The New Bus For London Is Now In Full Service
On Saturday 22nd June 2013 bus route No.24 became the first of London's bus services to be operated with a full fleet of what are called the "New Bus For London" (NB4L).
This film was taken on Tuesday 25th June 2013 and comprises of a few snapshot type scenes showing these buses in action.
Although route No.24 passes through Westminster and other famous areas in central London I decided to film at more 'normal' locations, such as are used by ordinary people.
So the places seen in the film include Tottenham Court Road (at the junction with Howland Street, at the start of the film), Gower Street and from the raised section of footpath just outside the main entrance to University College Hospital (near to Euston Square underground station). Some of the Gower Street views also show an entry point to the congestion charge zone. Of course the buses are exempt from the congestion charge.
The building with a reflective glass wall is just to the north of the Euston / Marylebone Road underpass, at the southern end of Hampstead Road, and the BT / GPO tower is also seen from Hampstead Road.
To mask the traffic noise I also added some background music:
"On the Cool Side" by Kevin MacLeod
Licensed under a CC Attribution 3.0.
incompetech.com/music/royalty-....
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These buses coming into public service fulfills a pre-election pledge by the Mayor of London, Mr Boris Johnson, to create a new accessible version of the Routemaster type of bus (with the open rear door) that the former Mayor (Mr Ken Livingstone) withdrew from London, just a few years after their expensive refurbishment and against the wishes of many Londoners.
Mr Livingstone also introduced into London a fleet of articulated buses, which many Londoners did not favour and when he was elected Mr Johnson withdrew from London.
In honour of Mr Johnson these new buses are sometimes nicknamed "Borismaster" or the "Boris Bus". I am not sure how these nicknames came about - perhaps from media wags? Online discussion groups? Certainly the lack of an official bus name leaves a vacuum which these terms are sometimes used to fill.
The creation of these new buses has been expensive, with many people suggesting that in an era of austerity the cost does not represent value for money.
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Thanks for the video..I live more than 7000 miles from London and I am a big fan of red london buses..especialy the old ones..
I have some interior views on the film that was uplifted to KZread on 15th January 2012, using images sourced when the first vehicle was shown off to the public. I did ride on a a very crowded route 24 NB4L bus but there was a problem with the sound (only on one side) so I did not use it here. Next time I'm in central London I'll try again.
I heard it happened, as our Prime Minister and London's Mayor were supposed to have been there with it. I thought that it was going to travel around the USA as a marketing tool to promote British Businesses and boost our exports. But maybe some of the other vehicles are going to be used in this way. Maybe someone else will know more.
very nice....they should run LED billboards on the bus to recoup operating cost.
What a very cool looking bus, wish we had 'em here! Thanks for posting.
I think so - that was the idea although some people have said that the bus conductors have stopped people from doing this. But I've also heard that the bus conductors are being "retrained" to allow this. When I boarded the bus I had to use the front door as I had a paper one day Travelcard. The RFID ticketing is OK for going to work but when I am in 'tourist' mode I buy paper tickets - as that way I know that I will never need to pay extra money, which can happen with the RFID Oyster system
you can not beat the 362 bus route King Georges to Grange Hill , is the Best
Ken had other baggage which many people did not like, and he did himself no favours by getting rid of the older Routemasters. BTW, Boris really peeved me by getting rid of the zone 2-6 and 2-9 one day Travelcards. I often bought these - but not the 1-9 as its twice the price of the 2-9! I am not sure how the nicknames of Borismaster and Boris Bus came about - perhaps from media wags? Online discussion groups? Certainly the lack of a proper bus name leaves a vacuum which these terms fill.
True..!!
You can't beat the enviro400
It probably is depressed, as the story through the grapevine is that they keep breaking down, with battery problems. If this is true then maybe they should use ultracapacitors for the regenerative braking, as these are more suited than batteries for rapid absorption and release of electrical energy.
so it seems... I've no idea why. since we are revisiting the past so maybe London's buses will return to showing proper destination and route information as well?
Does anyone know about the NBFL that was shipped to New York two or three months back during a visit to NYC by Cameron and Prince Harry? I saw one picture of it here, and I wanted to go see it. But it was already heading back to London from what I heard. I suspect that NYCT wanted to check out this bus to see if it had potential. 5th Avenue used to have double deckers until the 1950s, (and tried again in 1976) and a DD was recently used on an express line between Manhattan and Staten Island.
Loving the transport vids...is it me or does that bus look depressed...?
@mrkrisps4489
5 жыл бұрын
Cee Hndz' Forza TV, it’s you It looks like the happiest bus ever built, with a face that looks like it’s saying I’m so popular!!
Do they have voith Diwa gearbox
Bendy buses were terrible. For some reason Brighton & Hove buses thought they'd be a great idea and bought a significant number of them for their Number 25 route. I suppose they work well enough, seeing as they're used on one of the busiest route, and a route mainly used by students at that. Cramming them all in an extra long bus with extra standing room was probably their most efficient solution. Doesn't make them any better though, especially in the city centre where about 10 buses at once could be trying to get passed each other.
back to white on black blinds then?
I agree that Livingstone did himself no favours by getting rid of the RMs. I'm still not sure how much he was a victim of the new disability legislation, or how much he could have fought it. I just think it's wrong to feed the inate self-publicity of ANY politician by naming things like types of transport after them. "New Routemaster" may not be accurate, but it's better than naming a bus after a "here today, gone tomorrow" politician of any persuasion. But is "NB4L" really catchy enough?
The previous mayor was no better, fwiw. He spent ooldes of money on bendy buses whuich may work well in other countries but many people in London did not want or like them here. The articulated buses wree good for free rides however, as people could board at any door and "to save money" there were so few travelling ticket inspectors that many passengers did not bother paying a bus fare. In the end the ticket inspectors had to work in large groups, with the police, to avoid being attacked.
@mrkrisps4489
5 жыл бұрын
citytransportinfo, I’m glad someone understands how useless, dangerous, expensive, space taking, fraudulent and so on the Articulated Bus was in London, it may of been cool on the fact it could bend but that was it, because there was never a single good story about it. However the NBFL/New Routemaster is a smart and futuristic, but as we all know it did have it’s odd few problems, ( such as air con and batterie fails ) but at least it’s never caught fire, got stuck or done anything as stupid as the silly articulated bus. Hopefully the air con and battery issues can be resolved, but other than that, the NBFL is a great investment that will make money for London!
I don't think it's depressed, I think it's embarassed by the huge amount of public money our self-publicising Mayor has spent on this vanity project of his.
L Ip
The previous Mayor was vastly better, fwiw. I didn't approve of bendy buses, but at least he didn't insist on them being called Kenbuses, or some such idiotic name, such as the absurd moniker you have (for some strange reason) appended to Johnson's latest folly. I assume he pays you for this publicity? If not, why would any sane person do this?
@mrkrisps4489
5 жыл бұрын
stratman323, if Ken Livingstone made and invented the bendy bus then he would have a point naming it the Kenbus, but he didn’t invent it, what he did is waste public money into a stupid vanity project all because he liked bending buses, anyone knows that you can’t put bendy buses in London, so Livingstone was an utter moron that wanted money not make it. Where as Boris Johnston is making money back and will keep doing so for another 20 years plus. So Johnston is a great mayor that helped the economy.