How it's made: Producing a bus blind

McKenna Brothers, recognised leaders in the supply of Destination Blinds, LED and Dot Matrix Signs to the Passenger Transport Industry, both in the UK and Worldwide, show us how bus blinds are made.

[@DoubleDeckerAnton]

I prefer these electronic paper blinds to the LED Blinds. They look 'more professional' and have a 'classic look' for nostalgic London Buses! I remember the LED's coming in around 2004 to Yorkshire a few years after I started bus driving! The LED is quicker to change blinds but the London paper blinds are quicker than manually 'winding on' the blinds. I think London should stick to the classic look - white lettering on a black background!

[@明くん]

I agree with that ^v^

[@TheTransportHub17]

Me too Anton the blinds we use in London look much nicer and are interesting to scroll through as well as being worth a lot of money in future if you get one from an old bus. I have a route 231 bus blind from a MCW Metrobus which I got from eBay.

[@JaguarProJoe]

Didn’t expect to see you here :)

[@xsaTrainboss]

same

[@PeteS_1994]

What do you think now, the dot matrix technology seems to have improved that it can almost mimic the London Blinds but looks much brighter.

[@Codestud]

My late father used to be a bus driver, and in my childhood I spent quite a bit of time at the depot. I remember when he would roll the blinds to find the correct destination, and it was really fun and kind of fascinating to watch all of the other possible destinations scroll past before he found the correct one.

[@unknownywuux_bus]

Youu have a nice dad

[@mikegee8074]

Wow what a great video and what amazing skill and artistry, So pleased that London had kept producing these and not gone for those horrible LCD ones that most of the country seem to have these days,

[@user-74652]

These look so much nicer and cleaner than what the old TTC streetcars and subways use (the new ones use LED signs). In fact, they look nicer and cleaner than LED signs.

[@ultrasoundblinds]

Totally genius. We make and install every style of blind but I can't say we've ever made a bus blind!

[@TTE441]

- this answer the questions of why I see them spinning sometimes as the bus is going along

[@juliesmith5567]

Great video for seeing those made and now how to fit along the bus tops as some many destinations what workers do for transporter they go along a time they know where there going

[@DaveInBridport]

I was surprised you still used screen printing. I imagined the blind would go from computer direct to printing.

[@ctra1ns]

How to make a bus blind for a countryside bus. Take a sheet of paper, write the destination on it and place it on the windshield

[@unknownywuux_bus]

Thank you ctra1ns

[@DerekCollinsProject]

Interesting but it seems that a new sign is needed/made for any changes rather than an LED box that can be reprogrammed.

[@JP_TaVeryMuch]

I'm glad to have finally joined the club of You Tube viewers who have reached the stage of evolution/indoctrination marked by the comment: I've no idea why I watched this but I'm seriously pleased that I did. Who knew that 'bus blinds were screen printed and in such a captivating way‽ Each step in the process gets intriguingly more impressive especially the instant transformation from rave tent sickly green (02:27) to business like black and white. Just like that.

[@AnthonysTransport]

Any chance I could buy one?

[@omari9593]

Fascinating!!

[@JamesPetts]

Very interesting - but why do London 'buses all use these roller blinds instead of the LED based displays used in most other areas?

[@miamimovies]

They're not nearly poncy enough.

[@HastingsBuses]

+James Petts It is TfL rule, as it is traditional to have scroll blinds. Buses that are not used on public services, like private hire or sightseeing are allowed other types of destination displays

[@tienlp]

yes it is traditional, I live near Heathrow and see buses from private services like hotel hopper or BA shuttle use LED

[@RoamingAdhocrat]

I'd guess London bus routes are more fixed than elsewhere in the country. Blinds are more legible but harder to alter.

[@andreads502]

cuz they are british...

[@Josephfuture]

mate just give me half an hour and a felt tip pen and i´ll have it done no problem

[@johnrobertson9951]

How and who makes the "blind box" i have a bus roll sign, but need to if there is anyone out there who can sell me, and or make me the rolling blind box....

[@Fcutdlady]

There is a video here of how this was done in the 1950's. Interesting to compare the 2

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

Aldenham must have made over a million blinds in its time. Just think there were nearly 7000 RT buses, all with 7 blinds each, plus other diesel buses & Trolleybuses and even Underground trains, some of which had Aldenham blinds fitted. Every time there were route changes blinds at a whole garage could be changed, New Cross say, with over 150 buses allocated plus spare blinds in the stores. All changed overnight, 150+ buses with 7 blinds each! And LT was constantly changing routes as well as in later years introducing new types which all needed new blinds....constant, non stop blind production until the day it closed!

[@c2757]

@@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus According to the video, LT blinds were made at Elstree. kzbin.info/www/bejne/h2LVg6mXZdmoncU

[@chris_1337]

That is fascinating!

[@oceannspiritt659]

i see they were showing us the bus blind for the 49 bus route

[@dorian0017]

Interesting...

[@BenRangel]

Looks way prettier than a LED sign. But then again - lots of delays are probably caused by this ancient system. When a bus breaks down you can't bring in any other bus - you have to replace the sign or find a replacement bus from the same route.

[@jakewebb6888]

BenRangel it has to be assigned to the garage not the route

[@SelkentBus]

if they realy need to bring out a bus they will just get another size (Double Decker or Single Decker) from the garage it came from because all the buses their have the same blinds per type and if they some how run out of double deckers they will send out a bus with a piece of paper saying what route its on.

[@southlondoner7169]

How did the destinations just come up when he clicked his computer?

[@unknownywuux_bus]

I like the green ones they look nicer tbh

[@jonweinraub]

What is the typeface on the blinds?

[@gordoncameron161]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnston_(typeface)

[@jonweinraub]

+Gordon Cameron thank you!

[@joepublic200]

There is a new Hanover blind kit that is LED and looks exactly like these traditional blinds, so these will become a thing of the past soon. TfL is trialling 7 units now, before rollout across London

[@Bobdd0]

This dudes cadence is a bit jumpy. Its kinda fun

[@HassanRaashid]

The new italic looking font for most of the blinds is atrocious, it was much better when all the blinds had the standard johnston font and were properly stretched out to the ends rather than having some huge and tiny destination blinds. This also includes the bus route displays.

[@Bobbyandmog]

I believe that they are bringing the johnston font back as i recently saw a refurbished bus with new blinds,it was 100% the johnston font

[@HassanRaashid]

​@Bobbyandmog aren't all the font styles part of the Johnstone font? I saw an article about the changes to blinds that took place ages ago: www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fdougrose.co.uk%2Fimages%2Fcover-bus-blinds.jpg&tbnid=KktFKRaByAew5M&vet=1&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fdougrose.co.uk%2Findex_bus_blinds.htm&docid=q0FYMomDIINbcM&w=266&h=634&source=sh%2Fx%2Fim%2Fm4%2F2&kgs=f61ee5fa3911b24a&shem=abme%2Ctrie#vhid=KktFKRaByAew5M&vssid=mosaic The newer blinds look so much better but still not as good as the pre 2016 blinds before all types of italics were introduced 😂

[@marksmith334]

Maybe get him the right length ruler ?

[@killerjunejune8168]

What about green there are green blinds As well

[@jmidland4617]

I dont think they do the green blinds anymore

[@HH-qm2gc]

It's surprising that the process is still quite manual and quite a skill of handiwork.. I was expecting to see more machinery being used.

[@QuarioQuario54321]

Here's an idea that'd take less time, using a digital display, these lets stations like jskcfiskoappeodkdk exist.&if the bus's ending@a stop that isn't on the blind, it doesn't have to be replaced, they can just add it into the logic.

[@SelkentBus]

All curtailment points that TFL allow are on the blinds anyways so if a bus stops short the destination will be on the blinds. They would not program every stop into an L.E.D display as TFL only allows routes to be curtailed to certain stops in emergency.

[@QuarioQuario54321]

@@SelkentBus What about if the bus has to go somewhere different than usual?

[@peridotfacet2r7p-5xr2]

We need a new route

[@popz5337]

301 Bexleyheath, Shopping Centre - Woolwich. Check it out

[@d4rk_matrix]

456 is a new one

[@TLBNation]

In 2018, they were going to have a new route called 311 that runs from Fulham to Oxford but the idea was immediately cancelled

[@peridotfacet2r7p-5xr2]

@@TLBNation well thats clearly not true because oxford is too far out of london and the 702 and oxford tube exist

[@peridotfacet2r7p-5xr2]

@@TLBNation you mean oxford circus? yes sorry that was planned, my bad

[@blakebustervcr]

LED BOX, or just a standard backlit film with lamps. This process seems excessive.

[@PeteS_1994]

And you see from the results. If it wasn't excessive it would probably look shabby.

[@SWTransport]

What font is the writing

[@BusesinLondon345]

South Western Trainspotter & Buses P22 Underground

[@TheNWLondonGBLHgoalto]

@@BusesinLondon345 no. P22 johnson and underground

[@enderlaptopminecrafter390]

anyone from omsi *ROLLSIGN*

[@Jorgito_vll]

Me

[@Jorgito_vll]

Here in Valladolid (Spain) the first bus with DOT-LED technology was a MAN SL202

[@syafeeq1493]

Why not just get a MobitecLED with a Mobitec ICU 600?

[@TransportWithDee]

This seems dodgy, emotion, expose water bath what next😂😂

[@jacksugden8190]

Too much messing about. Production was too slow, there not baking cakes, much easier then in London Transport‘s days at Aldenham Works.

[@cthiriveni1]

.fc.