Buses of England 2000-Reading Variety with Routemasters, Titans, Metrobuses & Olympians

We are back to the last year of the 20th Century, a sunny May 2000. We are in Reading Town Centre and see Ex London Routemasters at work along with ex Harrowbus Metrobuses plus some of Reading's own Metro fleet. Along with their Leyland Titan's & Olympians, almost a mini version of London at that time, although the REading Olympians had Eastern Coach Works bodies on them. This was the last year that Routemasters ran here as Reading Mainline had been brought out by Reading Buses and they converted the crew routes over to OPO. If you liked the video please subscribe to my channel, there are lots more transport & quirky vids to upload!

[@NedPooleD818]

Great stuff- I remember one of the Routemaster drivers used to have a sooty puppet on the back of his hand and used to wave it out the window when trying to pull out!!! The cars let him out every time!! Reading for me was never the same after the Metropolitans disappeared- great buses way ahead of their time with phenomenal acceleration, suspension, fuel consumption and sadly disintegration!!! Have a great Xmas- your vids throughout the year have been a real highlight of 2020:-))

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, MD's were hellfire! Althiugh my understanding was they were heavy on fuel consumption?.....

[@jamesfrench7299]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus but but but but.. They only had a two speed transmission.

[@jamesfrench7299]

@Ned Pool I thought you meant a soiled hand puppet until I looked it up. Anything to shock the motorists into behaving.

[@NedPooleD818]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus Compared to the DMSs of the time the MDs were incredible- the air suspension and acceleration was in a different league....they were fully automatic of course but when first introduced had a ‘kick down’ switch on the dash designed to be used to stop the transmission changing up and down on hills....the drivers soon learnt that by flicking this repeatedly when accelerating you could out run an XR3 at the traffic lights!!! The bus would actually rear up on its back wheels like a dragster and drivers of the Ford Wickeds of the time would be well and truly thrashed!!! Didn’t do much for fuel consumption though and when the buses passed through the works the switches were removed and covered by a crude blanking plate!! Sadly the bodies oxidised and literally fell to pieces- seemed so sad to see such modern vehicles in the Yorkshire scrapyards after about 6 years use:-( Did get some souvenirs from them though!!

[@NedPooleD818]

@@jamesfrench7299 Ha Ha- sorry I thought everyone had heard of Harry Corbett’s Sooty puppet! Reminds me of my junior work colleague who informed the office he had no idea who Morecombe and Wise was!! We all told him to watch some clips on KZbin- when he came in the next day he said they were ‘quite funny like Ant & Dec!!!’

[@TheSimonhammond]

Reading born and bred, I have fond memories from this era! i also lived in Woodley and regonised the f bus, 44a, 44b, 63 and 65. MCW, Leylands, Optare's etc.

[@busestransporta-z781]

Christmas is tomorrow!

[@Ribeirasacra]

I would choose always to take a RM run by Reading Mainline rather than the council ones which covered the route. We had three services covering the route into town. One of the council ones were single deckers, the other was double decker. I cannot remember which make or model. This video must have been taken during the last few months of the RM operation as they were withdrawn in July 2000. That bus stop at the market was always chaotic with too many buses and parked cars.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, i was back in July for Last Routemaster Day.....a future upload!

[@Keithbarber]

From what I understand of the situation Reading mainline was in serious financial situation at this time, running at a heavy loss

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Quite likely, it's always hard to take on an established, larger operation.....

[@zebedep]

Interesting variety of vehicles! Thanks for uploading.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

My pleasure.....Although Reading still seems to have variety and colour, it certainly was the last time i was there in 2018.....

[@rikkilamb5950]

Great video...the olympians are actually Optare to a design by ECW :-)

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Thank you....and for the info! Reading vehicles wasn't something i knew too much about.....

[@ianjones3568]

I used to work above BS Mall at the time and got a tiny Metrorider home, awful buses. Badly designed especially for someone 6ft tall! Good to reminisce in better times.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, i drove a couple of them in around 2002, awful things! Rattled & bounced along the road and not very warm either!

[@markcf83]

Reading was only twenty minutes down the road from me when I was in Slough. Plenty of the Harrow Metrobuses there too.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Yes, i saw plenty of those, there are one or two on this upload.....

[@frostycola42]

people are using phoneboxes lol

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Mobile phones were still a new-ish thing back then!

[@Keithbarber]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus when pay as you go was launched in the late 1990s, mobile phone use surged

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@Keithbarber I think you've had too many beers with Blake! PAYG wasn't around in the 1990s! In around 2002/03 LT issued Staff Passes as Oyster cards, passengers didn't get them in bulk until 2003. Oyster PAYG started in 2004 but not on phones, that came in around 2014 time! Which is more than a decade after this 2000 video, indeed when this was filmed in the last year of the 20th century mobile use still wasn't that great.......

[@Keithbarber]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus STOP! STOP! STOP! There seems to be some confusion creeping in here I think you have misread that, or maybe I haven't made myself clear I meant pay as you go phones were launched in the late 1990s, not oyster Hoping that clears thst matter up And by the way, I'm teetotal

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

@@Keithbarber That makes sense then......And of course Spoons does do teas, handy when others are getting out of their tree on the ale.......

[@Exotic6792]

Very nice.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Thank you.....

[@jamesfrench7299]

This lifted my mood after dealing with coolant change in my car! Bustling area made the video all the better. I'm amazed at what was running in 2000. Nice to see the original BMACs on the Titans and Metros.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

I'm pleased to have been able to cheer you up! It's always nice to look back on times past and see how we lived......

[@jamesfrench7299]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus I looked at a video I did of a busy road around 2000 after a long time last night. There's now a tram line on it! It brought extra meaning.

[@alseeineye]

Great channel, deserves more subs and views

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Thank you.....i am doing my best to upload interesting transport vids.....sadly i haven't been out much this year to add to my more up-to-date video library.....