New Routemaster routes branded as their own network?

This is a follow up to my previous article showing the list of routes served with New Routemaster (NRM) routes.

As the number of New Routemaster routes has increased to 25, I do think they should have a specific branded service which is similar to the East London Transit and Fastrack Bus Rapid Transit scheme and the old Red Arrow service.

The New Routemaster is a 3 door 2 staircase hybrid bus, providing a 3 door open boarding platform which is similar to the Bendy buses when they were around during the decade of 2000’s.

The original purpose of the NRM was to bring back the open platform which the original AEC Routemaster featured, but only a small number of routes have an open platform with a 2nd crew member at the rear of the bus.

By having a 3 door open boarding it makes it in to a Semi Bus Rapid Transit due to the fast boarding. The drawback with open boarding is the fare evasion, as we saw with the bendy buses, but thankfully in September there will be a 1 hour fare scheme which will enable passengers to change buses in one fare for one hour.

Why did I come up with this idea? Because of the New Routemaster design evolving to new bus models such as the Alexander Dennis Enviro400H City and the Wright Volvo B5LH SRM (Son of Routemaster). London Buses routes 78 and 26 are currently served with the Enviro400H City and soon a small number of Wright SRM's will appear on route 13. Having the New Routemaster routes in their own brand can separate the confusion, like the open boarding from the standard buses.

This scheme is not really a bus rapid transit as in order to make it so, the route needs its own segregated busways. Many of the routes in London have bus lanes and roads which are access for buses only. The faster boarding, which is to board by any 3 doors also counts as a bus rapid transit as it reduces the time spent at bus stops.

The NRM shows to be similar to a bus rapid transit service, but they don’t have their own branding, it’s the route served by the NRM which makes the branding in order to bring a service.

I’m only suggesting the idea because East London Transit have their own branded service which includes East London Transit branding on the bus stops they serve.

As the rollout of the 3 door 2 staircase NRM comes to a close by acheiving a fleet of 1,000 buses, it's time to move towards zero emission buses!

If you think this is a good idea then drop me a comment in the comment section below.

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Image attribution
By Aubrey Morandarte from Guildford or Coventry, England - London Central LT438 on Route 12, County Hall, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40981714
By Au Morandarte from London, Middlesex, England - IMG_7057, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34229309