Ldn; New WVLs for route 343- and other Wright's

Dear All,

Route 343 was switched from London Central to Travel London. Travel London bought a new batch of Wright bodied Volvo B7s 10.6m long.
Here is brand new V65 at the elephant and castle.
for comparision, here is also V19- from a batch ordered in 2004 for route 381- with 'DDA' set of blinds.

regards

Yoram

[ 本帖最後由 yblumann 於 2006-2-10 03:22 編輯 ]

Edward,

Yes, the elephant!
The 'elephant and castle' is a name of the pub, and where the elephant now stands, is where the pub used to be located [now a shopping centre].
'Elephant and Castle' is an old sign which was seen in France in the 11th centuary.
In London, the road junction which bears the name Elephant and Castle, existed since the 16th centuary. the first documented pub with this name dates back to 1648.
Prior to motorbuses or trams, the pub also was a staging post of horse drawn vehicles, and when those were replaced by Motorbuses and tram, and the underground station was also named after the pub, the area became known- as it is known today as the 'Elpehant and Castle'.
The origional pub was demolished in 1959, as part of the road widening scheme.

Bus fans in London try to show the statue each time we take photos there!

regards

Yoram

做咩有兩種牌箱?!

and what are the "89" lable in the first photo ?
i also(sometime) saw someone put the  "number lable"  on the window...

原帖由 wrightap 於 2006-2-13 06:46 發表
做咩有兩種牌箱?!

and what are the "89" lable in the first photo ?
i also(sometime) saw someone put the  "number lable"  on the window...

1. The blind on the 343 is a supposedly DDA-compliant design.

2. That label is the running number of the bus. Most London operators allocate a
block of running numbers for each routes. Using the 343 as an example, its running
number is WL89, which WL is the garage code (in this case WL = Walworth), and
the number 89 reflects that it is the 9th bus on schedule (I believe the running no.
of 343 is now WL81+) - but that doesn't mean that they are running in sequence,
and much of the time they don't!

to explain a little bit more:

In London, it has always been traditional to have a 'duty card 'for a driver, and a 'duty card 'for the bus.
The duty card for the driver shows the driver what he is supposed to do during his/working day- i.e.at what time he/she takes over a bus, when he/she is due for a rest, and also the trip times of each journey.
example: sign on at 1500, take over a bus on route 343 at the elephant and castle at 15:42;
This would be bus running number 87, arriving at New Cross [the destination] at 1614, departing for London Bridge at 16:32, arriving at London Bridge at 17:53, departing again at 18:25, and so on.
This 'duty card' - in London- is uniform, and in a format that can be downloaded into the central database of London Buses [not a public domain!]. [i.e. the route scheduler at each bus company has to use a uniform duty card format!]

The bus 'duty card' is known as a 'running number'. very similar to the driver's duty card, it specifies what a bus on a route does. duty number 89, would have a schedule stating when the bus starts service , at which point, all the trips and their timing, and when the bus finishes service for the day.
the garage engineers allocate a bus to a R/N and a driver takes the bus .

A route controller uses the R/N [running number] for his work, to ensure that buses run on time.
Normally, during the day, there are at least 2 drivers working the same R/N. a driver on route 343 might start the first half of his duty on R/N 85, and spend the second half on R/N 93 for instance.

The R/N start at a certain point: on route 343 it is 81 to 99 [19 buses].
[this is because at WL- the garage, R/N 1-20 is allocated to route 381, the next block of 10 is allocated to route P13, R/N 51+ is allocated to route 188 - this requires 22 buses, so the next available sequence would be 81+. if the garage wins another route to operate, it should start at 111+ [leaving the range 100-109 for possible expansion of route 343]

on many routes, the buses run in order- i.e. 82 follows 81 etc. if there are peak duties, those appear in the 'middle'. but this is not always the case, especially when the route is not near to a garage, and crew changes are done when a driver completes his duties and run back to the garage with the bus.

First and NCP, and Arriva in Garston do not show the R/Ns on the buses. they use the drivers duty numer system only- which is more complicated!

For those interested in further information, LOTS [the bus fan society in London] publish a full list - known as the SUP37.

Regards

Yoram

and more:

there is a new special livery bus on route 247 in romford. This route has 21 buses allocated to it [20 offpeak], and the buses are run in R/N order- i.e. R/N 401, 402,...,421,401. so if you want to see this special bus, all you have to do is to look at a route 247 R/N , and you have an immediate idea how many buses you have seen, and a good estimate of how long you will have to wait till you see every bus on the route. that is most helpful, don't you agree???

regards

Yoram