84 The London Bus
operated with a flat fare. A
further seven similar buses, but
fully seated, were ordered for
the Country Area, although all
except one ultimately entered
service on Red Arrow services.
Following the success of the
first Red Arrow route, London
Transport set out to develop
its reshaping plan, which was
launched in September 1966 and
was implemented from 1968.
Described as a drastic
recasting, the main features of
what was expected to be a 10- to
15-year programme were:
● Introduction of driver-only
operation to address staff
shortages and costs
● Shortening of routes to
improve reliability and ease
scheduling
● Flat fare routes centred on
outer hubs
● Long single-deckers in place of
double-deckers
The plan envisaged that
about 40 suburban centres
would have flat fare networks
of short-distance routes with
fare collection using automated
turnstiles. These satellite
routes would be feeders to the
Underground and trunk routes.
A new system of numbering
was to be used for the networks,
with prefix letters identifying
the geographical location. The
number of centres was reduced
to 36 in the final plan. Suburban
routes not suitable for flatfare networks were to retain a
graduated fare system and would
gradually be converted to driver-
only single-deckers.
At the same time, plans were
announced to purchase 650 large
(36ft) single-deckers for delivery
in 1968/69, of which 108 would
go to the Country Area. As with
the experimental buses, these
would be AEC Merlins, a model
that the manufacturer called the
Swift when sold everywhere else.
The experimental buses had
bodywork built in Hampshire
by Strachans (pronounced
‘Strawns’) but these would all be
built in Birmingham by Metro-
Cammell Weymann.
The original plan was that the
principal trunk routes between
the suburbs and central London
would remain operated in the
medium term by rear-entrance
double-deckers with conductors.
Indeed, the last Routemasters
arrived in early 1968.The first phase
The first phase of the plan took
effect on 7 September 1968.
Seven additional Red Arrow
services were introduced,
numbered 501 to 507. They
served Waterloo, Victoria,
Liverpool Street, Charing Cross
and Marylebone stations. Several
double-deck routes that entered
central London were shortened
as a result.
A flat fare satellite networkof six routes (W1 to W6) was
based on Wood Green, when
conventional routes in the
area were either withdrawn or
shortened.
A major change of services in
the Walthamstow area was based
on a hub at Walthamstow Central
station on the Victoria Line,
which had opened the previous
week. Seven new routes were
created, and 19 existing ones
altered. Of the 45 new driver-only
Merlins introduced to the area,
15 were flat fare standee versions
and 30 were one-door 50-seaters
for routes with graduated fares.
The second phase followed in
October 1968 and affected routes
in south-east London. Although
no new flat fare networks were
created, some existing routes
were altered or shortened
and converted to driver-only
operation.
One of these was the 108 (then
Bromley by Bow-Blackheath)
—see p90 for today’s version —
which lost its crew-operated RT
double-deckers for Merlins. The
change, however, was largely
driven by the introduction of
a height limit in the Blackwall
Tunnel, through which it passed.
By late 1968 it was clear that
many of the changes were
unpopular with passengers and
it was discovered that in most
cases punctuality and reliability
had worsened on the converted
routes. This was largely because50 Years Ago
RIGHT: SMS684,
one of the shorter
AEC Swifts, in
South Mimms on
a route converted
to driver-only
operation in
July 1971. These
Swifts also were
withdrawn
after short
lives in London.
TONY WILSON