London's Zero Emission Buses Part 1

Welcome to the first of (probably) five videos telling the story of the zero-emission bus in London. The specific routes covered are: RV1, H98, 312, 98, 507, 521, 360, 153, 70, C1, 46, 444, 43, 214 and 134. Actually, Part 1 mostly re-uses footage from my older videos, as there seemed little point in going back and re-filming what I already filmed a few years ago. But from Part 2 onwards, you will start to see a lot more video shot in the Summer of 2023. I suppose one of the main differences between now and then is that TfL is demanding that the anthropomorphic "I am an electric bus" vinyls be applied to older EVs, although this hardly seems worth the effort.
The new normal appears to be the electronic destination display, some of which are better than others! These present a particular challenge to the digital photographer, as the camera can see - and be upset by - the refresh rate of the display, which the naked eye cannot perceive. I have found that keeping the shutter speed as low as possible gives the best (but not perfect) results, although there are unwanted side-effects, such as very blurry freeze-frames and wheels appearing to turn backwards! For this, I am sorry but it's the best I can do under the circumstances.
Having spent a long time waiting for Summer to come, I blinked and nearly missed it! Cloudless conditions give the best video but, given the general absence of high pressure this Summer (climate change?) I have had to shoehorn much of the new filming into a few fine weeks of late-Summer/early Autumn. Also, given the lofty aspirations of the project (some video of every electric route in the Capital) it was difficult to get around as much as I would have liked. But hopefully there is enough footage to make the point. What is more, some of these buses have been incredibly elusive. For instance, the day I went to film Metroline's WHDs on the 7 route, the entire class was kept indoors (7th September). There was either a fuel supply issue, or somebody was afraid they might explode in the Mediterranean heat. On other occasions I was incredibly lucky; the day I went to London Bridge, LVF informed that there were four E400EVs on the 17 route and I saw them all, one after the other.
The process of making these videos for you is becoming more and more hazardous! People absent-mindedly walk into the picture, then get upset with you for being there filming. I have been challenged, sworn at, insulted and (on one occasion) threatened with physical violence and the destruction of my equipment. I won't say where that happened - suffice it to say that it's not a nice world out there. Having filmed buses in other parts of the Free World, it has long been my perception that Britain is the most intimidating place to do it, despite (or perhaps because of?) the fact that Brits are the most CCTV'd people in the World. My theory is that there are all sorts of people out there doing things they worry about being seen doing.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy these latest offerings.
Best wishes, Simon