LT capitalises on I
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Sby the Passenger Editor —pictures by Dick Ross
WHILE the British Tourist Authority tries to persuade tourists to visit areas outside London, they are encouraged to come to the capital by London Transport. For tourists mean big money and the LTE has a marketing department to capitalise on this business potential.
London Transport estimates that 72 per cent of the tourists who visit London use its services. In off-peak periods in the summer as many as 55 per cent of Central London passengers are tourists.
Among LT's most popular tourist services is its famous Round London Sightseeing Tour. The tour has been operated every year since the Festival of Britain and has gradually gained in popularity. Double-decker buses and single-decker coaches have both operated the tour from time to time although with overseas tourists the traditional LT red double-decker bus is a big attraction.
The sightseeing tour takes two hours and covers about 20 miles. It passes almost all of the major places of interest in Central London. The tour is ideal for visitors to gain an idea of the layout of the capital. Officially, the tour is not guided and seats are not bookable. LT, though, does supply passengers with an illustrated diagram of route and its points of interest in most languages.
Piccadilly Circus, Victoria and Marble Arch are all starting points for the tour which normally operates at hourly or halfhourly intervals. Services are increased, however, to meet de mand. The fare for the tour at present is £1.50 for adults and E1 for children It has risen steadily over the years to keep in line with inflation.
In recent years LT started to hire a number of open-top double-deck buses to complement buses and coaches used on the tour. These proved so popular that the Executive decided to buy seven 1965 convertible open-top Daimler Fleetlines from Bournemouth Corporation. These have now all been repainted and are proving successful with both tourists from overseas and from Britain. So successful are they that they have been backed up by three of the BMMO ex-Midland Red double-deckers that Prince Marshall of Obsolete Fleet had had converted by LPC Coachwork of Feltham for use in London.
The majority of the Round London Sightseeing Tours are, however, carried out by LT's latest double-decker buses. At present Leyland B20 Fleetlines provide the majority of LT buses scheduled for sightseeing tour work. The buses, which are garaged along with the exBournemouth open-toppers, are all fairly new. LT keep the conventional buses on sightseeing work for a maximum of six months. This ensures that the buses enter stage carriage service to get full bus grant and the standard of sightseeing buses is high A team of long-service drivers crew the sightseeing buses. During peak summer months often up to 12 coaches are hired from different operators to complement LT's own and hired double-deckers At present the round London sightseeing tour uses five Leyland Fleetlines, six open-top LT Fleetlines, one or two Obsolete Fleet open-top buses, one hired Routemaster (ex-Northern General) and up to 12 coaches. On occasions some exstanderwick Bristol VRLs are used. London Transport's o prototype rear-engir Routemaster is also earmarl for London sightseeing dutiei The Round London Sig seeing Tour alone carr 635,000 passengers last y — at £1.50 a head this must big business. Each bus used the service completes betwf three and four trips a day.
This summer LT togetl with London Zoo and Prir Marshall has put one of 1 BMMO open-toppers into s vice on a new London Zo Baker Street express serv lumbered 74Z. The service is loped, to add to the Zoo's ttractiOn for visitors.
Prince Marshall's Obsolete leet organisation also operates free vintage bus service between Trafalgar Square and the ■ rmy and Navy Store in Vicoria. Ille tour uses a 1929 exhomO Tillings London ST .etrol-engined double-decker which stands up to the rigours f life in Central London partiularly well.
In adOition to the sightseeing )ur LT operates a programme f
guided tours in conjunction tith National Travel. Guided )urs ajll start from Victoria oach Station using hired lation f Travel coaches. The uides ore all ex-LT bus inspec)rs whd have taken and passed he Lcindon Tourist Board luides course.
Tours are normally conucted in English only although TE will arrange foreignpeaking guides for large parties 1 advance. LT's tour prorammel covers individual areas f Londbn in more detail than le Round London Sightseeing our asHAfell as popular attrac
Ihte Home Counties. programme includes estinations such as the East End and London 1; Windsor and Hamprt; Westminster, in
luding the Changing of the 1
3uard; he City and Tower of ondon and Greenwich by oach arid boat; Canterbury and /over: Stratford-upon-Avon; 3olent Cruise and visit to lealieu and the New Forest; Ilenheirp, Bladon and Oxford; lath, Lo gleat,Stonehenge, and Vinche ter; Portsmouth and he Isle of Wight. These tours irove th t LT does not limit its ctiviti s to the confines of ;reater ljondon.
LT do s not own coaches and ises National Travel facilities for hese tojrs. LT tours are sold hrough National Travel Agents, .T inq iry offices, Victoria ;oach tations and about 70 s-entral ondon Hotels. ons in The ours to ;ockne 1ungeo on Co Despi e these special services imed a the tourist market LT lets its biggest tourist income rom its rguIar services. As they iormalk travel off-peak they isefully use spare capacity on ixisting services. Although ravel b Tube is popular many ire findirrg that riding the bus is cheaper, more fun and more relaxed.
To assist tourists to find their way around LT issues a series of free publications. The LT marketing department sees that many tourists travelling to London have details of services in their own language before they leave their own country. In addition, travel agents on the Continent and in North America are able to sell special LT tickets and tours to the tourists before they arrive in London.
-Go as you please" tourist tickets are a good buy. These give four or seven days of unlimited travel on LT buses and part of the Tube. They are priced at £8.20 for four days and £11.40 for seven days with a reduced rate for children.
In addition LT has available a -Red bus rover" ticket which gives unlimited LT bus travel arid its Central Tube Rover ticket which gives unlimited travel on Central London Underground trains.
LT therefore makes things as easy as possible for tourists on its somewhat complex system. Marketing and publicity is expensive, but in LT's case the expense is more than justified. LT attends travel workshops and seminars abroad and fills its marginal capacity from tourist traffic. LT told me that a £400,000 investment in marketing has brought in an estimated £60 million worth of business.