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| June 2004 |
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| The Routemaster was invented for London,
and apart from a handful operated by Northern General on Tyneside, all
lived and worked in the capital. However in the brave new
world that was created by Deregulation in 1986, the opportunity was taken
by many operators in the wilds of Britain to buy these London
workhorses. They were used chiefly in competitive situations,
but once bus services had settled down again, their purpose
evaporated. Soon their time will be up in London as well. |
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| Post
de-regulation Glasgow brought about a rash of new services.
These were operated by the usual minibuses and the not so usual former
London Routemasters. Clydeside were the largest operator (above
left) with over 80, followed by Kelvin (above right) who had 40
examples. Strathtay too felt the wind of competition in Perth (right)
and Dundee from local operator Stagecoach and were forced to compete
head-on with Routemasters. |
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| Stagecoach were one of the
biggest exponents of Routemasters. They employed them in
Glasgow on a new operation called Magicbus (above left) that served
the Easterhouse and Castlemilk housing estates. Other group
companies such as Cumberland (above right), United Counties and
East Midland also operated them. |
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| Routemasters were
popular in the provinces particularly with former municipal
operators. Blackpool (above right), Burnley &
Pendle, Southampton, and Southend (right) all ran them for a period
in the mid 1980's. Other companies such as East Yorkshire (above),
Liverline in Liverpool, and Verwood Transport from Bournemouth were
also supporters. Fuelled by the oxygen of deregulation, many
of the vehicles ran in direct competition with either incumbent operators
or new startups. By the early 1990's most had gone, with
Reading Mainline (very top) being one of the last to start in 1994
and to finish in 1998. |
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| Some operators just placed
Routemasters in service in LT red livery such as Southampton (left)
who were in competition with Solent Blue Line and GM Buses (above)
who were competing on the route from Piccadilly to West Didsbury with
anyone who owned a bus and fancied making some fast cash. |
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There were some
unusual operators and liveries in London as well. Kentish Bus
operated the (19) Finsbury Park to Battersea Bridge route (above
right) using RM's painted in their distinctive maroon and cream
colours. Capital Citybus, owned by Citybus of Hong Kong,
painted an RM into their standard bright yellow livery (above left).
London & Country also applied their rather smart two-tone green livery
to this RM (left), which coincidentally is the same vehicle as at
Southend above. Nowadays all vehicles running on TfL
(Transport for London) contracts have to use red vehicles. |
| Routemasters
in the Wild |
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| Click to enlarge photos. |
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| Photo
Facts (from top to bottom) |
 | Routemasters at Reading Mainline depot
in August 1997. |
| Clydeside JC15 (VLT73) at
Buchanan bus station in Glasgow in September 1989 on service to
Johnstone. |
| Kelvin Scottish WLT415 and WLT606
behind Argyll St in Glasgow on the newly created (5A) Faifley to
Easterhouse service in September 1986. |
| Strathtay SR3 (WTS329A) wearing
Perth City Transport livery in Perth in December 1989. |
| Strathtay SR19 (VLT221) in one
of two variations of normal Strathtay livery in Perth in December
1986. |
| Magicbus 602DYE at the St.
Enochs centre in Glasgow in September 1986. |
| Cumberland 907 (WLT824) in
Carlisle in March 1988. |
| East Yorkshire 805 (41CLT) in
Hull bus station in March 1990. |
| Blackpool 529 (ALD966B) looking
particularly smart in Blackpool in April 1992. |
| Southend 109 (183CLT) in the
bus station on a golden December day in 1992. |
| Southampton 404 (ALM37B) in
Southampton in August 1987 at the height of the competition with
Solent Blue Line. |
| GM Buses RM2202 (776DYE) in
Manchester Piccadilly in September 1986. |
| Capital Citybus RM429 (XMD81A)
in January 1993. |
| Kentish Bus RM2574 (JJD574D) at
Finsbury Park in January 1993. |
| London & Country RM4109
(183CLT) at Redhill in August 1994. |
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