73bus

The blog is moving.

It's time to move the blog.

You can find it here or via the website which is still in the same place - www.73urbanjourneys.com

The reason my blogging has been so dismal lately is because I am currrently living in Australia - in Adelaide mostly with lots of visits to Sydney too - for the ethnographic research part of my PhD studies. So, my No.73 bus riding has been somewhat limited.

But I manage/contribute/make a number of other web projects;

I blog here at the INCITE blog

I add pics to the INCITE flickr

I am working up a website for an INTEL project I am working on called Domestic Design and Interfaces for located Mobility

And I have a blog for my PhD study of volunteer community wireless networks.

Hope to see you on one of those and THANKYOU for all your support over the last three years,

Kat

Sydney double deckers

Double decker buses might return to Sydney. According to an article in the SMH yesterday, (thanks g), they are being considered, along with revised timetables and shortcut routes, in an attempt to alleviate Sydney's worsening road congestion.

Bus operators are considering innovative solutions, including a modern double decker which carries as many passengers as an articulated or "bendy" bus but costs less to buy and takes up half the road space. The last of Sydney's blue and white double deckers was taken out of service 30 years ago.

[I'm back in Australia for the research part of my PhD and a parallel project into wireless tech in the home.]

doing 'waiting' in other places.

I was in Sydney recently for some fieldwork and as i was waiting for a bus on Elizabeth Street to head to Bondi - I was going to an interview, honest - my attention was drawn to how people were waiting. As I had a ten minute wait for my bus I had time to observe how people actively did 'waiting' for a bus in Australia and to think about it in contrast to my learnt act of waiting in Britain.

Firstly what attracted my attention was the absence of an obvious line. Unlike British bus waiters who edge the road along one side of a bus stop in hierarchical  order, people stood in what seemed like random intervals from each other in a perpendicular fashion from the stop on the wide footpath. Not many sought information on the bus stop itself which was indicative of their status as regular travellers rather people simply stopped walking in the general vicinity of the bus stop. And waited. Pedestrians became bus waiters simply by the nature of their movement rather than their location. The boundary area for waiting was difficult at first to discern as people stood against office buildings, near the road work fencing and close to the road. Simply by arriving within the boundaries of the waiting area pedestrians became bus waiters. Pedestrians not wanting a bus continued to walk along the footpath, weaving through the waiters. Despite the lack of an obvious line a distinct hierarchy  of waiters could be discerned after a period of observation and the movement of people on and off arriving buses. The random formation of waiters was in fact a clearly demarcated pattern that was merely dormant until catalysed by the arrival of a bus. Upon the sighting of a bus people started to move forward, in order of arrival. Some people walked faster to the door, others hung back and waited their turn.

the bus as a case study.

There is a small case study in this book about the blog and website. It's in a chapter on Using the internet written by Nina Wakeford, Kate Orton Johnson and myself.

Like most academic publications there is a long time between writing and printing which means unfortunately that the screen grabs I submitted are from the old website (pre-October 2005). Still, getting images in academic texts is pretty rare and they didn't print up too bad.

a family of conductors.

I recently received this lovely email from Martin, an ex-conductor, who said it would be ok to post it to the blog.

Have been on your site many times, as an ex bus conductor at Tottenham garage it brings back many memories of the late 1970s when I was a conductor. At the time also my brother, who now works as a manager and you interviewed, was also a conductor as previously was my father. I could tell you so many stories relating to route 73 that I think a book could be written. My favourite story was of some German tourists getting on the  bus at  the Albert hall late one Saturday night and asking just for Tottenham. I  issued  the tickets and did not think anymore of them as the journey was quite busy. It was only when I arrived at Tottenham Swan when the said Germans came down  as I shouted all change that I realised they were still there. One said to me are we there yet, Tottenham Court Road! I could not tell them the truth of where they had ended up and why but just directed them across the road to get an N90 to just up the road. Great memories of a great bus route my favourite, always the no 73. Cheers for a great piece of work.

Thanks Martin. I, and I'm sure a lot of other people, would love to hear more of your stories.

25 filmmakers, 1 bus, 7 days.

Next Tuesday (7th February) the Ritzy Cinema will host the screening of "Farewell Routemaster" - the Film Challenge - which saw 25 filmmakers document the Routemaster over a seven day period.

Here's the blurb:

In the final week of the Routemaster's London passenger service in Dec 2005, London filmmakers were challenged to go out onto the streets of London and make a film about the iconic British bus that was about to vanish from commuter service for ever.

25 filmmakers responded to the challenge to record the last days of this cultural icon in its original form.  And with just 7 days to complete them, 13 short films were made.

The Farewell Routemaster Film Challenge  Finalist films are to be screened by The Ritzy Picturehouse on 7th Feb, the eve of the 50th Anniversary of the first ever Routemaster commuter service - Route 2 from Golders Green to Crystal Palace, through Brixton (No. 2 first entered passenger service in deep snow on the 8th February 1956 and would have celebrated 50 years of Routemaster passenger service in 2006).

The finalist films, from some of London's most talented independent filmmakers, cover several genres of film including animation, drama, documentary and comedy. The best film, chosen by an industry panel, will be presented with a prize of ￡500 at the end of the screening.

Also part of the evening, is a screening of ARENA: Little Platform, Big Stage, a film commissioned by the BBC to celebrate the now extinct character at the heart of this much loved machine – the Bus Conductor.  The film tells the extraordinary stories of five conductors from five decades of London's history and first went out in December on BBC4 as part of a 'Bus Night' to celebrate the Routemaster.

The Farewell Routemaster Film Challenge celebrates London's cultural heritage through the spirit of independent filmmaking and captures many special moments from the last week of the Routemaster service.  It is designed for anyone who has a soft spot for the bus and who misses its presence on London's streets.  All the filmmakers will be at the event and a number of Routemaster drivers and conductors will also be invited as special guests.

LOCATION:  The Ritzy Cinema, Brixton
DATE:  February 7th 2006. 
TIME:  7pm – 9pm
TICKETS:  ￡5 –
To book, visit www.ritzycinema.co.uk or www.picturehouses.co.uk, email ritzy@picturehouses.co.uk, or call Box Office on 08707 550 062

outback bus stop.

Travelling from Broken Hill to Dubbo, NSW, Australia.

Travelling through Oz.

I'm currently in Australia doing fieldwork with Genevieve Bell, Director of User Experience at INTEL. So far we've been up to Coober Pedy, in and around Adelaide and we'll be heading to Sydney via Broken Hill and Dubbo shortly. This is one of the many photos she has been taking of a toy bus on our travels.

Oxford Street| Two minutes | 21.20 - 21.22

The last day of the scarlet icons.

Today is the last day of the Routemaster in London. The 159RM will finish tonight at 13.15.

Some nerdy details for planning your evening on the last few RM's [provided by Routemaster Association]:

Friday 9th December: Routemasters will be in operation as normal but will gradually be replaced by VLAs from late morning onwards, with the last RM service leaving Marble Arch at around 12.10, bus stop L. The changeover is being carried out in daylight in order to give the best photographic opportunities and to make the event safer for all concerned. The majority of seats on the last bus are being kept for the general public but it will be on a first come, first served basis. The final parade back to Brixton Garage will consist of RMs 5, 6 and, last of all, RM2217 - the last standard RM built. Passengers will be off-loaded at Brixton Garage before the buses enter and nobody will be allowed in to the depot. It is scheduled to arrive at BN at 13.15, but will almost inevitably be late.

There is also a great list of suggestions for RM owners who intend on taking their own bus into the city today to commemorate the last official RM route such as not stopping at bus stops, not carrying official livery and not picking up passengers. Considering the open backed nature of the bus and potential enthusiasm of punters to have a last ride - this should be interesting.

Being the last bus there is of course much mourning in the media today.

The BBC are hosting Bus Night - with listings of the documentaries, sitcomes and movies to be shown on tv tonight. The BBC Four doco Little platform, Big stage looks particularly interesting It tells the stories of five conductors over five decades.

Doubledecker video clips - a compilation of film snippets from Blue Peter to The Good Life where the bus has appeared.

I Love Routemasters - various London figures reminisce about the bus.

The Bus We Loved - one of many reviews of that book by Travis Elborough published this month.

New routes for defunct red buses? All the different uses that new owners are putting their Routemasters to - from bars to accommodation for the homeless.

Requiem for the Routemaster - an orchestral piece composed to coincide with the decommissioning of the last remaining Routemaster by Tom Smail, a musician and composer.

I'm at school today so I may not get there for a last ride. But I hope to hear from some of you who do get the chance.

you know, i didn't hear it arrive.

bye.

The platform - a performative stage, a promiscuous place.

I took these photos sitting on the right hand bench seat on my final journey home on the No.38 RM.

Looking at them now, in collage, there is a sense of unbridled wildness. The city blurs and lights stretch. People rush in and push past. They fill the frame and empty it again. Kids run to catch the moving bus, their legs racing, hands outstretched in a bid to grasp the rail. They make it, bodies leaping, voices screeching. They jump off again, game over, narrowly missing cars and bikes. All the while, the conductor weaves through the bodies, riding the edges of the platform, leaning out into the city.

It is calm, then frantic, then calm again.

The platform is a counterpoint - a space of encounters with danger in many guises. It is where the conductor meets the city, the bus meets the road, passengers meet each other. The risk, the danger, the potential for encounters is seductive. It is a performative stage, a promiscuous place. People come and go. Others are motionless. The conductor casually watches everything.

Riding the platform and watching the road dissolve beneath me is one of my favourite London experiences. It feels wild and free and flirtatious. I will miss it.

One of the last 38's.

The last No.38 bus runs tonight.

The No.38 bus finishes tonight. As of tomorrow, all routemaster buses will be replaced with new bendy ones. After the No.38, there is only one other routemaster route in operation - the No.159. However it ends in a few weeks too - on 9th December.

I was alerted to this news via an email from Jonathan Wolfe;

I thought you might be interested in a song mourning the demise the number 38 bus (it's the last weekend of this routemaster!). I wrote it a while back and after getting the news of the demise from Transport for London a couple of days ago thought I had to post it up on my website at www.jonathanwolfe.co.uk

The song is wonderful. Have a listen.

I also found this bus happening at The Old Red Lion on Sunday night. They are commemorating the No.38 with poetry and music.

Come along on Sunday 30th of October to celebrate the last day of the No. 38 Routemaster Bus, which has trundles pass this pub since anyone can remember!! Free Admission - Starts in the bar @ 8.30

I'm off now. I have to catch a bus, or two.