The Routemaster Bus (Perpetual Motion) BBC Documentary

[@geoffgeoff5586]

Brought a tear of nostalgia to me. At the age of 19 I was a conductor of the 22 (Putney to Homerton) from Battersea Garage.. They were great days. Sydney where I now live has two RMs in a museum. They are coming out tomorrow for a "London Bus Day" and now aged 66 I will conduct one again...something I never thought would ever happen. It will turn back time for me!

[@bensummers5287]

We have one RM and an RT :).

[@trainrover]

Yep! me too, tears also welled up in my eyes, as in that whole, somewhat shy ordinariness to being greeted and helped onto a bus

[@trainrover]

Of Montreal's own (roofless) dozen RMs, the shock absorbers of two's worth alarmingly suffer at 15MPH (mere tourist transports along notorious Quebec blacktops) ; kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y2msp6muobZogqc ; kzbin.info/www/bejne/bKasqIyaqKh_iqc ; kzbin.info/www/bejne/gn7Req2LmLpkarM 🍸

[@adamconner5584]

I have the pleasure of owning one of these wonderful buses. I've been all over the country in it plus Ireland & France. But, whenever I take it into London it seems to know it's home. It fits in so well with the traffic etc. even after all these years.

[@ZekeGraal]

I just watched your videos, that old diesel sound is awesome. I was always upset that I never got to see one here in the US, but perhaps if I travel across the pond one day I shall get to hear one in person!

[@willb3698]

Adam Conner Beautiful mate - You describe her well in your post above It seems like your living the whole "Summer Holiday" deal by taking the old girl to France.

[@mrlarkin6416]

Nice one Adam glad you travelled to Ireland with her 😁

[@busesnbeats1753]

Very nice rm Adam I’m a 11 year old and I love Routemasters. My dad has owned 7 buses over the years and now owns rm 2037 a very rare Leyland Routemaster

[@felixthecleaner8843]

Nostalgia at it's finest - I came to London in 1974 as a youngster and saw the last part of the 'London era'.

[@timwebb8780]

Worked at aldenham bus garage 1978 to 1986. Best days of my working life......

[@otrdiaryofwushurichard2100]

SADLY MISSED YES ABSOLUTELY GREAT BUS AND MEMORIES

[@Dave-ko2pr]

This was broadcast in 1992

[@alicanharryreilly8353]

Routemaster 70 took place on Both weekend on 20th July/21th July 2024 at Chiswick Business Park the Former Site of Chiswick Works to celebrate 70 years of the Prototype Routemaster RM1 since it was first launched at Earls Court Motor Show back in September 1954 & Entered Service in 1956 on Route 2 Between Golders Green & Crystal Palace from Cricklewood Bus Garage

[@Fcutdlady]

Sorry I missed that . Stuck here in Dublin with work .

[@Fcutdlady]

3 are running in Dublin with vintage tea trips Jean-RM654 Kitty-RM 2078 Pauline-RM811

[@franhiatt1]

Super charming bus and sadly missed. I hate to see these iconic buses being scrapped and dismantled because they could have gone on indefinitely. Also, the bus conductor was a feelgood security factor, which is one reason why many people no longer travel by bus in the evenings on one-man operation models.

[@redboy8821]

no conductor now in new route master busses ?

[@franhiatt1]

I've not seen one so I don't know.

[@djpeekay25]

Peter Barrs the new RMs are not a patch on the old ones!

[@cjmillsnun]

Not any more. The back doors are locked out of use. The replacement for the Boris Master doesn't even come with back doors

[@EdVanMeyer]

Best bus ever!

[@SIMONWINTER-m6d]

The conductor of the 88 at the beginning of the video is Tommy Kavanagh.I worked with him at Stockwell garage in South London from 1975 until 1984.A friendly Irish man he served as a union committee member. I served London as a conductor from 1975 until 1979 and as a bus driver from1979 until I retired in 2024.In all my nearly 45 years of driving there was never,in my opinion, a better bus ever made.

[@mrlarkin6416]

Ah,, the friendly face bus, I used the number 12 quite regularly when I lived and worked in London many happy memories 😎

[@rmbflk]

And the Routemaster has (just about) survived another 30 years since this was made - there was even one shipped down to the Falkland Islands to shuttle tourists along the front road in Stanley but Bessie is now retired!

[@kimballard8362]

Opening clip route number 12 Norwood junction to Harlesden if I remember right 1hour 6 minute journey and Park Royal shorts, I drove from Elmers End 1973 - 1978 great times, loved the RM but the RT for me drivers bus.

[@wilsonflood4393]

Best looking bus!

[@Richardpd16378]

I remember this being a great series, can't remember if it was repeated.

[@lifetimesofamultiplemediam1003]

19:13 That old Routemaster that went off the edge of the cliff, landed on it's wheels!… Surely that means something!

[@willb3698]

Trying to remember my school journey: 3 from Croxted Road -> Crystal Palace. Then the 49(?) 149 all the way to Wandsworth Common.. Prime seat was upstairs front right Window. Was on an Australian Bus in Sydney yesterday - noisey, fumes, seemingly no attempt to soundproof the engine bay at the rear, seats to small in width and too close together for even the average persons legs, wheel arches in the floorspace between 4 seats, and even no room for prams or bags on some of them. A really BADLY designed bus! Nothing like the Queen of the roads, the Routemaster.

[@trainrover]

Although commuting on (noisy!) GM New Looks right after customarily taking these RM's ended up a godsend...uber stylishness and then toastily comfy when 27 below outdoors, which was *most* incredible.....

[@daftgingercat]

Drove the 2B, Crystal Palace to Baker Street Station out of Norwood Garage in 1987. My Driving instructor was Don Woodgate. Looks a bit like him on the skid pan at 11m 25,

[@BBCletts]

RM (4 bay) then RML (4.5 bay) & now XRM (5 bay) all using weight saving monocoque structure as the lightest bus per passenger ever produced. The sub frame mounting of engine & transmission has enabled re-engining - at least twice, so that a full Euro 6 standard bus can be operated, new transmissions ave also been used. The 2 person operation can halve the PVR and the consensus was that an RM could be timetabled to run at twice the journey speed that a DOO vehicle could run in Central London - at peak times as the film shows, the dwell times for DOO cripple all services as buses queue to load passengers. Half the number of buses needed to run the service = half the number of drivers & fuel etc do the cost of the conductor becomes irrelevant against the bigger savings made. Very telling that it took almost a decade to deliver the design as a working bus, and the focus was on operational efficiency unlike the Borismaster - over hyped and massively overweight vehicle. Like the London taxi the RM is superbly nimble, whilst NBFL is the limiting factor in the design of bus stations due to the extra space it needs to get in & out

[@excelents]

Kudos for using the final scenes from #TheYoungOnes where the bus goes over the cliff and explodes.

[@willb3698]

1:22 Alert. Alert. That bloke can say what he likes - but tourists love getting on a Route Master. They are iconic. Even now. He had no sense of romanticism.

[@craigbeaumont414]

"A member of the oldest working museum in the world", he said stood in front of a Daimler DMS

[@danielsellers8707]

The DMS was built to replace the RM but were withdrawn before them. This probably contributed to the RM's longevity, even before it became a tourist icon!

[@SIMONWINTER-m6d]

I think that might have been his point,he wasn't trying to promote the Routemaster - philistine !!

[@panduwidagdo7051]

9:33 can anyone tell me what kind of sorcery the engineers have done to achieve that angle?

[@nivlick]

Pandu Widagdo the weight is down low and there's big fat torsion bars keep it level had the pleasure of climbing under one here in Australia.

[@panduwidagdo7051]

It's awesome to see one of them skidding. I don't think a common minivan from that year can do that.

[@allanatton9118]

yy

[@AlexOjideagu2]

Pandu Widagdo Watch it in live and let die

[@gustavochinchilla4324]

@@AlexOjideagu2 www.google.com/amp/s/www.mylondon.news/news/zone-1-news/old-london-bus-decapitated-part-17813745.amp

[@PeterRapley-gv5vt]

Good old London Transport.

[@MikeSmith-yd7cr]

It's sad to see a tradition go out of style

[@AlexOjideagu2]

Mike Smith you can't live in the past. The new routemaster is a good compromise

[@SIMONWINTER-m6d]

​@@AlexOjideagu2I would bet you wouldn't say that now in 2025 as we all now know the New Routemaster turned out to be an extension of Boris Johnson's lack of any political integrity. EVERYTHING Johnson did was for his own political ends including the New Routemaster as quietly the plan to work them with conductors was quietly dropped. He wasted a fortune of our money developing a bus to get himself votes .These New Routemasters just became another one person operated bus but with a hefty price tag.Evolutuon was talked about by a member of the original "real" Routemaster team Colin Curtis but this evolution is now happening at a faster pace with buses becoming obsolete in a few years rather than a few decades. The new Routemaster is already obsolete as fully electric buses are now the vogue and they are planned to be withdrawn by 2030.I wonder if someone in officialdom were to do the maths and see how much the New Routemaster project cost in total whether they would be surprised to see just how much Johnson wasted to get votes for himself.

[@parfaitsengomona5231]

The elderly lady is at my home stop

[@parfaitsengomona5231]

Vauxhall park

[@parfaitsengomona5231]

It looks different going into Vauxhall

[@richardrichard5409]

Isn't Ckiff driving an RT?

[@TheWacoKid1963]

They were so popular only one bus company outside of London purchase them from new.

[@mufc10529]

gm buses in manchester had one

[@TheWacoKid1963]

Second hand, Not brand new

[@BenDover-wu7ed]

And your point is?? Silly bollocks

[@richardrichard5409]

Very true👍

[@The_Car_Stalker]

after slagging them off the the whole video Ensign now have a load of RM's for hire

[@taxidude]

One man operated buses cause congestion as it takes longer for passengers to get on. During this time, the engine is ticking over spewing out carbon monoxide.

[@darylb889]

Ensign telling us that bus cannibalisation is bad.. ironic..

[@andyclark1426]

Exactly, he’s standing there bleating on about how bad that is and guess what they do now

[@Keithbarber]

Ironic? Hypocritical more like

[@smurf302]

Such a shame to see Aldenham so delipidated

[@cjmillsnun]

It's now demolished.

[@stephenport4768]

A great bus like the RT designed and built for a purpose a evolution in design practical and easy to repair the design it's a shame why don't we design practical vehicles that are built with passenger driver operator's and engineers in mind

[@FishOnTwoWheels]

The RT that you quote is The Regent, which was the bus BEFORE the Routemaster, i.e The RM.

[@tangerinedream7211]

These new BYDs arent going to last anywhere near as long, but at least they'll be nice and warm in winter.😉🤣🤣🤣

[@PeterRapley-gv5vt]

As far as I'm concerned, it's still London Transport, not Transport for London.

[@andyclark1426]

A young George Watson, became our gaffer at clydeside Scottish

[@playDaftPunk]

what is the song @ 3:13?? please

[@tbarneselectrical]

playDaftPunk it's Cliff Richard, we're all going on a summer holiday.

[@richardrichard5409]

12 people died on average every year from falling off the RMs entrance area.

[@ianmayes8072]

"Please wait for the stop!" You cannot design for total stupidity. Maybe it is a natural selection thing....(Ding. Ding. Hold tight please!")

[@swanvictor887]

so...1... ONE per month out of a population of twelve million people. Sounds incredibly safe to me.

[@richardrichard5409]

@@swanvictor887 what population is 12 million?

[@swanvictor887]

@@richardrichard5409 at the time, Central and Greater London had a rough population of 12 million... however, since 1016 and the Brexit referendum, London has lost 9% of its population as the Europeans left for good, reducing the population down to around 9 million for all London and its environs.

[@LizzyFerretOfficial]

Not one mention of accessibility and how hardly anyone with a physical disability could use one, let alone a mum with a buggy.

[@swanvictor887]

don't people with disabilities get cars leased for them from the Government: the motorbility scheme? From what I see in London, mum's have buggies all right...BMW X5s....

[@LizzyFerretOfficial]

@@swanvictor887you’re kidding, right? The motability scheme requires an advanced payment for the use of the vehicle over 3 years, the vehicle is then given back at the end of that term. During the 3 year term the disabled person gives up their monthly PIP allowance. So it’s not a lease because there’s no way for the disabled person to keep the vehicle they’ve invested in at the end and it’s certainly not free as is often the misconception. A full time wheelchair user will require a larger vehicle (more expensive) with an automatic transmission (more expensive) and extras like electric tailgates & seats that make a wheelchair user’s day to day life easier all have to be spec’d at their expense over the listed advanced payment too - but remember they don’t get to see any of that 3 years down the track. The Motability scheme however - owned by the big 4 banks - have it well sewn up with their own auction houses through which they offload the vehicles often at profit (because they’ve not paid any VAT on them to begin with, they’re one of the the world’s largest fleet owners so have huge discount buying power and the vehicles often have low mileage for their age) not before removing and *disposing of* any costly adaptations like hand controls, hoists and transfer plates. So. Aye. That’s all a reason to skimp on making public transport accessible in big cities 🙄