The final bus ride.

I think it will take a few posts to cover the last bus ride as it turned into a complex and complicated evening. It was significant, memorable and poignant; a fitting send-off for the bus. (This great image comes from The London Bus Page).

Comments

[Joshua Singleton]

validness deindividualize gleeman tailward drafty bid tisane pacifist
J. Borstell - Century 21
http://www.aguasmansas.com

[Martin]

A belated riposte to the first part of the post from 'Ken', but also inspired by Kat's comments on the sonic profiles of the new buses. About half the Routemasters on the 19 (a route which I use regularly) have new engines which make them much quieter and they seem to pollute less. The difference in sonic profile between old and new engines is actually most noticeable from outside the bus.

So noise and pollution aren't reasons to get rid of Routemasters. In fact I'd expect putting new engines in old buses to be a much 'greener' approach overall than buying new buses.

[ilona]

Am gutted I missed the last night of the 73... had forgotten i was having a sisters night with my siblings. will certainly ride the last 12, as it goes near my house...

yes, the bendy buses are foul. however, i rode a cell-powered mercedes RV1 (great route: tower hill to covent garden via fiddly roads in borough, south bank etc) yesterday and it was fun. they have that seat sorta next to the driver so it's like YOU ARE DRIVING THE BUS! well i liked it...

[ken]

The route master
stinks,
breaks down (though it doesn't explode),
is very loud
and the damn conductor takes up valuable standing space!
It was really clear that the route 73 drivers need more time to adapt to the new buses or pershaps driving lessons because I saw several pile-ups/bits of congestion when 73 buses were back2back2back or trying to turn a corner or . . .

now on the matter of German engineering versus British as posted by Simon . . . Are the British trains also a bit of German engineering? Or the tube without ventilation? . . . But we certainly wouldn't want to change those icons either!

[kat]

Simon - this is fantastically subversive. Like it alot.
Can I add more....

WARNING THIS BUS IS
NOT A ROUTEMASTER

WARNING THIS BUS IS
NOT AN ICON

WARNING THIS BUS
LACKS A CONDUCTOR

WARNING THIS BUS
MAY BURST INTO FLAMES

[Simon Bingham]

HELLO I was stuck behind a bendy on my way through Angel this morning on my cycle, and noticed a warning sign its said

WARNING THIS BUS IS
18 METERS LONG

18 METERS LONG..... I had a idea,,, what if you Repaced the 18 meters long with something else !!

What if you got a perfectly sized yellow sticker.........

WARNING THIS BUS IS
TO LONG

WARNING THIS BUS IS
GOING KNOWHERE FAST

WARNING THIS BUS IS
EXPENSIVE

WARNING THIS BUS IS
MOBILE ROAD BLOCK

WARNING THIS BUS IS
SO BORING

WARNING THIS BUS IS
GERMAN

Well I thought its was funny, Any more suggestions, anyone know were I can get stickers made, of course I would not seriously putting funny stickers on the back
bendy buses.... or would I ;-)

Simon