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My colleague John Darker accompanied Neil Carmichael and his party of local dignitaries on a circuit of Stevenage to sample the Superbus last week. The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the DoE, who is responsible for urban transport developments was filmed for TV while the bus was in motion: the cameraman and his sound assistant as must be all too customary — were compelled to ask Mr C to repeat sections of his "patter" when strong sun ruined the pictures.
The bus was on normal service and some Superbus patrons, had they known soon enough the identity of their Ministerial passenger, would certainly have complained that service standards were less good today than a year or so ago. Many would-be Superbus passengers get so frustrated by the delays that they hire taxis in the early mornings or late evenings, it was said.
Such comments would damage the well-deserved publicity that the Superbus experiment has attracted; but the "Superbus" tag can, at best, only relate to the regularity of the easily distinguished bus. The bus itself as C. R. Buckley, m.d. of I.ondon Country Buses confirmed, would have been unremarkable in the 1930s.
And how dreadful was Mr Buckley's wry comment that his company had managedto buy 1,000' replacement pistons for the AEC 505 Reliances from Germany! Well worthy of a cry of patriotic pain.