Other coach routes in the UK

[Busaholic]

Not quite - the Green Line routes were limited stop, longer distance routes. So for many of their corridors they ran alongside 'bus' routes but with quicker timings by virtue of being limited stop.

To separate them they were numbered in the 7xx range, rather than the 3xx or 4xx range of bus services.

Whilst they were officially rostered for Green Line vehicles - which for a long time meant essentially the same vehicles as the bus routes but with a different livery - which included RTs, RFs, RMs and Nationals. In the late 60s / early 70s the only 'Green Line' specific vehicles were the Reliances (RC / RPs) and the SMAs. It wasn't until about 1978 when the RS and RBs turned up did Green Line move to having genuine 'coach' vehicles on all routes, with buses only used when the rostered coach was unavailable. And until the demise of the TLs and TPs on the 724 - all routes continued to get 'coaches' rather than bus seated coaches - then in about 2000 Arriva replaced the ageing TPs with the DAF buses which have been subsequently replaced with Citaros.

You're not quite right about the vehicles used on Green Line services prior to the 1970s. The Country Department of London Transport possessed some longer Routemaster buses (RMLs) but no shorter length RMs and the RMC and RCL Coaches used by Green Line were of a different spec altogether to their bus counterparts, having larger engines, different seating arrangements, doors,etc, and in the first few years were almost never used on bus routes, except for certain early morning journeys. Likewise the bus versions usually only operated as Bank Holiday extras, emergency substitutions usually consisting of single deck RF coaches.

 

[Flying Snail]

yes I was aware of that... but it was hardly a reinterpretation of the scenicruiser... in fact it was more of a high floor bus with a wheelchair space dumped on the platform. And it was bloody ugly to boot.

They weren't Wrights first attempt at a bus/coach, there was the Endeavour in the early 90s. AFAIR only a handful were sold in Britain, Ulsterbus had a fleet of them on express work.

http://www.ith.org.uk/1431.html

I was thinking more of a vehicle that marries up a low floor bus for the front half... and then rising to a coach height with underfloor lockers... with some decent coach styling...

As well as the Interdeckers as quarella posted, modern double deck coaches are low floor and are able to accommodate a wheelchair with ramped access.

Back to topic. I caught a glimpse of something that looked close to a lowfloor coach at Heathrow. For commuter-coach type operations luggage wouldn't be an issue. Trailers could be used with correct licensing and a small increase in journey times. Eavesway certainly have some wheelchair accesible coaches. https://www.flickr.com/photos/matt56120/16022555369/in/photolist-qpRMuD-qLDVzF-oTSscg-eMfV87-qLDSeT-nvYHgj-rsocea-qu5Sho-pw5Z2V-cc9Ygf-cteCR1-r3k4cJ-qu5VxS-s5TE9d-nq12vi-iMmWsM-qu6xV3-prr3kF-hPwDw7-hPvWtX-pgkqjE-bSCksi-iT3f5a-qLD4Jy-qkQtqp-dyQB91-oag8Bq-ajcCWw-s6bPdG-fwKtoZ-c5nWbq-bk4bbD-k3A6fT-cddiCf-cc9XaE-nrwqHa-rNKojN-rNJ2rL-cc9YLE-bUMJSM-rNJci9-pogKge-cc9XzW-kBJ4Ub-qKCWZH-dMWn2N-8reYU9-hPwTz6-9Mdhd9-hPwC5u

They are very nice coaches too, particularly for drivers that like a bit of privacy. A couple of seats or a wheelchair downstairs otherwise you are on your own with all the pax on the top deck.

That one is unusual in having a second nearside door, most of the ones I have seen do not have this and actually have more luggage space than a regular coach. The lockers are very deep and can be partitioned with a shelf.

I was very disappointed (but not surprised) that my bosses would not order these instead of the regular tri-axles and double deck coaches they went for, the deckers in particular are a nightmare on busy routes with small and inaccessible luggage space but hey, management know best right?

Back to the topic of coach routes, and specifically bus services run with coaches; Stagecoach seem to be the only major operator who still use coaches for certain routes in any significant number.

There is the X5 as mentioned, also the 99 Milton Keynes-Luton Airport, and X62 Leeds-Hull service also using Plaxtons.

In Scotland outside the Citylink operations Stagecoach have a number of coach routes. From Inverness routes to the far north and a number of routes from Aberdeen, from Glasgow western routes to Ayr, Kilmarnock as well as a number of shorter commuter routes to towns such as Cumbernauld. Commuter routes in Edinburgh to Fife towns also.

If you want to include the whole of the UK then Ulsterbus and others use coaches on routes across NI while south of the border a majority of bus services outside of the major cities are run with coaches.