The Route Masters: Running London's Roads (BBC2)

[christopher]

...and all those staff featured are now in the employ of an Australian company. Something of a swansong for First London.

 

[Butts]

Another excellent episode - couldn't believe they had Inspectors out checking the tickets in the early hours on the night buses

 

[driver9000]

Another excellent episode - couldn't believe they had Inspectors out checking the tickets in the early hours on the night buses

I remember picking up a group of Inspectors in Peckham at 4am once! I was surprised to see them on my first trip of the day - there were more of them than passengers!

 

[Darandio]

After watching (and enjoying) the first one, I had been wanting to catch up on the second one last night, but it wasn't available via iplayer and still isn't.

 

[scotsman]

Loved the latest episode, makes me somewhat sad that I'm the Routemasters I'm conducting are all private hires - one in service in the middle of the night seems fun, in a strange sort of way.

 

[Mojo]

Anyone got an idea why the latest episode is not on iPlayer yet, or when it will appear?

 

[Class 33]

I was watching something else at 9pm last Tuesday. Been waiting all week to watch The Route Masters Running London's Roads on iPlayer all week, and it's still not on there! Really annoyed about this!

 

[RJ]

I very much enjoyed the second episiode. I used to be a weekend night bus driver, most often found on the N3 (Oxford Circus to Bromley North) and N35 (Tottenham Court Road to Clapham Junction.) I was so into the job that I used to turn up to work anything up to an hour early - firstly so I could get to the yardman before he preallocated the bus and secondly so I could drive light to Victoria and change up a £20 note for 10 pence pieces. I was the one driver the fare evaders tendering big notes didn't want to come across. Funnily enough, when I tipped out 177 bits of shrapnel as change, on every occasion they found the correct money to pay with. Quite often as I was doing so, I'd get the "oh just let me on for free man." Pass.

For me, selecting the best bus wasn't about heating or a nice seat - it was all about how fast it could accelerate. People never used to sleep on my bus as I liked taking out the loudest, most aggressively overrevving buses (Dennis Trident LG52 XZT / TA127 was the main one.) The N3 was allocated brand new 12 reg Hybrids so I don't know what the punters used to think when I turned up with an unrefurbished Y reg Connex Trident that I used to travel on to get to school back in the early 2000s . The acceleration was needed for the early morning runs at 4/5am - these were the trips where I prided myself on arriving at every stop on time, to the second as most of the passengers were going to work. At these times, for the greater good, I didn't bother confronting the fare evaders and gave them a UFN. Earlier in the shift however, I didn't mind collecting fares from every single passenger, no matter how long it took. At times I had to defer this in order to reach Trafalgar Square on time - controllers were quite hot on this as TfL financially penalise the operator if the N3 was late at that one bus stop - regardless of what happened on the rest of the journey. At around 4am once, I did have a big group of fare evaders board my N3 at Penge Sainsburys on my last trip. They wanted a free ride "just to Bromley South," a good few miles away. This time, I decided they had to pay but they didn't like that - one of them called me a dirty black c*nt and challenged me to a fight. He got even more angry because I was smiling all of the time until I shut the front doors in his face whilst he was ranting and as I was pulling away, he decided to run at my bus and attempt to fly kick it. This failed and he virtually fell beneath it. I was able to stop the bus before he was permanently injured.

It was physically impossible to collect all the fares on the N35 as insufficient capacity meant that well over 100 people were packing out every bus through the front, rear and emergency doors at certain times, mainly between 01:00 and 03:00. Funnily enough, I never had any ticket inspectors board my bus on that route. They increased it from 2bph, to 3, then 4 and now it's 5-6, yet there are still problems with capacity. It's one of the only routes where the night element is more frequent than the day element (35 has 4bph after 10pm) That said, some of the drivers on that route were/are mad hatters and don't like serving the busy stops, so just sail straight past. I was on a N35 a few nights ago and the driver crashed the bus into a taxi - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x8-BaXHENY

I wish they'd filmed on some of the night buses I've been on. The most lively one I've been on was a N29 when it was still bendy bus operated - the bus was full and standing upon departure from Trafalgar Square - by Cambridge Circus, I could smell weed being smoked and by Warren Street, someone was smoking heroin. An homeless man sitting on the floor was berated and physically thrown off the bus just after Camden Town as some of the girls shouted out that he was looking up their skirts. In the meantime, a racially aggravated dispute was stirring up and soon turned into a fight, in which the loud mouthed victim had his head split open and and found himself being beat up by two guys and their girlfriends. I was unhappy about this because it was happening in the bay of seats behind me and there was blood being splattered everywhere. Eventually someone steamed in to rescue the victim, who then staggered off the bus at the main junction in Turnpike Lane and collapsed in the middle of the road. The bus was then cordoned off as a crime scene and never did make it to Enfield. One funny journey was when some boys on the N7 set up a bong and were smoking shisha at the back of the bus - but the driver was treating the roads of London like one big slalom course, flinging the thing around corners and obstructions, which sent the bong flying more than once.

As a passenger, I used to be fascinated by the night routes and think I've done all of the N-prefixed routes that go deep into the suburbs - one inaccuracy in the programme was the longest route - that honour goes to the N89 which goes from Trafalgar Square to Erith via Slade Green. The N9 basically runs along one straight road and wasn't one of the longest routes until it was extended to Heathrow T5, which added 2 or 3 miles to it. It takes such a long time because the allocated buses are slow - I've driven those Scania N230UD things and they take an age to get to 30mph, no kickdown either . The N47 (Trafalgar Square to St Mary Cray) is one hell of a long route that twists and turns, but there is no point in trying to sleep on that bus as the running times are tighter, which is reflected in the way the buses are driven - constant excessive engine revving, gearbox downshifts and flat out running between Catford and Bromley.

Driving night buses was great fun - spent my weekdays in the East Mids at uni but always looked forward to my weekends driving in London. It's one of the only jobs I'd very gladly commute (250 mile round trip) for - the other being anything to do with railway ticketing. I'm glad I had the opportunity to do that job - I was driving a 3 through Trafalgar Square the moment I turned 21. I think the staff at the depot struggle to cover night duties on overtime, particularly the N3s as very few drivers know the route from Crystal Palace to Bromley and similarly the N35 between Shoreditch and Tottenham Court Road.

Great fun indeed but I've moved on now

 

[Tomonthetrain]

I was watching something else at 9pm last Tuesday. Been waiting all week to watch The Route Masters Running London's Roads on iPlayer all week, and it's still not on there! Really annoyed about this!

Ep2? It's on there! I was watching it Wednesday on my ipad

 

[Butts]

Very good post above RJ - Thankyou for your insight and first hand experiences

 

[edwin_m]

Ep2? It's on there! I was watching it Wednesday on my ipad

I've also been looking for it since Friday and haven't seen it, and have checked just now and it is still "coming soon". Perhaps it has disappeared for some reason.

 

[jon0844]

I was watching something else at 9pm last Tuesday. Been waiting all week to watch The Route Masters Running London's Roads on iPlayer all week, and it's still not on there! Really annoyed about this!

Something must have gone wrong. Sky has it showing as available, but any attempt to 'record' it (download it) fails without a reason given. That reason is presumably because it's not available on the website, but usually that would mean Sky wouldn't show it as being available at all.

 

[Karl]

A late heads-up for tonight's 3rd episode.

BBC 2 in 1 minute!!

 

[Butts]

A late heads-up for tonight's 3rd episode.

BBC 2 in 1 minute!!

"Taping" it Idris Elba in new Luther on BBC1 takes priority

 

[martin2345uk]

Episode 3 - absolutely fascinating. I had no idea about the iBus network - incredible stuff.

And now I want to go on a Boris Bus! Are there anything like 600 of them on the streets yet?



Ridiculous that episode 2 isn't available on iPlayer though!

 

[GodAtum]

I'm surprised more homeless people dont take the night bus to heathrow!

Another good epsiode, feel sorry for bus drivers now with controllers monitoring them!

I try to make an effort to say hello and thanks but feel a bit self conscious and just nod or smile. Even during the Olympics when i had my Games Makers uniform on bus drivers where still miserable lol.

 

[Manchester77]

Are there anything like 600 of them on the streets yet?



Ridiculous that episode 2 isn't available on iPlayer though!

There are something like 12 on the 38 and the 24 recently became converted taking the total up to something like 42? 11 is due to be converted in September time

I have a google docs spreadsheet bookmarked on my ipad so I'll post it when I go back on this : )

 

[Butts]

Now watching it - "Blakey" would be in his element with all the "spy in the cab" equipment monitoring the drivers every move

"Butler" and his cohorts would have no chance to skive off in this day and age.

Big Brother has well and truly arrived !!!

As a footnote I didn't realise the buses carried twice as many passengers as the Tube

 

[edwin_m]

Last week's episode has reappeared on iPlayer.

Edit: Plays on the laptop but not on the TV for some reason.

 

[jon0844]

I thought the monitoring was a bit OTT until you heard all the stories of p*** taking before!

 

[Butts]

I thought the monitoring was a bit OTT until you heard all the stories of p*** taking before!

Perhaps "On The Buses" was not such a work of fiction after all

Go back thirty years and most places were far less ordered and controlled - and a lot better in many respects (in my view) ie before computers arrived

 

[transmanche]

And now I want to go on a Boris Bus! Are there anything like 600 of them on the streets yet?

Not yet. Route 24 is the only one to be fully converted so far - which has a PVR of 27. And the prototypes are still on the 38.

The next for conversion is the 11, at the end of September - which currently has a PVR of 25.

 

[Butts]

Not yet. Route 24 is the only one to be fully converted so far - which has a PVR of 27. And the prototypes are still on the 38.

The next for conversion is the 11, at the end of September - which currently has a PVR of 25.

Give me an original Routemaster any day - I went on the 15 from Kensington to Trafalgar Square earlier in the year.

 

[Manchester77]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/lv?key=0AsHaeoH5qU2WdDV4UWt4Ul9yQU1fYk9aZGRHdnA1OVE&rm=full

The spreadsheet I was talking about

 

[transmanche]

Give me an original Routemaster any day

Me too! Happy memories of going to school on the 41. And the tough conductors "If you're smoking, you pay adult fare"!

 

[Butts]

Me too! Happy memories of going to school on the 41. And the tough conductors "If you're smoking, you pay adult fare"!

Ah smoking on the top deck - those were the days

 

[transmanche]

Ah smoking on the top deck - those were the days

I thought you'd enjoy that reference!

 

[ian1944]

Patrick the RM mechanic seemed a truly happy man, and obviously a nice guy too.

 

[jon0844]

Ah smoking on the top deck - those were the days

Last Thursday wasn't it?

 

[radamfi]

In what sense is iBus the only system of its kind in the world? GPS bus tracking is standard in most of Europe.