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Post by snoggle on Jun 13, 2017 18:39:46 GMT
I don't think we've done this topic before. A search didn't throw anything up. Anyway just a little thread where people can relate the first ride they ever had on a London Bus. Obviously for locals who lived here all the time or were born in London and have moved away it will be the first bus ride you can consciously recall with any particular detail. My first ride was in late Summer 1983 when I was searching for digs before moving down to London. I'd spent the day trekking here and there by Tube (and walking) having got the sleeper (remember them?) from Newcastle. After trekking round the wilds of Wapping, Turnpike Lane, Leytonstone and the Wanstead borders I had to get to Markhouse Road in E17. This involved me getting on a very empty 1962 stock (but with a gang of skinheads in one carriage) at Snaresbrook sometime between 1900 and 2000. I went to Leyton and then waited at the infamous Leyton Station stop. I remember seeing one of those funny Routemaster thingys on the 69 but then a Titan rolled up on a 58. I remember asking someone at the stop for some confirmation that the 58 would be the right bus and realising that this was a very odd thing to do in London (based on the reaction). No one minds such chat in Newcastle! Anyway on I got and paid a fare and picked up my funny square ticket from the Almex ticket machine mounted at an angle (we didn't have those funny things in the North East). I remember trundling along through Leyton and then getting off and finding what would become my first set of digs in London in Theydon St, E17. I think I was given a lift up to Blackhorse Rd as I don't remember catching a second bus that day. The next time I used a LT bus was a 158 (I think) from Blackhorse Rd when my Dad helped me move down to London and we'd got there on the tube from Kings Cross. Having dumped my stuff in my digs I then saw my Dad back on a bus to the Tube and I then walked up Walthamstow Market for the first time (is this the set to Eastenders I wondered?) and found Sainsburys where I had to buy some food as I started my life away from home. My Monday morning commute was on a slam door 305(?) from St James St into Liverpool St. That was another one of those "is this is a film set?" type experiences. Over to you for your "first London Bus ride" stories.
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Post by redexpress on Jun 14, 2017 1:30:48 GMT
It's turned out to be harder than I thought to remember a first trip! I didn't grow up in London; we used to visit quite a bit when I was a child but I think we went almost everywhere by tube. There must have been the odd bus trip but I can't remember any details - I can remember "driving" the bus in the LT museum though So the earliest trip I can actually remember is on a StarRider on the P13 in 1989. We were living abroad at the time and staying with friends near the Pepys Estate (thankfully not on the estate itself). The midibus revolution was completely alien to me - we'd left the UK just before it all kicked off. I couldn't get my head round the fact that something that small was an actual, proper, red London bus, with a route number and everything. It even squeezed into the estate and parked among the cars (well that's what it seemed like at the time - I'm sure there was a proper stand). I can remember the first London bus trip that I made on my own - I must have been about 15 and for some reason was left to make my way from Victoria to New Cross, with a small suitcase, on a 36 with an exceptionally rude conductor. Not exactly the best introduction to the Routemaster. When I hear enthusiasts bang on about how wonderful the conudctors were in the "good old days" I always think back to that idiot on the 36.
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Post by snowman on Jun 14, 2017 4:47:55 GMT
We visited London once or twice a year when I was young as still had relatives here, although they were journeys in the car. Don't remember using the buses. I'm sure my sister and I stayed with my gran in Walthamstow for about a week one summer, would have been 1976 or 1977 and did take bus to Blackhorse Rd and then Victoria line for some central London sightseeing. Think it was route 58 and operated by routemasters (later became 158 possibly with Titans early 1980s)
I also remember some trips by train in late 1970s, would have come into Waterloo and although normally used tube, do remember using red arrow buses.
Nearly always used the tube when I visited London for next few years, to me buses were a mystery. If we came as a family visiting relatives, was by car.
We lived on edge of a rural town so never used buses, kids cycled to their friends from about age 10. It wasn't until my middle year at University when I lived off campus that daily bus journeys started. Ended 9 months later at end of summer term. That was in Coventry and was a mix of Daimler fleetlines and MCW metrobuses in dark blue of WMPTE
All changed in 1988 when I moved to London for work. I was working in the small business section of an accountants and would spend a week at different clients, so went all over London, although tube and train was norm. By then buses came in various colours and sizes, but I had been a teenage train spotter and didn't have any interest in buses at the time.
Most work journeys continued to be train or tube. Although whilst living near Northfields used to go into Ealing Broadway by bus on Saturdays (think they were Renault bread vans), I then bought a flat south of Osterley station, and would use bus to go out with friends in Richmond (the H37 which used Leyland Nationals). I then moved to North Kingston where my local route was 371 (which used a mixed fleet of Low floor Optare and high floor MVs, all with a unique slogan on the side). Moving again in 2000 my local route became the 65, initially with orange and white buses belonging to Armchair, later a London United route.
About 8 years ago, I eventually got so fed up with bus delays, I now rarely use them, deciding to cycle to the station in Kingston instead. Then 2 years ago I changed job so no longer travel to central London daily (2006-2014 was Canary Wharf, not central London), 27 years of commuting put me off public transport. I now drive to my job just outside London. Now the occasional off peak journey to London for meetings makes a change.
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Post by kmkcheng on Jun 14, 2017 6:06:42 GMT
One I definitely remember was when I was 3 or 4 years old in the 80s. It was on a 183 from Kenton to Hendon on a M and in the pre low floor days when parents had to fold their pushchairs to board. We were also travelling with my baby sister and the hassle of my mum trying to leave the bus with a baby in one hand and the folded pushchair in the other.
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Post by vjaska on Jun 14, 2017 11:14:13 GMT
Not sure what my first ride was but having lived in Lambeth all my life, and in the beginning West Norwood, I suspect the 2 was probably the first route I rode in the early 90's as my nan lived in Brixton and we did get the 2 a lot but then I'm sure we jumped on a 196 at times as well. Despite living in London, single deckers were a bit alien to me until the late 90's as I rarely saw the P4 or P5 back then and Brixton has always been a paradise for double deckers - it was the 345 where I used my first one one day whilst returning to Brixton from Kings College Hospital.
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Post by Dillon95 on Jun 14, 2017 13:01:24 GMT
I grew up in Swanley, one of my earliest memories is getting the old blue and yellow Metrobus 233 to Sidcup when I was 3 or 4 with my mum and nan. Also my great nan lived in St Paul's Cray before she passed on, we used to visit her on Saturdays and sometimes get the R1/R11 to Orpington. It's either of those.
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Post by gloriouswater on Jun 14, 2017 14:04:38 GMT
Hard to recall what my first ride would have been, as I was born in London. Probably a 484 or P12. Earliest ride I can remember was in I dunno which year, I was at London Bridge station on the JLE platforms with my family when there was a power cut and the entire platform went dark. I remember the sight of the very few glimmers of light reflecting off of the platform edge doors. Anyway the station must have been evacuated at that point as I remember being on a bus seeing buildings go by at some point. The bus in question, was probably a Titan on the 47 as I remember the orange seats Bit of a shame I was too young to remember any more than that to be honest lol. I remember I used to watch buses out of my bedroom window a lot, as it was within sight of the 136 and 138. I always waited to see if a swirly 52reg would come by on the 136 as they were my favourites
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Post by M1199 on Jun 14, 2017 15:40:51 GMT
Mine would either of been a Leyland National on the 204 or a Metrobus on the 223. The earliest journeys I can remember are playing with a toy car on the shelf above the engine on an M (223) along with sitting on the front bench seats facing the driver on another M with my grandparents, so they could talk to the driver. A memorable LS journey on the 204 was when the ticket machine fell off and ended up rolling round the front door well as we sped down Kingston Lane.
Earliest solo journey was on an MA on the original U5, Hillingdon Hospital to Whitehall School to go to a family friends house, bricking it the whole journey!!!
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Post by mondraker275 on Jun 14, 2017 16:37:06 GMT
Mid 90's, when I was around 6 or 7. Clearly remember being on those yellow one door 158's, dont know the type. The bus broke down, on Markhouse Road. I know it was Markhouse Road because I have the image in my head from then, and I matched it to the Markhouse Road I have learnt to know now. The bus's window wipers were not working and the driver dumped us. Back then I dont think there was a 'continue your journey for free' as my mum, moneyless, foreign and did not know any english, had us wondering around the neighbourhood, and we found someone who lived nearby. Through Primary and early secondary did not even come close to using buses at all. Barely knew they existed. I do remember constantly seeing the bulldog faced W12* drive by in the playground in the late 90's. I also used to see the 123 alot in secondary, until I moved house, and everything changed. * Assumed it was W12, but apparently going through some history it was...the W17 that served Mission Grove Road in the late 90's. Still a bulldog bus ALso while dabbling on the london buses website:
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Post by greeny253 on Jun 14, 2017 18:07:14 GMT
Earliest memory I have is of a Capital Citybus ride on a 296 though I couldn't even begin to tell you the type!
After that, Leyland Titan's on the 294/174 when I moved to Harold Hill in 1999 and so began my interest in buses and liking of the Titan's. I'd love to have one I could restore now! There used to be one in open top service here on Bute but it's since been sold into preservation - CUL 197V for those interested!
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Post by John tuthill on Jun 15, 2017 7:43:57 GMT
My earliest memory? No, before anyone asks, it wasn't with that nice Mr Shillibeer! Sundays was a treat to visit my grandparents in Shepherds Bush. From Stockwell, rather than get a 2 to Marble Arch and change to a 12 or 88, my father worked it out it was cheaper to use the 88 all the way. First trip I remember was on a D type out of AL, rock hard seats and a crash gearbox. Then one Sunday a 'brand new' bus appeared, found out many years later they were second hand from AE, a RTL with soft seats. I was fascinated to sit at the front and watch the driver changing gears. A journey I often repeated until the demise of the RTLs from SW
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Post by LX09FBJ on Jun 15, 2017 12:27:35 GMT
My first ride would've most probably have been a M on the 111 or a DT on the R70
As for the earliest memory, I can recall going on a VA on the 281 on a school trip (I think it was down the road in Teddington) but I don't remember much from that memory.
Having gotten into buses since around 2004 (around the time Arriva took the 337 from London United). I recall going on RML2665 on the 73 and the VE3 on the 9 (the day before the the route moved to V) were there was a conductor on the bus.
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Post by Gellico on Jun 15, 2017 14:01:31 GMT
Can't say for sure but it was one of 2 different vehicles. I can fondly remember the DMSs and LDPs on the B12 and getting them once a week down to Erith Morrisons, as they used to go past my house I would always like to see what was running each day. Can even remember the Cutty Sark LDPs that were off the 321 and featured blue markings. Also can remember a time when I was on the 99 as it was pulling out of the stand at Erith (these are the days it ran only between Woolwich/Erith) and got hit quite heavily by a 269.
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Post by snoggle on Jun 15, 2017 16:30:18 GMT
My earliest memory? No, before anyone asks, it wasn't with that nice Mr Shillibeer!Sundays was a treat to visit my grandparents in Shepherds Bush. From Stockwell, rather than get a 2 to Marble Arch and change to a 12 or 88, my father worked it out it was cheaper to use the 88 all the way. First trip I remember was on a D type out of AL, rock hard seats and a crash gearbox. Then one Sunday a 'brand new' bus appeared, found out many years later they were second hand from AE, a RTL with soft seats. I was fascinated to sit at the front and watch the driver changing gears. A journey I often repeated until the demise of the RTLs from SW Are you *absolutely* sure it wasn't?
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Post by John tuthill on Jun 15, 2017 16:48:29 GMT
My earliest memory? No, before anyone asks, it wasn't with that nice Mr Shillibeer!Sundays was a treat to visit my grandparents in Shepherds Bush. From Stockwell, rather than get a 2 to Marble Arch and change to a 12 or 88, my father worked it out it was cheaper to use the 88 all the way. First trip I remember was on a D type out of AL, rock hard seats and a crash gearbox. Then one Sunday a 'brand new' bus appeared, found out many years later they were second hand from AE, a RTL with soft seats. I was fascinated to sit at the front and watch the driver changing gears. A journey I often repeated until the demise of the RTLs from SW Are you *absolutely* sure it wasn't? Yes, it was my twin brother!
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