TRIVIA: Things you saw travelling by bus or coach that you don't see today

[AY1975]

How many things can you think of that you used to see when you travelled by bus or coach in the UK that you don't see today?

Here's a few:

Conductors (AFAIK only London still has them now, and only on the 15H heritage Routemaster route and on "Borismaster" operated routes)

Open rear platform buses (again apart from on London route 15H and "Borismasters", although the latter also have front and centre doors)

Mechanically operated ticket machines, both of the conductor and driver operated variety

"Pendomatic" change-giving chutes

Buses with centre exit doors (AFAIK only London still has them; everywhere else uses the front door for both entrance and exit)

Buses with three- or four-leaf doors

Step-entrance buses (as opposed to low-floor which is now the norm just about everywhere)

Yellow front entrance doors on London buses

Tickets with a letter to denote your fare on London buses

Entrance turnstiles on London buses where you could pay your fare instead of paying the driver

Clippercards and Clippercard validators on Manchester buses

Smoking allowed on the top deck of double deckers (I think it was officially restricted to the rearmost seats by the 1970s or '80s, when at least in London buses had signs at the front saying smokers are asked to occupy rear seats, but this rule was often ignored) and in the rearmost seats on single deckers

 

[mlambeuk]

Pole in the centre of the front doorway

 

[Typhoon]

A few that come immediately to mind:-

Fare table inside (or outside) the bus so I could work out whether I can save a couple of pence on future journeys.

Windows that you could wind up and down. (London)

Lockable doors that sectioned off the upstairs on double deckers (Birmingham)

 

[Ianno87]

Stop bells that were a strip of rubber along the roof.

Pole in the centre of the front doorway

Aa Dad to a two year old and 9 month old, how easy it is to get the associated pram on and off buses compared to even 10-15 years ago.

 

[Typhoon]

Stop bells that were a strip of rubber along the roof.

Stop bells that were strung along the roof that you could pull quite violently which usually annoyed the conductor. (London)

 

[SCH117X]

Parcels carried signs
Low height buses with four abreast seating upstairs and a sunken gangway
Buses that packed people sat on the staircase and luggage rack (or does that still happen)

 

[quarella]

Steps at entrance. Engines that roared not whined. Inward facing seats over wheelarches.

Buses with centre exit doors (AFAIK only London still has them; everywhere else uses the front door for both entrance and exit)

The Metrobus in Bristol is centre exit.

 

[Typhoon]

Buses that packed people sat on the staircase and luggage rack (or does that still happen)

It is not uncommon to see it on school time journeys of major routes for major operators in the south east.

 

[Welshman]

Cloth destination blinds which could be changed by turning a handle on a pole at the front of the bus.

"Spitting prohibited" warning on the lower floor bulkhead.

Booking a seat on London Coastal Coaches, which involved the agent ringing the chartroom at Victoria to get a reference number to copy on to your hand-written ticket.

Midland Red Coach drivers experimenting with the power of their new vehicles, and regularly attaining over 80 mph on the newly-opened M1 before speed restrictions were applied.

Coach drivers on routes such as London to Nottingham leaving London with a full load for Nottingham and going express via the newly-opened M1, and arriving up to 2 hours early.

Stopping unexpectedly at Mrs Brown's cottage on the market-day bus, and waiting for her to appear and board, flustered, and apologising for being late.

The conductor accepting, and issuing a ticket for, four dozen eggs to be transported to market when the owner of the hens couldn't make it personally.

Timing Clocks at certain points enroute, with an early-arriving and impatient conductor banging the lever several times in the hope the vibration will move the hand forward a few minutes before inserting the card.

 

[73001]

Bus drivers changing gear, specifically with the pneumocyclic gearboxes on Leylands or SCG on Bristols.

 

[The Albion]

' No Spitting Allowed' signs on Liverpool Corporation buses.

 

[GusB]

- Grumpy inspectors at Perth and Edinburgh bus stations(!)
- Flying along the A9/M90 at more than 70mph (allegedly)
- 70mph actually being legal on motorways
- Manual gearboxes
- Paper strips stuck on the inside of the windscreen in the absence of a suitable destination blind / hand-painted destination boards
- Parcels
- Newspapers, and chuckling when the driver lobbed the roll of evening newspapers out and missed
- Dodge S56s (thank ****)

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Paper strips stuck on the inside of the windscreen in the absence of a suitable destination blind / hand-painted destination boards

Keep that one quiet, or Yorkshire Tiger will start charging a "heritage" premium!

 

[dan5324]

Good drivers.

 

[alangla]

Lockable doors that sectioned off the upstairs on double deckers (Birmingham)

The 09 plate Enviro 500s that were new to First Glasgow and are now in Aberdeen had these. Think Lothian might have some Geminis with them as well

 

[Slower Travel]

How many things can you think of that you used to see when you travelled by bus or coach in the UK that you don't see today?

Conductors (AFAIK only London still has them now, and only on the 15H heritage Routemaster route and on "Borismaster" operated routes)

The 351 from Glossop to Holmfirth has a cheerful conductor on it, or at least it did the last time I was on it a couple of years ago. I assume it's because it's a minibus and the operator (South Pennine Community Transport) hadn't fitted a ticket machine for the driver to use.

 

[PeterC]

Crates of day old chicks which the driver leaves stacked at the bus stop for a connecting service to pick up. That seemed to be a regular cargo from somewhere south of Aberystwyth to a farm in North Wales in the early 70s. The range of items carried as parcels on Crossville services never failed to amaze me when I was on holiday in Wales.

 

[PeterC]

Armrests on the upper deck back seats (London - 3 on an RT).

Legroom on the upper deck front seat.

Coming forward in time the driver's periscope on OPO services, all the ones that I have used recently have CCTV instead.

 

[co-tr-paul]

Driving with door open on hot days and being able to talk to passengers not through a partition.... .

 

[Red Onion]

Simple bench seats seem to be a thing of the past, at least where I live. Even the city buses are individual seats now (though paired)

 

[61653 HTAFC]

In West Yorkshire, Saverstrip machines and their distinctive "ker-ching!" sound.

 

[co-tr-paul]

Proper open tops not the half and half you seem to get nowadays.

 

[Highlandspring]

How many things can you think of that you used to see when you travelled by bus or coach in the UK that you don't see today?

Here's a few:

Conductors (AFAIK only London still has them now, and only on the 15H heritage Routemaster route and on "Borismaster" operated routes)

Stagecoach East Scotland service 73 (Arbroath - Ninewells Hospital - Arbroath) operates with conductors Mondays to Saturdays and has done continuously since Scottish Bus Group days.

 

[Highlandspring]

Flying along the A9/M90 at more than 70mph (allegedly)

The single deck MCW Metroliners that Northern Scottish had were apparently good for 90mph+... I know one former manager who took a Leyland Leopard/Alexander M type up to 87mph before he chickened out because he thought the windscreen was going to come in on him.

I’ll add something to the list - the periscope on double deckers that allowed drivers to vaguely see what might be going on upstairs and curious small boys in the front seats to look down at the top of the driver’s head.

 

[GusB]

The single deck MCW Metroliners that Northern Scottish had were apparently good for 90mph+... I know one former manager who took a Leyland Leopard/Alexander M type up to 87mph before he chickened out because he thought the windscreen was going to come in on him.

Did his first name begin with the letter "G", by any chance?

Another one to add to the list:
- the ubiquitous Y-type

 

[route101]

The 09 plate Enviro 500s that were new to First Glasgow and are now in Aberdeen had these. Think Lothian might have some Geminis with them as well

It was the 52 plate tri axles that had them , only seen them use it once on night service on 66. Yeah Lothian had or still has the,

 

[Highlandspring]

Did his first name begin with the letter "G", by any chance?

No, afraid not. It was of course an Eastern Scottish MCW Metroliner which crashed on the M6 in 1985 while allegedly going very fast. The accident killed 13 people and prompted calls in parliament for mandatory speed limiter fitment (although the coach involved was apparently fitted with a limiter but it wasn’t working) and a ban on coaches in the outside lane.

 

[route101]

Manual buses ? Anywhere still have theM?

 

[route101]

Ols style tickets , long with arrow shape

 

[Busaholic]

Drivers smoking while driving half cab double deckers - strictly against the rules of course, but it did happen, in London at least. It was rumoured to be the reason why a handful of drivers refused to go opo.