Length of time using one route

[snoggle]

While pondering life, the universe and everything on the 123 back home today I realised I've been using that route regularly for a total of 31+ years. No wonder I'm showing signs of senility.

Anyone else been using the same route(s) for decades and decades?

[twobellstogo]

229. From RTs, through Routemasters, DMS, Ms, Ts, Ls, Bexleybus, London Central to Arriva. Over 40 years.
Also a long term user of 51, 89, 99, 132, 161, 177, 180, 269, 401 (green, blue and cream and red!) and 492 (ditto!)

[Deleted]

I'm still very young and have moved a lot so my routes I use frequently have changed over time a short amount of time compared to you guys. I recon when I was young, my most used route was probably the W12. These days my most used route is route 241, but I only first used that route just over 2 years ago so very strange. I have been using routes  69 and 97 for a good 8 years now.

If there are routes that have used for most of my life and still use very frequently or sometimes now, I would say the 26, 30, 58, 158, 257, 276 and 388 I all remember using when I was younger very well.

[M1199]

Been using the U3 for the last 27 years, seen it progress from a sleepy midibus route to a route that now requires double deck journeys! Never would of thought that 27 years ago when it was introduced, it would ever require double deck journeys.
When the U1 was extended along Appletree Avenue (where I used to live) I would boycott it and always take the longer U3!

Even since moving where I have the choice of the 222/U1/3/5, (actually live on the 350 route, but It doesn't go anywhere I really need to go on a regular basis) I've always stayed faithful and catch the U3! It also takes the longest to get into Uxbridge meaning I get more journey for my money!

[Deleted]

Used the following

147 - 26 years Titans, Scanias, Olympians, Darts, Tridents and now E400s
241 - 26 years Nationals, Titans, Renaults, Starriders, Darts, Scanias, Olympians, Tridents
325 - Since day one in 1993   Starriders, Darts and E200s

[thesquirrels]

I've been using my local routes, the 259, 279 and 253 since birth - the first trips on the latter two were a 'fold up the buggy and get hefted onto the platform' job, predating OPO. 29 years. All three have had their wings clipped in the intervening years but are still busy trunk routes.

I've been using the 67, W3, 29, 141 and 341/171a since the mid 1990s. The variety of vehicles in Tottenham has changed from predominantly red Metrobuses, via a plethora of different vehicles, liveries and companies and back towards two or three types in all-red again. Provision uptake is has always been consistently crazily high here so the core network hasn't changed much within the area, although we're less well connected to Central than we once were (279 to the Angel/Smithfield, 259 to Holborn Circus, 73 full stop, albeit part-replaced by the 476) though the 243 gives us a third (!) route to Aldwych and Waterloo.

[snoggle]

May 14, 2016 21:00:58 GMT thesquirrels said:

I've been using my local routes, the 259, 279 and 253 since birth - the first trips on the latter two were a 'fold up the buggy and get hefted onto the platform' job, predating OPO. 29 years. All three have had their wings clipped in the intervening years but are still busy trunk routes.

I assume you really have an extra 9 months to add on to the 29 if your Mum was using the buses while she was carrying you around all snug and warm in her womb?

Funny to think I've been in London as an import from the frozen North for a tad longer than you've been on the planet.

[ServerKing]

I remember the old 55, forerunner to the E8, with Daimler Fleetline deckers and popping 10p in the box as a kid (it was just 20p for an Adult), seen the E8 emerge after E1 was split at Ealing Broadway, seen the buses progress from Wrightbus Renault single deckers... to the TP class deckers, back for a while to single deckers and onwards to deckers and Hounslow extension so quite a lot of changes since the early 80s... During that time I moved to North London, then back to West and am considering heading for the Shires as London is getting too costly rent wise

[Steve80]

I lived in Croydon, Battersea, Streatham and back to Croydon and the one route I used more often than not is the route 50. Both, the 60 and 109 and a close second

[6HP502C]

176 for me...it hasn't really changed over the years.

[TNL33036]

Two of the routes out of many I've used for a long time are the 272 and 440 in which the pair of them I first started regularly using were brand new routes in 2002, I'll never forget the Wright Crusader bodied Darts (that's what I think they were called) and the DPK class vehicles on the 272 but I think I much prefer the Crusaders that graced the 440 until 2007 when the two routes went to NCP Challenger with at the time new E200s, then the company rebranded to NSL Buses in 2009 and in the same year they sold to Transdev and in turn in 2011, Transdev sold London United to RATP and now the E200s currently allocated to those two routes are now refurbished.

[vjaska]

The 2 & 196 are the routes I've used practically all my life (the last 27 & a half years) because when I was bestowed upon this world I lived I West Norwood whilst my nan lived in Brixton. Also, both ended up as my school buses, more so the 196, to transport me to Upper Norwod so they've been extremely useful to me over the years

The 2 has changed a little bit - for starters, it wasn't even called the 2 but the 2A & 2B (the original 2 was what is now the 322) and it's lost the best part of it's route which was the climb up to Crystal Palace but other than that, it's still the same old important link from West Norwood through Brixton into Central London. Vehicle wise, a lot has changed - I rode two sets of differing L class Olympians (Gardener ECW & Cummins Northern Counties examples) & the former was one of three types that got me into liking buses. After that, I've rode VLA's, DLA's & T's but have yet to ride the DW's

The 196 has changed significantly - back when I was very young, there were still peak journeys as far as Islington but even outside of those times, the route would go as far as Oval. Not long after, it was cut back to Brixton & stayed like that for many years along with a declining patronage and increasing unreliability. After Connex took over, it became a very reliable route and in 2005, was extended to Elephant & Castle which leaves it up to the present day. The 196 has always had a variety of vehicles - sadly, I can't remember the Cityrama days but no doubt, I probably travelled on one of their vehicles as a baby. The VC's were the first vehicles I remember and boy could they shift - even after being governed years later, they were still pretty quick. Then one day at the end of the 90's, the VC's disappeared with M's and the odd T taking over and then after that, it was Tridents with Connex before the current E's on the route happily still plying their trade turned up.

Other notable routes are:

Everything along Brixton Hill - 23 years I've rode the 45, 109, 118, 133, 159 & 250 (59 & 333 came much later of course). The 109 saw a lot of change during that time - a new night route N109 but sadly, the watering down of the route from being a Purley to Trafalgar Square behemoth of a trunk route (albeit in overlapping sections during the week - Trafalgar Square to Croydon & Brixton to Purley) to the present day Brixton to Croydon routing. The 45 saw a very useful change and thus, my family ended up getting more use out of the southern end of the route - it was diverted to Clapham Park in 1999 rather than BN and so, a direct link to our doctors surgery was born. The 133 went from running from Tooting Broadway to Liverpool Street to Streatham to Liverpool Street whilst the 118, 159 & 250 saw almost no change during my lifetime apart from the short lived Paddington Basin extension on the 159.

Vehicle wise, it was for me:

45 - T's, NV's, PVL's, AVL's, WVL's, 1 LDP & E's
109 - L's, M's, DLA's, T's, DW's, VLA's, Enviro 400H's
118 - M's, PVL's, 1 DOE, WVL's, E's
133 - VC's, NV's, WVL's, PDL's, PVL's, T's, VLA's
159 - RM's, RML's, L's, M's, VLA's, DW's, DLA's, LT's
250 - L's, M's, DLA's, T's, DW's

[COBO]

I've been using the 92 for 26 years. The 487 for 17 years. The 105, 114, 140 and 297 for 19 years. The 395 for 7 years. The 94 for 12 years. The 18, 79, 83, 182, 204, 245, 607, E1, E3, E6, E8 and H17 for 14 years. The 207, 427 for 11 years. The 258 and 398 for 15 years. The E2 for 25 years.

Vehicles used:

92 - LA's, LN's, M's, VN's (Volvo Olympian's), LLW's, DM's, DML's, TN's, VNL's, VNW's, VNZ's, VN's (Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TL's), DN's, a East Lanc bodied Volvo B7TL and TE's.
105 - DML's, TN's and VW's.
140 - L's, TA's, TP's, TPL's, VP's, VPL's and ET's.
395 - DE's
487 - East Lanc bodied Volvo's, DM's, DML's (Marshall Capitals), VA's, DML's (Enviro 200s), DLF's, M's, VNL's, VNZ's and VW's. The London Traveller/ Metropolitan Omnibus/Thorpes era was interesting because all sort of buses would appear on the 487 from East Lanc bodied Volvos to Plaxton Pointer 2 bodied Dennis Dart SLFs to MCW Metrobuses both Mark 1 and 2 and also Volvo Citybuses.
E6 - DP's,DLD's, DLF's, DP's, MM's and DML's.
H17 - SDP's, DPS's and DE's.
94 - TLA's, TA's, ADH's, VE's and VH's.
83 - VN's (Volvo Olympians), M's, TN's, VFL's, VNL's, VNW's, VNZ's, VN's (Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TLs) and VW's.
18 - TNA, EA's, VN's and VW's.
182 - M's, TA's, VPL's, VP's and VW's.
207 - SN's and EA's.
607 - V's, TN's, TNL's, Vw's and VNW's.
E2 - Plaxton Pointer bodied Dennis Dart SLF's, RW's, DA's, DP's, DM's, DLD's, TE's, TP's and DW's.
297 - DLD's, DP's, TNA's, TNL's, TP's, TPL's, VP's, SEL's, VW's and VWH's.
114 - VH's, VPL, Leyland Olympian's, VLP's, SLE's, VLE's and VE's
427 - DN's, TNL's, TN's, VN's, VW's, TE's and SN's.
258 - DW's (both Mark 1's and Mark 2's), VLA's, DLA's, TN's, VNL's, VNW's and VNZ's.
398 - DPF's, SDP's, DE's, a DR and Reeve Burgess bodied Mercedes-Benz's.
E3 - TE's, TP's, TN's, DN's and SP's.
E8 - TP's, TA's, VW's, DE's, DM's, OTH's, DT's, MM's, DP's and a Caetano-bodied Dart SLF.
79 - VNW's, VNZ's, VNL's and VW's.
204 - VPL's and TE's.
245 - DML's, DLD's, DE's, VN's and VW's.

[LX09FBJ]

The routes I've been using for 22 (and counting years) are the 111, which I've mainly used between Hampton - Hounslow and Hampton - Kingston plus the occasional journey to Heathrow and the R70 which has been to Richmond and Twickenham. Further afield, the 33 and 267 between Fulwell and Hammersmith, with the latter being the route I've used more often. In more recent times, I have used the 190, 391 and 419 between Hammersmith and Richmond, 337 and 493 between Putney and Richmond and 85 Putney-Kingston. The 9 and 10 were also routes I would often use but have been put off by the hot, dark and boring LTs.

Vehicles used:

111 - MCW Metrobuses, Volvo B7TL (Alexander/TransBus ALX400 and Plaxton President), Scania OmniCity and the occasional Alexander Dennis Enviro400 and one occurrence of an Dennis Dart/Plaxton Pointer.

R70 - Darts, Darts, Darts! Varying body styles and sizes from Mini Pointer Darts, step entrance Plaxton and Carlyle ones, Plaxton Pointers (the main allocation from 1998 to 2010 with LU and TGM/Travel London/Abellio London), Caetano Numbuses (more commonly in the past couple months) and Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Darts (8.9m, 10.2m (allocated) and 10.8m (should be allocated)).

85 - Volvo B7TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini and the three Volvo B9TL/Alexander Dennis Enviro400s which I will sadly miss on the route. The frog faces will still be a nice ride but the surprise and variety will be no more (hoping the VLEs gain inserts!)

237 - Dennis Trident/Alexander ALX400, Dennis Trident/Plaxton President and Volvo B9TL/Wright Gemini 2.

267 - Dennis Trident/Alexander ALX400, Scania N94UD/East Lancs OmniDekka and Scania OmniCity.

9 - Volvo B7TL/East Lancs Vyking (lovely buses) and New Bus for London.

10 - Volvo B7TL/TransBus ALX400 (which I dearly miss ), Dennis Trident/Plaxton President, Volvo B7TL/Plaxton President and TransBus Trident/TransBus ALX400 under First and Scania OmniCity plus New Bus For London under London United.

[snoggle]

As others have added in the bus types used I'd better have a go for the 123.

London Buses / Forest - Titans

Capital Citybus - largely Leyland Olympians / ECW but also MCW Metrobus, Dennis Dominator/NC, Dennis Arrow / EL, Dennis Arrow / NC, Olympian / Alexander. I once saw a Leyland National 2 on it and wished I could have had a ride. Never saw the CC Leyland Titan in the metal.

First London - Trident / Plaxton President, Routemaster

Arriva London - VLA, VLW, RM, RML, DLA, DW Mk2