The Routemaster Bus (Perpetual Motion) BBC Documentary 

Brought a tear of nostalgia to me. At the age of 19 I was a conductor of the 22 (Putney to Homerton) from Battersea Garage.. They were great days. Sydney where I now live has two RMs in a museum. They are coming out tomorrow for a "London Bus Day" and now aged 66 I will conduct one again...something I never thought would ever happen. It will turn back time for me!

I have the pleasure of owning one of these wonderful buses. I've been all over the country in it plus Ireland & France. But, whenever I take it into London it seems to know it's home. It fits in so well with the traffic etc. even after all these years.

SADLY MISSED YES ABSOLUTELY GREAT BUS AND MEMORIES

Super charming bus and sadly missed. I hate to see these iconic buses being scrapped and dismantled because they could have gone on indefinitely. Also, the bus conductor was a feelgood security factor, which is one reason why many people no longer travel by bus in the evenings on one-man operation models.

Best bus ever!

Worked at aldenham bus garage 1978 to 1986. Best days of my working life......

Ah,, the friendly face bus, I used the number 12 quite regularly when I lived and worked in London many happy memories 😎

19:13 That old Routemaster that went off the edge of the cliff, landed on it's wheels!… Surely that means something!

Opening clip route number 12 Norwood junction to Harlesden if I remember right 1hour 6 minute journey and Park Royal shorts, I drove from Elmers End 1973 - 1978 great times, loved the RM but the RT for me drivers bus.

Nostalgia at it's finest - I came to London in 1974 as a youngster and saw the last part of the 'London era'.

Trying to remember my school journey: 3 from Croxted Road -> Crystal Palace. Then the 49(?) 149 all the way to Wandsworth Common.. Prime seat was upstairs front right Window. Was on an Australian Bus in Sydney yesterday - noisey, fumes, seemingly no attempt to soundproof the engine bay at the rear, seats to small in width and too close together for even the average persons legs, wheel arches in the floorspace between 4 seats, and even no room for prams or bags on some of them. A really BADLY designed bus! Nothing like the Queen of the roads, the Routemaster.

This was broadcast in 1992

Although commuting on (noisy!) GM New Looks right after customarily taking these RM's ended up a godsend...uber stylishness and then toastily comfy when 27 below outdoors, which was *most* incredible.....

RM (4 bay) then RML (4.5 bay) & now XRM (5 bay) all using weight saving monocoque structure as the lightest bus per passenger ever produced. The sub frame mounting of engine & transmission has enabled re-engining - at least twice, so that a full Euro 6 standard bus can be operated, new transmissions ave also been used. The 2 person operation can halve the PVR and the consensus was that an RM could be timetabled to run at twice the journey speed that a DOO vehicle could run in Central London - at peak times as the film shows, the dwell times for DOO cripple all services as buses queue to load passengers. Half the number of buses needed to run the service = half the number of drivers & fuel etc do the cost of the conductor becomes irrelevant against the bigger savings made. Very telling that it took almost a decade to deliver the design as a working bus, and the focus was on operational efficiency unlike the Borismaster - over hyped and massively overweight vehicle. Like the London taxi the RM is superbly nimble, whilst NBFL is the limiting factor in the design of bus stations due to the extra space it needs to get in & out

Drove the 2B, Crystal Palace to Baker Street Station out of Norwood Garage in 1987. My Driving instructor was Don Woodgate. Looks a bit like him on the skid pan at 11m 25,

A young George Watson, became our gaffer at clydeside Scottish

I remember this being a great series, can't remember if it was repeated.

And the Routemaster has (just about) survived another 30 years since this was made - there was even one shipped down to the Falkland Islands to shuttle tourists along the front road in Stanley but Bessie is now retired!

Kudos for using the final scenes from #TheYoungOnes where the bus goes over the cliff and explodes.

It's sad to see a tradition go out of style

Good old London Transport.

1:22 Alert. Alert. That bloke can say what he likes - but tourists love getting on a Route Master. They are iconic. Even now. He had no sense of romanticism.

Not one mention of accessibility and how hardly anyone with a physical disability could use one, let alone a mum with a buggy.

"A member of the oldest working museum in the world", he said stood in front of a Daimler DMS

The elderly lady is at my home stop

Ensign telling us that bus cannibalisation is bad.. ironic..

They were so popular only one bus company outside of London purchase them from new.

9:33 can anyone tell me what kind of sorcery the engineers have done to achieve that angle?

Such a shame to see Aldenham so delipidated

As far as I'm concerned, it's still London Transport, not Transport for London.

One man operated buses cause congestion as it takes longer for passengers to get on. During this time, the engine is ticking over spewing out carbon monoxide.

Isn't Ckiff driving an RT?

A great bus like the RT designed and built for a purpose a evolution in design practical and easy to repair the design it's a shame why don't we design practical vehicles that are built with passenger driver operator's and engineers in mind

12 people died on average every year from falling off the RMs entrance area.

what is the song @ 3:13?? please