Trivia: Bus routes that have been downgraded from Double Deck to Single Deck operation

[Statto]

Back in the mid 90s MTL on Merseyside had a load of elderly Atlanteans on busy high frequency routes, so started replacing them mostly with Wright Endurance Volvo B10BS, after buying MTL Arriva then continued the program in the early 00s, but replacing deckers with low floor single decks, the single decks were inadequate for the routes they were allocated to due to capacity issues, so Arriva started buying deckers for Merseyside again, but some routes that were decker operated are now single decks

Back in Crosville era, Runcorn depot had a mix of double deck & single deck allocations but Runcorn has been all single deck depot for over 20 years, any deckers are normally just stored their. The issue with Runcorn are the low bridges on the busway, most of the bridges could be demolished as they're pedestrian footbridges ( replaced by pedestrian crossing ), but their is a low bridge under the expressway near Halton Lea with the expressway bridge being impossible to demolish & replace

 

[bussnapperwm]

Could the Walsall 4 (Walsall - Blackheath) count? During COVID and on Boxing Days, it would get deckers allocated full time on those days, however since Sandwell Council created a new Traffic Regulation Order at Sandwell and Dudley Station, it now has a permanent single deck allocation

 

[delt1c]

Living in Eastern Scottish (and it’s predecessor’s) territory I marvel at how other areas have formal single and double deck duty. As long as I’ve been aware, SMT, First and McGill’s SE always seem to have gone with any bus on any route, there’s been limited exceptions with the Omnidekkas and Enviro400MMCs which I think were part funded by the council at the time and required to be on particular routes.

Not quite here in West Lothian there have always been routes that due to low Bridges required single deck. For instance under SMT the 191 and 192 required single deckers West of Fauldhouse due to the railway bridge at Fauldhouse. `although duplicates were run using double deckers from Bathgate to Fauldhouse terminating at the station

 

[daodao]

You’d probably want to specify a time period, as there will be thousands of services that were a decker in the 60s/70s/80s but are single decker now

Most regular stage carriage services are now single deck operated outside large cities, so the list will be endless.

All scheduled non-school routes in South Trafford (Altrincham/Sale/Partington) are now single deck, apart from Stagecoach route 11 to Stockport via Wythenshawe, which is partly operated by double deck buses, and Stagecoach route 255 Piccadilly to Partington via Stretford.

All scheduled non-school routes in Central and Eastern Cheshire are now single deck apart from some use of double deck buses by Stagecoach on their newly acquired route 84 Chester to Crewe.

Only a few routes in North Staffordshire are now double deck; there are/were a lot of low bridges in this area.

I rarely see a double deck bus in routine stage carriage use.

 

[Simon75]

3 (former 320/20) Crewe to Hanley had low height Olympians, due to the bridge at Tesco Kidsgrove. Since the Olympians were replaced by modern deckers, they were too high for the bridge, so now always single deckers

 

[61653 HTAFC]

The routes along the A629 from Huddersfield were always predominantly operated with deckers in Yorkshire Traction days, and had much more variation in terms of routes including frequent extensions to Barnsley. These days there are just three variations (D1, D2 & D3) operated by Team Pennine, and I can't remember when I last saw a decker... in fact I'm not even sure Waterloo depot even has a permanent allocation of deckers now, certainly none wear the Team Pennine pink livery.

Similarly back in Arriva/Yorkshire days what is now the X1 Holmfirth Explorer regularly had deckers particularly when it ran through to Leeds as the 484, but under Yorkshire Tiger and now Team Pennine it's always a single decker.

 

[RELL6L]

I’m sure with some lengthy thought I could fill a page with these! The Stagecoach Devon 3/93 comes to mind as one that was publicised at the time in a way that criticised the public for not using it enough. Cracking route scenically.

A recent example was the Arriva 320 from Hemel Hempstead to Watford. It was pretty solid deckers with suitably marked buses. Then the 320 was linked in Watford with a different route and now is all singles. The buses have either gone elsewhere or are being used on local Hemel routes.

Less recently the Arriva 321 from Luton to Watford (and originally Uxbridge) was always deckers. Now never, run by Luton who have almost no deckers.

When I was much younger almost all the major routes in Watford were deckers except the two central London routes which had been converted to SMS. Now nothing is - except the same two central London routes!

Many others….

 

[Flange Squeal]

The Aldershot - Farnborough - Frimley - Camberley corridor on the Hampshire/Surrey border was singled, only to be decked again several years later.

The late 90s/early 00s saw what was the Aldershot - Farnborough - Frimley - Camberley - Yateley route operated by Olympians in Stagecoach stripes, some with dedicated ‘Blackwater Valley Link’ branding.

Around the time of the local 2003 Blackwater Valley area network change the northern terminus was switched from Yateley to Old Dean Estate, with the frequency upped but Olympian deckers replaced by branded single deck ALX200s. The single deck theme remained through various later fleets (54-plate Darts and 58-plate Goldline spec Enviro 300s). But after a single decking lasting 2003-2016, the singe deck Enviros were replaced by 66-plate Gold spec Enviro 400 deckers.

 

[Martin1988]

Thanks to those who have responded. Interesting to hear that there are so many instances of double deck vehicles being replaced by single deck vehicles.

 

[341o2]

double to single would include London Transport classes MB and SM (and the S variants) which mostly replaced RT's in the late 60/early70's
Examples routes 125 and 144

 

[Andyh82]

Reading Transport solely operated double decker buses for a while in the 1980s, yet have plenty of single deck routes now.

One interesting catalyst, not just in Reading, for a switch from double deckers to single deckers in the 1990s was that low floor single deckers came before low floor double deckers, so routes were 'upgraded' to single deck to allow passengers with buggies greater access.

That’s is the same as First Bradford

In the 1990s besides a minibus fleet and a handful of coaches the entire allocation of around 200 buses was double deckers

But then when the FirstBus standard B10BLE etc came out, these were introduced to modernise various routes that would have been Atlanteans and Olympians until that point

 

[route101]

First Glasgow 34 Govan to Castlemilk. Low height deckers mad an appearance during Covid.
First Glasgow 90. Mostly single decker now.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

That’s is the same as First Bradford

In the 1990s besides a minibus fleet and a handful of coaches the entire allocation of around 200 buses was double deckers

But then when the FirstBus standard B10BLE etc came out, these were introduced to modernise various routes that would have been Atlanteans and Olympians until that point

Similarly (if my fading memory is to be trusted) Yorkshire Rider's Huddersfield ops were all (or almost all) deckers for a good while in the period immediately after deregulation. The first wide adoption of single-deck vehicles were minibuses under the 'Micro-rider' sub-brand which included new services such as the Oakes and Dalton (Cow Heys) circulars.

 

[NorwichRailFan]

Sanders Coaches X55 North Walsham-Norwich Express Went from almost fully double deck to entirely single deck in January this year (Replacing an a very mixed fleet of second hand OmniDekka's and Optare Olympus's with a fleet of brand new MCV Evora's).

 

[northwichcat]

82 Northwich to Chester
31/37 Crewe to Northwich
38 Macclesfield to Congleton

All routes now operated by D&G Bus that used to be operated by Arriva. To prevent the need for a decker in the morning on the 82 D&G run one bus just behind another in the Northwich direction and leave a long gap in the Chester direction.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 26 May 2023 ==

Is there a big saving reverting to single deckers? Capex? Fuel? Maintenance?

There's all sorts of factors to consider. On some London routes deckers were replaced by bendy buses that have since been replaced by normal single deckers, but there's been a frequency increase to compensate. It's possible the frequency increase has increased the total patronage, resulting in more revenue than if it had stayed as a less frequent double decker route.

 

[adrock1976]

First Glasgow 34 Govan to Castlemilk. Low height deckers mad an appearance during Covid.
First Glasgow 90. Mostly single decker now.

Regarding the 90, when it was the Inner Circle along with the 89, I can remember when Possilpark ran both routes it was either the Volvo Ailsa or MCW Metrobus double deckers.

When Possilpark closed in 2000 with the 89/90 transferring to Parkhead, it was the Volvo Citybus vice Ailsa that appeared, alongside with the transferred MCW Metrobuses. In 2002, both the 89/90 were downgraded to the Optare midibus operation.

During my final years of residing in Springburn and after Simplicity, I did see single decks on the 90 as referred to.

 

[90sWereBetter]

There was a period in the early to mid 2000s where First Manchester were converting practically every route they operated to single-deck operation, initially with Scania L94s/Volvo B10BLEs, and then two enormous batches of Volvo B7RLEs in 2005-06 (somewhere along the lines of 250 B7RLEs iirc).

Once the last GMPTE era Atlanteans/Metrobuses/Olympians were withdrawn, the only deckers left in the fleet were 10 Volvo Olympians bought in late 1998 (unsure which route they were allocated to), and a smattering of native and ex-Glasgow Volvo Citybuses for schools. At some point after the last B7RLE entered service though, there was clearly a change of heart and most routes were converted back to decker operation with around 150 Volvo B9TLs and the 100 Enviro 400s from the Olympic Games.

 

[Deerfold]

570-571 Bradford-Brighouse was single decked as 26/26A Bradford Hipperholme by Hebble and then as (5)70/(5)71 Bradford-Brighouse by HJOC/CJOC/WYPTE until diverted through Canterbury Estate in Bradford c1979 (to replace ex-BCT route), when it became double deck, has been single deck in its latest iterations - since Yorkshire Rider days I would guess - for many years.

The 570 hasn't existed for some years.
The 571 no longer reaches Bradford.

 

[nw1]

Southampton Citybus was 100% double decker in the early 90s.

None of the early 90s routes exist in their original form, but under the final First network, only the 3 had double deckers.

With Bluestar it's now a mix.

I remember the ex-Alder Valley Cranleigh routes out of Guildford varied substantially over the years.
In 1984/85 they were a mix of single and double. By deregulation they became purely single-decker, then in around 1988 they got a dedicated fleet of new double-deckers, before later on (unsure of exact date) becoming purely single-decker again. And I believe they have remained that way since.

The Bluestar 9 and its forerunners the Solent Blue line 38/39 (I think) were similarly varied.
The 38/39 were always double deckers.

The 9, when introduced, was predominantly single-decker (new Mercedes-Benz vehicles).

Recently the 9 Mon-Sat has become almost wholly double-decker, perhaps as a result of frequency reductions. Sunday is still single-deck, from what I can make out.

 

[Gloster]

Other than the midi-buses, Optare (?), I think that Southern Vectis is now effectively entirely double-decker. No longer do the Red Jet connecting service, the town services and several of the main routes use single-deckers: it is just the oddments and some of the school/contract ones.

 

[NewClee153]

The 2 (Bushbury Hill to Waterstones via Wolverhampton) was converted to double decks (using E400Hs and Tridents) back when it was reduced to every 12 minutes. Now it’s back to single deck operation (using B7RLE bodied Wright Eclipse Urban 2s), still double deck on Sundays though

 

[andythebrave]

Sorry to interject but, as a simple passenger, I would regard a change from double to single deck a definite upgrade!

 

[nw1]

The Aldershot - Farnborough - Frimley - Camberley corridor on the Hampshire/Surrey border was singled, only to be decked again several years later.

The late 90s/early 00s saw what was the Aldershot - Farnborough - Frimley - Camberley - Yateley route operated by Olympians in Stagecoach stripes, some with dedicated ‘Blackwater Valley Link’ branding.

Around the time of the local 2003 Blackwater Valley area network change the northern terminus was switched from Yateley to Old Dean Estate, with the frequency upped but Olympian deckers replaced by branded single deck ALX200s. The single deck theme remained through various later fleets (54-plate Darts and 58-plate Goldline spec Enviro 300s). But after a single decking lasting 2003-2016, the singe deck Enviros were replaced by 66-plate Gold spec Enviro 400 deckers.

Going back still further, in post-deregulation Alder Valley days around 1987-89, the as-was 22/422 was a mixture of double and single deckers (VRs and Nationals, as you might expect). Ran on a 20-min frequency with 1 bus every 2 hours extending to Reading as the 422. At that time the route did not have a dedicated fleet, interworking with other Aldershot garage routes taking place.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Sorry to interject but, as a simple passenger, I would regard a change from double to single deck a definite upgrade!

No, no, no - you don't understand. There is a clear hierarchy in enthusiast circles that must be adopted

Minibuses have no place and so they must be replaced by a single decker. Obviously, not any ordinary single decker - it must be a heavyweight, have big wheels, and be capable of "thrash" (whatever that is).

However, a single decker is obviously inferior to a double decker - this must be specified in virtually every eventuality where someone sees a well-loaded journey, at any time and of any description.

Double deckers must also be fitted with dual doors, though in London with its "unique operating conditions", a misty eyed return to a design from the 1950s is best recommended.
Should the service number be prefixed with a X, then the above is rendered null and void and a proper coach must be employed instead!

ps - the above is all very tongue in cheek

 

[156421]

Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancashire #30 was always double deckers until Stagecoach signed the contract with Sellafield and now prioritizes the double deckers for Sellafield routes (often these are running empty) leaving the #30 with single deckers or just cancellations (strangely isn't a problem at weekends...). Also most of the Sellafield buses are free at the point of use, so we have the situation whereby fee paying local passengers are being punished so as to provide transport for freeloaders.

 

[northwichcat]

No, no, no - you don't understand. There is a clear hierarchy in enthusiast circles that must be adopted

Minibuses have no place and so they must be replaced by a single decker. Obviously, not any ordinary single decker - it must be a heavyweight, have big wheels, and be capable of "thrash" (whatever that is).

However, a single decker is obviously inferior to a double decker - this must be specified in virtually every eventuality where someone sees a well-loaded journey, at any time and of any description.

Double deckers must also be fitted with dual doors, though in London with its "unique operating conditions", a misty eyed return to a design from the 1950s is best recommended.
Should the service number be prefixed with a X, then the above is rendered null and void and a proper coach must be employed instead!

ps - the above is all very tongue in cheek

In all seriousness if there's 60 people on board most passengers would likely prefer a decker where they can sit down, rather than a single deck where they have to stand, especially if it's a long journey or a hot day. If the main patronage is pensioners doing shopping and there aren't that many passengers they'll probably prefer a Solo, with forward facing seats fairly close to the door. If such a route like that gets a decker between it's morning and afternoon school duties (like the Winsford W7) then it's not ideal.

If my memory's correct when I got the bus from Dublin Airport to the city centre it was a decker with half the lower deck taken up by luggage racks. Those might be OK for those who need priority seating but they're far from ideal for everyone else. Leave your luggage on the bottom deck, while you're sat on the top deck on a route with numerous stops in the city centre. What could possibly go wrong?

 

[andythebrave]

No, no, no - you don't understand. There is a clear hierarchy in enthusiast circles that must be adopted

Minibuses have no place and so they must be replaced by a single decker. Obviously, not any ordinary single decker - it must be a heavyweight, have big wheels, and be capable of "thrash" (whatever that is).

However, a single decker is obviously inferior to a double decker - this must be specified in virtually every eventuality where someone sees a well-loaded journey, at any time and of any description.

Double deckers must also be fitted with dual doors, though in London with its "unique operating conditions", a misty eyed return to a design from the 1950s is best recommended.
Should the service number be prefixed with a X, then the above is rendered null and void and a proper coach must be employed instead!

ps - the above is all very tongue in cheek

Love it!

 

[90sWereBetter]

I may be wrong, but I believe the last TFL area conversion to single deckers was the 257 between Walthamstow and Stratford in late 2000. This conversion was so disastrous that First Capital had to bring back double deckers within a year of the new contract! Even though the new low-floor Dennis Darts were running on an improved frequency, there is no direct tube service between Walthamstow and Stratford, so any bus routes between these two areas tend to be rammed most of the day. God knows what the conditions were like in 2000-01, but as far as I'm aware TFL were scarred enough never to attempt such a conversion again!

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

I may be wrong, but I believe the last TFL area conversion to single deckers was the 257 between Walthamstow and Stratford in late 2000. This conversion was so disastrous that First Capital had to bring back double deckers within a year of the new contract! Even though the new low-floor Dennis Darts were running on an improved frequency, there is no direct tube service between Walthamstow and Stratford, so any bus routes between these two areas tend to be rammed most of the day. God knows what the conditions were like in 2000-01, but as far as I'm aware TFL were scarred enough never to attempt such a conversion again!

If I recall correctly, didn't the 112 also convert to single deckers a few years ago? Awful decision anyhow to have single deckers running on that route. Every time I've used it - at least between Ealing Broadway and Brent Cross - it has been absolutely rammed and half the journey is spent skipping stops because it's physically impossible to squeeze any more passengers on. Then there's the mad scrum to board at Ealing Broadway is among the worst I've experienced anywhere in London.

 

[Simon75]

If I recall correctly, didn't the 112 also convert to single deckers a few years ago? Awful decision anyhow to have single deckers running on that route. Every time I've used it - at least between Ealing Broadway and Brent Cross - it has been absolutely rammed and half the journey is spent skipping stops because it's physically impossible to squeeze any more passengers on. Then there's the mad scrum to board at Ealing Broadway is among the worst I've experienced anywhere in London.

Yes the last time I used the 112 c 2008 they were single deckers