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Post by snoggle on Jan 4, 2016 19:01:31 GMT
Just spotted this documentary about the possible privatisation of London Buses back in 1992. Features Westbourne Park garage in Part one with RMs, Metrobuses and Marshall Darts on 28 and 31. Amazingly part 2 features the "Routemaster loving mechanic" who featured in The Routemasters Running London series 2 years ago.  in 4 parts on Youtube. Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2016 20:40:28 GMT
Just spotted this documentary about the possible privatisation of London Buses back in 1992. Features Westbourne Park garage in Part one with RMs, Metrobuses and Marshall Darts on 28 and 31. Amazingly part 2 features the "Routemaster loving mechanic" who featured in The Routemasters Running London series 2 years ago. in 4 parts on Youtube. Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four What a gem! great find! I started work in central London in 1995 and remember the daily IRA bomb scares well. |
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Post by snoggle on Jan 4, 2016 21:06:52 GMT
What a gem! great find! I started work in central London in 1995 and remember the daily IRA bomb scares well. Yes I enjoyed watching that. So much has changed since then - no drivers cashing up, no boxes for their ticket machines and cash tray, no roadside conductors, all the buses have changed, Oxford St looks so dull compared to now. I suspect the attitude to the unions and the grumbles from the bus staff haven't changed tho. I'd forgotten about the IRA bomb scares - interesting how no one panicked or even grumbled much. They just got on with whatever they were doing as if they weren't happening. Now there'd be 30,000 tweets a second with people saying they'd crapped their pants and weren't going outside.    There was something to be said for not having social media, internet access and smartphones. |
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Post by Alex on Jan 4, 2016 23:16:23 GMT
Must be something in the water....I stumbled across this video in the morning and was glad to have found it. I saw it when it was on TV (when I was 10) and had wanted to see it ever since. Certainly is a gem. Couldn't get over how the pay rates sounded......though by all accounts £5.60 per hour (or not if you were on a midibus) in 1992 was pretty good. I was told that in those days there were big enhancements for lates/nights, and getting paid for all of a spreadover duty, so would have all added up. The union blokes seemed a bit harsh towards the chap who was always running early - I can see their point but I think people nowadays might try to be a bit more objective.......though running 20 mins early is quite a chunk  Also joking in the canteen about him getting the sack (when he actually could have done) is something I don't think I would do......but I don't know the humour of a bus canteen..... Also the conductor saying about how you can never please the public while the people walk down the stairs behind him, not sure that would get in the clip now.....and I'm sure the bit about not seeing a working toilet for 4.5 hours is relevant today as well......  |
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Post by snoggle on Jan 4, 2016 23:31:24 GMT
Must be something in the water....I stumbled across this video in the morning and was glad to have found it. I saw it when it was on TV (when I was 10) and had wanted to see it ever since. Certainly is a gem. Couldn't get over how the pay rates sounded......though by all accounts £5.60 per hour (or not if you were on a midibus) in 1992 was pretty good. I was told that in those days there were big enhancements for lates/nights, and getting paid for all of a spreadover duty, so would have all added up. The union blokes seemed a bit harsh towards the chap who was always running early - I can see their point but I think people nowadays might try to be a bit more objective.......though running 20 mins early is quite a chunk Also joking in the canteen about him getting the sack (when he actually could have done) is something I don't think I would do......but I don't know the humour of a bus canteen..... Also the conductor saying about how you can never please the public while the people walk down the stairs behind him, not sure that would get in the clip now.....and I'm sure the bit about not seeing a working toilet for 4.5 hours is relevant today as well...... I think there was an element back then where long established trickery by crews was starting to be dealt with. There may also be an element of "playing to the camera" in this instance. I do think the driver had an attitude problem and his colleagues almost certainly knew what he did hence the canteen banter. As in any job people aren't stupid. They know what goes on and they remember what gets said and done and by whom. You have to be pretty exceptional not to leave a trail of "incriminating" evidence (even if it's just for wind up value) behind you. You may remember the lady on the Route Masters Running London who passed her bus driving test with Stagecoach. She recalled stories from her bus driving dad about all the silliness that went one. Others confirmed that all sorts of nonsense was possible and if you used buses back then (or earlier) you'd have experienced it too - cancelled buses, bunching, big gaps. There was a time when the unions thought they ran LT and not the management - it's still going on with London Underground! Nowadays with I-Bus and CCTV it's a completely different ball game and while some cr*p still goes on the "all seeing eye" is watching and recording what goes on. Someone somewhere will spot it because it means money. On the Route Masters there was the old timer driver on route 18 who very nicely pointing out all the differences from those days to today. |
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Post by goaheadswvlrbest on Jan 23, 2016 0:45:32 GMT
My God I remember watching this back then, I had it taped on VHS . I remember the female driver on the MCW Metrobus saying how she got a higher rate being OPO and its like any other job some days you like it, other days stuff it . Also remember the mechanic in Westbourne Park Patting the Routemaster and saying lovely old girl or something similar .
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2016 18:21:43 GMT
What an interesting video !
Brought back a lot of happy memories, but also quite sad ones as it was an unnerving period of change for all in the bus industry. I didn't ( still don't) like it when garages lose routes to other operators. I wonder what the atmosphere is like now at X under Tower Transit control, with no route 7 or 18 in there.
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Post by rogerout on Apr 25, 2023 12:56:37 GMT
I was looking for this thread! I watched this documentary recently. A good watch even after all these years. Although much has changed since then, some things haven’t changed so much.
I wonder what happened to a lot of these characters, I suppose many of them would probably be retired by now or out of the industry. The conductor who mentions he was looking after his grandchild, presumably would have been made redundant as a conductor?
And an interesting point made by the creator of this thread that the mechanic on this was also on the London Routemaster documentary in 2014, some 20 years later. Anyone know where I can find that particular documentary?
I remember it being broadcast on the BBC in 2014/15.
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Post by rogerout on Apr 30, 2023 11:15:56 GMT
Just spotted this documentary about the possible privatisation of London Buses back in 1992. Features Westbourne Park garage in Part one with RMs, Metrobuses and Marshall Darts on 28 and 31. Amazingly part 2 features the "Routemaster loving mechanic" who featured in The Routemasters Running London series 2 years ago. in 4 parts on Youtube. Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four I know this post is from 2016 but I wish I could the see the episode that featured that particular mechanic. He would be the guy saying he was worried about his future , if London buses were privatised. Any ideas where I can find it? I can’t seem to find it on YouTube. I definitely remember watching it on BBC 2 when it was first aired. |
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There was something to be said for not having social media, internet access and smartphones.
