Video: Buses at Romford 17-09-14

Today I filmed some buses at Romford today, walking through the station and past The Liberty car park. You can see I filmed various double deckers including route 66 which uses the DW's from Clapton Garage.

Contactless Bank card for Tube, DLR, Tram and rail begins on the 16th September

On the 16th September 2014, you will be able to use your contactless bank card to travel on the London Underground, Overground, Docklands Light Rail, Trams and National Rail services in London.

Contactless bank cards was first introduced on London buses from the 13th December 2012. Price caps for London Buses were introduced last month which allows passengers to ride for more then four buses at the cost of £4.40. Also passengers would benefit for a weekly cap which is equivalent to a weekly bus pass.

Since its going to be expanded on other TFL services it will cost the contactless bank card users no more then a daily Travelcard. If they use the system for a week then they will get a weekly price cap which is equivalent to a weekly Travelcard.

RATP Dev acquires Arriva's The Original Tour London Sightseeing

RATP Dev just acquired one of Arriva's bus operations which is The Original Tour London Sightseeing.

The Original Tour Sightseeing London is one of the tour operators in Central London which operates 6 routes with local (cash) fares included in their services. All Tour bus services in Central London operates on a London Service Permit, therefore the services are not contracted by Transport for London.

The Original Tour was founded in by June 1951 by the London Transport Executive at the time of The Festival of Britain. In 1986 it was privatised, being sold to London Coaches / Blue Triangle. In December 1997 it was sold to Arriva. After 17 years, RATP Dev purchased The Original Tour.

RATP Dev Issued the statement from their website.

RATP Dev announces the acquisition of “The Original London Sightseeing Tour”, a pioneer and major operator in the sightseeing sector in London, thereby confirming expansion in this field and in the United Kingdom.

Comparing the New Double deck bus types

Below is a table that I have produced to compare the different bus types that the manufacturers provide.  The buses listed on the table are conventional buses except for the New Routemaster because it’s specifically designed.

Video of London Buses route 66 in Double Deck operation.

You may be interested that I have captured video of route 66 in action. It uses Wright Gemini 2 VDL DB300 where it was based from Clapton garage (CT). The bus is now currently in Grays (GY) for route 66 and briefly on route 370.

Cost of converting a route to the New Routemaster operation

In this article I will be concentrating on the cost of the New Routemaster which includes the cost of converting routes to the full New Routemaster operation.

You may already know that the New Routemaster was originally called 'New Bus for London', also abbreviated as NBfL/NB4L and colloquially as the 'Borisbus' or 'Borismaster', a portmanteau of the name of the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.

BBC London Online Commuter game found on Archive.org

I remember playing the Commuter game on the BBC London site 10 years ago. This is one of my favourite online games that I remembered playing till it got taken down somewhere in 2008 (according to Archive.org.) But thankfully Archive.org has saved an archive of the game as well as the webpage so you can play the online game over again.

Route 66 conversion is now confirmed by Transport for London

This is a follow up to my previous article titled "Where's the double deckers for route 66?"

Transport for London has confirmed that the Route 66 will be using double deck buses. Likely to be used is the DW's from the cast off's of route 38 and 242. But the Peak vehicle requirement will be reduced from 14 back to 11 buses because London Buses added extra workings onto route 66 because of the capacity of the single deck buses. 

From their press release

From Saturday 30 August route 66 will convert from single to double deck buses.  

Route 66, which is operated by Arriva Kent Thameside, runs from Romford Station to Leytonstone via Romford Market, Chadwell Heath, Newbury Park Station, Gants Hill Station, Redbridge Station and Wanstead Station.  

On Saturday the route's 60 capacity single deck buses will be replaced by double deck buses that can carry 87 passengers.  

This improvement has been made by Transport for London (TfL) to ensure that all passengers throughout the route can benefit from higher capacity vehicles.

Docklands Light Railway for OpenBVE

Link to video

The Docklands Light Railway system is an automated Light rail system which serves Docklands as well as East London. During the 1990's Docklands Light Rail became automated, there is no driver but there is a Passenger Service Agent on board which takes care of passengers. In case the train fails, the PSA is able to take control of the train at the drivers console in the front of the train.

On the Video I be driving a B92 stock manufactured by Bombardier. The stations served on the videos as as follows.

Bank
Shadwell
Limehouse
Westferry
West India Quay
Canary Whalf
Heron Quays
South Quay
Crossharbour
Mudchute
Island Gardens
Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich
Greenwich

Light Rail systems in London (DLR and Trams)

Northern Line for OpenBVE: Kennington to High Barnet via Charing Cross

Link to video