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It seems there's a two-horse race
on to destroy London's buses at the moment.
Threat number one is from an ideology-warped
bunch of incompetents who hate everything to do
with London's culture, even though it's Londoners
who pay very richly for their keep - and I don't
fancy that al-Qa'eda lot much either. And it goes
without saying that the wholesale redundancies of
conductors are now proving to be a very bad move
indeed where security is concerned! To that end,
on Friday I and a large number of others did what
everybody has really been doing with regard to
the recent spate of fuss and bother - studiously
ignored it. Nobody was going to stop us from
seeing out the 14 and 22, whose last Routemasters
ushered out crew operation with London General,
removed conductors west of Hyde Park Corner and
brought the total number of Routemaster-operated
duties on London's bus system to just one hundred
on three remaining routes. Although intended to be
a fairly low-key send-off by comparison with some
of the festivities surrounding other routes, the
14 and 22 saw not just five of the booked
specials, but additional extras from Ensignbus,
who this time brought out not one, but two
surprises, the latter of which was a real treat.
There were also more normal RMLs on the routes
than we might have wondered as the conversion to
WVL started last month, but seventeen of
twenty-four route 14 workings and nine RMLs on
the 22's nineteen made for a respectable turnout
of over fifty per cent.
As an example
of what was going on prior to launching into the
story, which I've split into two parts despite it
all happening concurrently, here at Putney Common
at half past seven is RML 2669 (SMK 669F), just one of
Putney's usual Routemaster fleet, but on its last
day in service. Just arrived is the splendid
sight of RLH 61 (MXX 261), beautifully
restored by Ensignbus after its repatriation from
Canada.
Without further
ado, proceed to Part One, where I cover the 14's
last day with Routemasters.
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