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London

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18th September 1970

Page 112

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Page 112, 18th September 1970 — London

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double

deckers in vogue again

by Derek Moses • Revealed at Earls Court today are two Park Royal-bodied Daimler Fleetlines for London Transport, which could well be the first of nearly 2000 double-deckers to be purchased by LTE.

A spokesman for the Executive confirmed on Monday that inquiries had gone out for the supply of up to 1600 double-deckers during the period 1972-4. To these must be added 367 double-deckers to which the Executive is already committed—these are due for delivery during the remainder of this year and in 1971. The intriguing question now is to see who will build LTE's 1600 double-deckers.

When London Transport announced its bold Bus Reshaping Plan in September 1966, the operation of one-man double-deckers on normal stage carriage routes was not legal. Consequently LT went ahead with the introduction of single-deckers in order to implement the introduction of o-m-o services as quickly as possible, and to replace the elderly RT-type double-deckers and RF single-deckers.

By the very nature of the undertaking's size, it was inevitable that a large number of single-deckers would be purchased, and when current orders are completed, LT will have bought more than 1100 single-deckers, of which the majority are of the standee type. Some of these have been absorbed by the new London Country Bus Services Ltd, leaving about 1000 for LT service.

Standee buses have proved unpopular in almost every part of London where they have been introduced, apart from the central London Red Arrow services. Furthermore, double-deckers of the type on show can carry more passengers (89) than an SMS standee bus (67) in three foot less overall length, the SMS type in turn being 2ft 7in. shorter than the earlier standee buses of similar capacity.

Obviously, some routes will continue to require only smaller capacity MB or SM type single-deckers, with a total capacity of 52, though it is unlikely that London will need any additional single-deckers for some years to come.

At present LTE's double-deck choice is confined to British chassis, though it is known that Scania. Bussar AB, of Katrineholtn, Sweden, is working on the design of a double-deck version of the Metro-Scania. It will take some time to develop—about 18 months. I understand —but the next Commercial Motor Show may well see a Metro-Scania double-decker.