went upstairs and if possible sat at the front.
London, yes, but every town and city has double-deckers, countryside routes too. And where Britain had her colonies, Hong Kong, South Africa etc there are double deckers. They developed from early trams which were open top - and open cab - that later got closed over to protect passengers from the weather.
The bus with the 'weird' windows has a story. It was designed as a homage to old-style ones (known as Routemasters) that were parked in the garage, Unlike the current standard bus whose exit is at the centre of the side it has a rear exit as well as the centre one. The rear entrance goes back to when buses had conductors as well as drivers who sold tickets and directed the passengers and who stood near the rear entrance which was open so it was possible to 'jump on and off' the bus. It was also designed to replace what were known as 'bendy' buses which were single-deckers but extra long and articulated in the middle hence the 'bendy' name. The argument for replacement was partly around the extra length which made manoeuvring them difficult. As they had multiple entrance doors along the length of the bus it was impossible to prevent freeloaders. It's a shame they were replaced as I liked the concept and since they are common in other parts of Europe it's clearly possible to resolve the freeloading issue.
You should look at the first old 'skid pan' tests of the buses. They are tall but light with a low centre of gravity, so, very hard to tip them over.
When you come to London it would be worthwhile taking a trip to the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden. I think you’d enjoy looking at public transport through the ages, tubes, buses train carriages etc…
Hey Ian, a couple things you need to look at regarding buses.
The first is an old 1960’s clip of a Routemaster on a Skidpan and the other is a video of upstairs on an open-top double-decker sight-seeing London. You’d enjoy those.
Most London buses which don't run on routes extending beyond the metro area are double deckers. In addition, almost all buses in Dublin and Hong Kong are too, as are over half of those in Singapore. A majority of Dhaka buses are too, as is the case in several of the bigger UK cities. I've seen quite a few in Berlin, but beyond that they're used only by city tour operators.
New subscriber here, and I have to reach out because I have a love for buses. Europe has several iconic buses, such as the London Routemasters, but here in my little country of the Netherlands we had one too; the DAF/Den Oudsten MB200, which was the national bus throughout the country from the 70's up to the early 2000's. Very distinctive style, pretty much always in yellow, and it was the bus I, you could say, grew up on as they were all you saw when I was a kid and it was the bus I had to take to the rain station later when I went to school in a different town >^_^< Little random fun fact or two; I NEVER understood why they had amber brake lights, and I was always SO fascinated by the front turnsignals which were two lights above each other which alternated when activated. There's actually a decent few videos to find of them on youtube, too.
Easy prey for the *11 foot 8* bridge LOL
Not really. All low bridges have electronic beacons, and the buses have receivers and alarms respectively
Ian, a point to be made.... Buses generally are a Chassis made by one Company and a Body built by another, so you may have a bus manufactured by Wrightbus that's built on a Volvo, Mercedes-Benz or Scania chassis. Possibly closer to home for you the YELLOW school buses may all look alike, but taking the iconic Type B and Type C (long bus with a hood) you've got (now) four builders and their bodies are interchangeable onto two or three manufacturers chassis. Eg a Bluebird on a Ford, GMC or Freightliner chassis.
The Wrightbus International Streetdecks/Volvo B5LH ones you saw at the beginning 01:12 are powered by a Volvo D5-Series Euro6 with a 12Speed Gearbox and a HYB I-SAM Motor. Very powerful buses
I have been on the London double deckers. Riding on top is cool, but you have to anticipate your buss stop because it takes extra time from your seat to the door. The design and functionality are so iconic. I hope they keep using them for many many yeard. I have always wondered about their center of gravity. I am afraid it would tip over when cornering. But obviously they have it figured out somehow
The reason for the odd windows on the side and at the rear is because the bus has two sets of stairs one behind the diver and one set of stairs at the end.
With double-decker busses normally the top of the bus has better AC / heating than the bottom, the back of bottom level can gets toasty because of the engine.
Due to most of the weight being on the lower level of the bus they are hard to tip on their side. I've been in one when there was very powerful winds.
When I was at school we had old Double Deckers to transport the kids to and from school, we lived in a small village and the bus would go down winding tight roads. It's surprising how far you can lean one of those buses before it tips over, just by moving everyone on the top deck to the sides as you take bends, we did it so often they ended up having a special school assembly to tell us not to do it again.
4:23 the windows on the rear and behind/above the driver are following the stairwells between the lower and upper decks.
11:10 is the spirit of London 19000, the bus caught fire severely and was rebuilt and named Spirit of Lindon. 19000 was one of two of the first Alexander Dennis Trident2 Enviro400's, the Second being 4698 BX55XOA, both buses were demonstrators. 4698 resides with national express now as a trainee bus
If you sit at the front at the top of the bus (the best seats) you get a great view, the perspective makes you feel like the bus is riding in the middle of the road but if you're not used to it seems like it's going to hit oncoming traffic. also you get hit by tree many branches.
We used to have double decker buses on our local bus route. Green line 441 to staines middex. Used to catch it to watch saturday morning cinema(kids cinema).
It's pronounced 'Rootmaster' 😊
London buses are manufactured by a coach building company called Plaxtons in Yorkshire. They make the bodies on chassis made by Scania, Volvo, and MAN (I believe). The parent company of Plaxtons is Alexander Dennis.
Not all of them, many are by Wrightbus. The new London "routemaster" bus was built by Wrightbus along with other types they make bodies for including Volvo, Scania, etc.
@@martinwebb1681 thank you Martin
@@scrappystocks Completely wrong over who manufactures buses in the UK !!
@@brianbrotherston5940 Wrong. Just not completely accurate. If your going to claim someones wrong either provide the correct information or don't bother commenting as it isn't helpful.
@@MrDeadhead1952 I suggest you mind your own business on how I reply to comments - I do not have the time to correct UA-camrs ridiculous replies .. .. .. ..
Scania and other lorry manufacturers supply the chassis to the body builders, who make the bodies including ones that show movies, cinemas. The LHD Leyland was probably an export model.
Hi. Some of older buses were AEC Routemaster and had no door but an open platform at the rear manufactured many. A company called Dennis, once made some, this company is famous for building fire engines both internal combustion types plus earlier steam powered. The newer ones London has now were assembled by Wrightbus, they assemble these in Ballymena Northern Island. You see them in the dockyard awaiting shipment across the sea to England.
In the early 60’s I used to ride red double decker bus for the 5 mile trip. Ours were red but Rhondda Transport, some were old ones with open platform at the rear, the later were AEC with a closing front door. The upstairs front seats were usually taken by the time I got on, three stops before mine. The “Hard” kids were the ones who occupied the rear bench seat. we had two buses for the boys and two more for the girls. The girls school was a half mile from the town. Our buses stopped at the town hall and then it was a 10 minute walk to school. The buses had 2 staff, a driver and a conductor, we were on an ordinary bus route, so 4 double deckers for school and a single decker for the public.
The passenger capacity is 70 - 90 with no standing upstairs.
Double deckers are a common site here in Wales. They must stick to specific routes to avoid low bridges. Some of the old double deckers had their top deck windows taken out and the roof removed. These were used by the bus company to trim trees so normal buses would not get damage by low branches.
During WWI older double deckers were used to transport soldiers around France and Belbium. The London Transport staff are still remembered for their service in the Remembrance Parades in London.
Always up top at the front. I miss the ones Trent Barton (Nottinghamshire) had in the 90s, you could stare down the porthole drivers had to see up stairs and try to distract the driver.
Double deckers are used up and down the country as our normal bus service. There are single deckers as well for local use and out in the countryside, but the major bus routes tend to use double deckers.
You have to watch videos of Routemasters doing handbrake turns as well as double decker racing.
Not much point telling an American about handbrake turns, they don’t know what handbrakes are .lol
@@johnhood3172 Human League even had one doing a handbrake turn on a bridge and with people in it in their 'Louise' video: ua-cam.com/video/ehJj3FsFh_g/v-deo.htmlsi=ehHtPzT_N-EUpbna&t=17
@@johnhood3172 Human League featured one doing a handbrake turn on a bridge in their 'Louise' video and there's even people on it! ua-cam.com/video/ehJj3FsFh_g/v-deo.htmlsi=ehHtPzT_N-EUpbna&t=17
I'm a bus driver in Melbourne, Australia, from my understanding, Double Decker buses are just the same as a regular bus to drive so long as you don't try to fit them under low bridges and take corners just a touch slower than a regular bus. However, I have never had an opportunity to drive one. The closest I have got is a articulated bus (bendy), same deal applies except when cornering you'll need to take it a little bit wider too, but not much. Probably safer in any heavy vehicle to drive them super cautiously anyway, there is a difference between a F1 car and a bus. Some bus drivers don't understand that difference.
Where i live we have 12 different bus routes so you dont always need a car. 😁🇬🇧
There used to be many cities all across Europe and the world using double decker busses. Two other iconic places otsidr Britain still doing so today are Hongkong and Berlin. Berlin has been using double deckers since 1907, and they are all german made (mostly MAN today...).
BTW, Neoplan is a german company, so that one used bus you showed probably started its life off somewhere around here before being converted into a cinema bus and that's probably why it is left hand drive...
I worked in London during two summers in the 1990s, back then all or nearly all buses were still the Iconic routemaster buses that dominated London traffic for half a century. Open platform at the rear, and a narrow spiral staircase up to the upper deck just inside the entry. Truly unique, I don't think any other country had anything even remotely similar.
Ian, the basics are legislation (I think) mandated that all TfL buses are Red, and like most things in the UK it makes little sense, but they've been that way because of tradition, like Hackney Cabs (London Taxis) being Black, and because it's been that way so it will be into the future... the Iconic London Bus is a model called a Routemaster (aka RM####) fleet numbers, often confused with their predecessor the Regent RT, however there were some variations on the Routemaster. Namely the easily identifiable RMC and RML "Coach" variant with four headlights, and when built a rear door, coach seating and a GREEN livery; the RMF and RMA with the door at the front and stairs with them; the less easily identifiable variation is the RML, RCL and RMF being 29'11" vs 27'6" for the corresponding RM, RMC and RMA versions, there is an orphan seventh prototype, the FRM which was rear engined, the door was in the now standard place in front of front axle, and the stairs were behind the driver.
See if you can find footage of a bus undergoing a 'tip test' where they put it on a tilting platform to test how far it can lean until it falls over.
Double decker buses are everywhere in the UK. But the red ones and the black Hackney cabs are associated with London.
Although the red double decker bus is iconic to London, double decker buses are common across the country, they just aren't usually red 😎
They are typically about 11m long, so slightly shorter than a full size single decker at 12m, which means they aren't particularly difficult to manoeuvre. They typically seat about 70 passengers, plus room for standing downstairs.
Riding on the upper deck is best ... especially on routes outside London that go through open countryside, where you can get a great view! It can be very disconcerting if you're sitting at the front, because your field of view is different from the driver's, you can spend the whole journey worrying that you're about to hit a car/building etc.
3:45 That slightly mad design was the so-called "New Bus for London", built in the 2010s as a replacement for the classic split-cab Routemaster that was the mainstay of the fleet from the 1950s to the 1980s. Often called the Boris Bus because it was designed at the behest of Boris Johnson when he was the Mayor of London, they have proved to be expensive to run, have poor reliability, have not been operated as they were supposed to be and have not lived up to the hype around them (which makes them a _very_ fitting tribute to Boris Johnson). While other buses running in London can be found elsewhere around the UK, no other bus company in the country has shown any interest in buying any of these!
Pete and his Bus is a cool UA-cam channel, where Pete does up old London Double Decker Routemaster's !!
I live in London, and for the past 16 years, I’ve lived on the route of the 27 (the double decker buses in the early portions of the video, all seem to be that route (it’s England, so rhymes with put, not pout)
There is even a channel where a guy posts videos he makes when sitting behind the top window. Forgot what its called. But it looks pretty scary - many streets are really narrow, with parked cars and all, and lots of traffic. In addition there are trees hanging into the streets as well. And those bus drivers are not reluctant, they put their foot down when ever they can. Amazing that they dont crash more often.
When I was in school in the 90s sometimes we'd get a double decker to bring us home always tried to get the front seat up top. The was a mirror that would let you see the driver below
If people buy a used bus that was in city service you may need to change the rear end to a taller open road diff . . If your going to use it as a mobile home . .
There was an instance in the 1950s where a bus driver jumped Tower Bridge as it started to open as he was driving over it with 20 passengers on board. He floored it to make the jump. Fortunately for him, his side of the bridge had started to rise before the opposite side so he successfully landed it, but he broke his leg on landing while his 20 passengers were fine but a bit shaken up.
London used to have double decker trams as well
In some areas of London double decker buses cant be used cause the bridges are too low
12:58 is a new variant of the Envrio400, its called a BYD Envrio400City, a complete remodel of the Enviro400MMC seen ay 12:43. The BYD is the 4th generation Enviro400 made
The iconic London buses are the old-style Routemasters, built in the mid '60s. They were phased out for general service around 2003, but still operated on some heritage routes like the No9 City to Kensington High Street. Apparently, they're not disabled friendly - and they require a conductor to collect fares. The only other iconic bus is the Wright bus, the modern re-imagining of the old Routemaster made from 2006 in Northern Ireland. The Routemasters proper were made by AEC and badged for London Transport with the roundel logo.
9H finished in 2014 and 15H finished in 2020 (after being reduced to just weekend and bank holiday services from March to September in 2019).
They had to run in front of / behind normal 9s and 15s to get around disability requirements.
The conductors' ticket machines' contactless readers only working with Oyster cards (not bank cards) was part of their decline.
There are now no classic Routemasters left in TfL service, however since October 2023 there is the non-TfL service T15.
The left hand drive double decker most likely is coming from a former colony in Asia (also the background in the photos is quite tropical). There's a few out there who use double deckers, Hong Kong is pretty famous for them but they drive on the left so will be one of the other.
You should search for the video of the guy walking down the street and gets hit by a double decker bus, and he just gets back up and walks into the nearest pub. Nothing more British than that 🤣
I did my apprenticeship building buses back in 1970, I then joined the Royal Air force for 6 years in 74, and then in 80, needing a job, I became a conductor for a few months, the buses now are full automatic, with some being full electric which keep catching fire and have a short range, which means you need two electric buses for every Diesel hybrid out there, rubbish, every county has its own colours, London the iconic red, Yorkshire buses are linked to each town where they operate, so the colours change for each operator, and the size of the bus, from 20 to almost 100 seat bus like the double decker and bending buses, the one that suits the purpose, like for rush hour and less Busy times, when we buildt our buses for Leeds Council we used Leyland Chassis which were delivered naked, with only a seat and dashboard, and a big diesel engine at the back, later came Volvo, enjoy your journey 😀
There is an old video on UA-cam of double decker bus racing,it looks super dangerous and there’s even a view from the drivers perspective.
Scania don't make double-decker buses. Like some other manufacturers they make the chassis then another company provides the bodywork according to the customer's requirement. Most UK towns and cities have double-deckers - they're everywhere, in all different colours. But the Wrightbus you saw operates only in London. It was designed according to a brief from Boris Johnson when he was mayor of London and is often called the Boris-Bus. They cost almost twice the price of a regular double-decker.
The Scania Omnicity Double Decker was a double decker fully made by Scania
@@georgeratcliffe7752 You're right, but that was a few years ago and Scania now only offers chassis for completion by bodybuilders in double-deck markets.
What lot of people don't seem to realize that most European and UK market buses have bodies and chassis built by different companies, some buses are made entirely by one company.
Some buses like Volvo B10BLE does have different bodies depending on the market; In mainland Europe, B10BLEs were bodied by Säffle/Aabenraa, Carrus and other local manufacturers, In the United Kingdom, many of the B10BLEs had Wright Renown bodywork, and in Australia many (if not all) B10BLE buses had Volgren bodywork
@@automation7295 Whilst we all like B10BLEs there are unfortunately very few left :(
Whilst this is also a dying breed, I'd use the B7TL as my example which in the UK alone came as: Wright Gemini, Plaxton President, Alexander ALX400, East Lancs (Myllennium) Vyking etc...
@@georgeratcliffe7752 Yeah B10BLE are unfortunately uncommon or even becoming rare, most of them in my city were replaced by B12BLE
You are interested in so many things that when you come to Europe one day, you will stay there for several months to see everything.
It's rare to find such a curious American, who is interested in something other than the USA.
You raising the level.
We get on double deckers all day every day..to others they are amazing to us they are getting to work getting to the shops.
I know a fair few Bus drivers and they say its just like driving an suv
Check out the double decker bus driving school they must attend before given a full licence, they are also pretty hard to roll over.
IWrocker says that he's not aware of any double deck buses operating in the US. Interestingly, there is old (restored) film footage available on UA-cam that shows New York in the 1930s, and in those days, the city operated almost exclusively double deck buses. There's footage of the highway running along the side of Central Park along which much of the traffic is double deckers - with left hand drive and right hand entrances of course.
Double deckers are still found in other parts of the world, particularly ex-British colonies. Hong-Kong has long operated double deckers - right hand drive ones with left-hand entrances, because they drive on the left on Hong Kong, unlike the rest of China.
And as at least one other viewer has commented, Berlin has long operated double deckers on some of its bus routes - since way before the second world war. The city has recently taken delivery of a batch of Alexander Dennis double deckers built in the UK, to replace MAN vehicles that turned out to be unreliable and expensive to operate.
Like London buses, Berlin's buses have long been an iconic, eye-catching colour, but not red - canary yellow instead!
Double Decker buses are used in just about very British cities, not just London. Here in Birmingham, most of our buses are also red. Most of our roads are not really that narrow, it's just that we don't love Tarmac (blacktop) as much as Americans. London buses are red (except the ones sponsored for advertising) as they are owned and run by London Transport, organised by local government. Even in modern towns in the UK based on grids there are roundabouts at most intersections as they are so efficient. Of course we have snow, the UK is much further North than the US, more aligned to Canada of Scandinavia. Public transport is ubiquitous in the UK, I travelled to school on a service double-decker for at least 6 years, we used to race to get on the top deck when possible, especially as smoking was banned on the lower one.
The buses with the 'weird windows' are the New Routemaster, originally referred to as the New Bus for London and colloquially as the Boris Bus. They have two internal staircases and have a a "hop-on hop-off" rear open platform similar to the original Routemaster bus design but updated to meet requirements for modern buses to be fully accessible. It first entered service in February 2012 with Arriva London on London Buses route 38.
See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Routemaster
In Australia, Sydney had the most use of double deck buses. I think phased out around the mid to late seventies.
When the Melbourne, Bourke street cable tram line was closed in 1940 that tram route heading north was replaced by double decker buses. That was until 1955 when it was converted to electric trams.
None of these Australian buses were as nice as the Routemaster buses.
In Melbourne some double deck buses have been recently introduced for the unsubsidised Skybus airport route and an outer suburban rail feeder route.
Might have been more than too, like the Hobart double deck ancient trams. Went around 1960.
If you look up the London transport museum, they have a range of buses and other things from the 1930s onwards and earlier. Well worth a visit if you visit the uk. The main museum is in Covent Garden, with the other at acton depot, which has various tube stock.
There is also the London bus museum at Brook lands.
A lot of British buses were built for export markets, I remember 45 years ago seeing a lot of LHD Leyland Atlantean buses in use in Tehran.
when it says scania or Volvo, it means it's a Scania or Volvo engine and chassis, the body's are made in the U.K. by british coachbuilders.
not always though, the Scania OmniCity is a fully Scania bus.
About the hardest thing to get used to driving those busses is that you are about 5 feet from the front of the vehicle and sitting over the front wheels. If you forget that it's easy to pass the front end of the bus over the opposite kerb if you forget. If you are on a country route it's better to be on the top deck as you can see over the top of the hedgerows
snow in london is very rare and 1 inch brings traffic to a standstill almost because drivers are unprepared
The older buses are called Routemasters double decker
We have Double Decker buses all over the UK , also take a look at the film " Summer Holiday with Cliff Richard
I'm 58 years old and whenever I get on a London Bus I still try to sit in the front of the top deck. Just like when I was a Kid.
Not just in England, the other countries in Britain have them too.
When I was a kid in London 70s/80s, we used to go all over London, hopping on and off the open back busses. Trying to avoid the conductor 😂😂
Snow is pretty rare, especially near the coasts, it hasn't snowed and stuck on the ground in my town for more than an hour since 2010 (I'm on the West coast, so nowhere near London).
Up until the early 2000s a great bulk of London's buses had British Gardner diesel engines v like the Leyland Titan and MCW Metrobus.
They were running a few hundred of those old style buses you showed until 2005, but unfortunately, almost all had modern imported engine transplants that replaced the original home grown AEC 590 diesel engines. That faded one you described possibly still has the AEC as most of the RMs shipped to the USA arrived before the replacement engines were starting to be fitted in the 1990s! Have a listen and you will love the sound the AEC makes.
Should check out old British comedy called On the buses
This bus with the strange shape was designed (mainly) by the mayor of London who was Boris Johnson at the time. He later became the Prime Minister. It is affectionally known as the 'Boris Bus'
Yes I have ridden on London double decker buses quite a few times, but have ridden Sydney (Australia) double decker buses far more often. I generally prefer the upper deck.