The Multi Phase

Arriva London introduced eight prototypes of the new Routemaster project to the 38 in 2012. Now they are fully introducing the ultramodern buses to London's most frequent route.

The epicentre of Lea Bridge Roundabout in Clapton is the terminus for routes 38 and 308.
A new Borismaster stands next to an existing bus on the 38, driver as happy as the weather.

From Clapton Pond to Victoria Station, Hackney's best performing route of the year has the highest peak vehicle requirement (PVR) in London, requiring approximately seventy buses to accommodate a frequency of every two minutes within a reasonable distance of seven miles. By curtailing every other bus to Hackney Central near the bus garage half-housing the route with Ash Grove (AE), this decreases bunching of buses at the Clapton terminus.

Route 38 became an articulated service on 29 October 2005,
replacing its renowned AEC Routemasters. Its bendy-buses
were withdrawn on 14 November 2009. ©Steven Hughes.

In comparison to its articulated service, route 38 never used to be as frequent as it is now. The extremely high capacity of the Mercedes-Benz Citaro O530G (MA) articulated buses allowed the route's peak vehicle requirement to be reduced to forty-seven buses. It was then increased to around seventy buses when Wright Gemini 2 bodied VDL DB300 (DW) buses were introduced as part of Boris Johnson's plans to rid of the oppressed bendy-buses. Okay, but why am I going down memory lane of route 38? Have you not noticed that, while Boris Johnson persistently campaigned about replacing bendy-buses with new Routemaster buses, it has taken until the seventh 'New Bus for London' route conversion, two years after the service inauguration of the Borismasters, to replace a route that did actually used to be allocated with articulated buses?

Everybody who has read my articles here will know about my two hour wait in Terminus Place, Victoria, for the first Wright Borismaster hybrid to enter service on 27 February 2012. Notwithstanding the bus at full capacity right from the off, full of enthusiasts, journalists interviewing passengers throughout the journey, and normal commuters of the route engulfed in the immense publicity, it was one of my most favourite journeys on a Borismaster, looking back and comparing experiences that follow two years later on other routes gaining the 'privilege' of such an allocation. However, one would wonder why route 38 had not been fully converted to Borismaster operation before any other route - certainly before the controversial conversion of route 24.

A few of the new batch entered service a few
weeks early. Prototypes were re-registered
in January and are still in service.

The supposed date to enter service was confirmed as 10 May 2014, however we saw a handful start service a few weeks prior: in April to maintain service reliability and stability during the second Tube Strike of the year. Most notably entering service was LT176 (LTZ 1176), which continued service after the Tube Strike and into the due date for Borismaster conversion, disregarding the momentary weekend discontinuation of the new batch of buses, until the next week saw their return and a few more Borismasters started entering service on the still predominated Wright Gemini 2 bodied VDL DB300 route 38. 

Talking of predominance ... before 10 May, an announcement stated that route 38 would be a phased conversion, similar to route 11 ... which meant we were not be to be too optimistic about this one. 10 May arrived, and as I checked to see how many Borismasters had started service today I was slightly taken aback to see that more standard Wright buses were in service than there was during the whole week where Borismasters were not even supposed to be on the route!

We boarded LT181 (LTZ 1181). The driver was a 'senior citizen' - to be politically correct about this - and with drivers having just finished training in the new buses with likely traffic in Piccadilly in consideration, I was not really expecting anything from this part of the journey. However, there was barely any traffic on any part of the route. Notwithstanding the immense cautious-like driving, perfect driving for when under instruction but not meeting the in-service expectations an average passenger would have, it was good to have company whilst we cruised through the suburban sections of central London through to Islington, where I was to proceed the journey to Clapton by myself. If I had gone by myself throughout the whole experience, no doubt the sporadic weather conditions and the average to slow speed of the bus would have made this review rather mixed. However, somehow the driver managed to drive at average speeds in a cruise-like fashion, rather than monotonously, with there being no traffic in the central London hotspots of Piccadilly and Holborn, and even if traffic was present, I would have been in enthused conversation whilst passing the scenic hotspots.

There was a driver change at Mildmay Park, the termination point for customer assistant duty on the route (absent on weekends, hence I had no 'conductor' aboard my journey). A younger driver replaced the senior driver, and he was much more faster yet the bus still glided along the road surface maintaining journey comfort and satisfactorily fast speeds to Clapton Pond.

Entering the Hackney traffic, the rain started pouring down momentarily but as we escaped into Clapton just before I alighted at the Lea Interchange Roundabout (last stop) sunlight re-emerged from the rain clouds just as the showers lessened, creating a rainbow. I hoped for the Borismaster to leave Clapton in time to capture a photo with it passing in front of the rainbow, however I couldn't so instead tried to compensate with a comparison shot of a Wright-bodied VDL and Wright Borismaster alongside each other on the same route (refer to photo one of article). Just before departing for Victoria, the driver did the unthinkable when he invited me into the cab of the Borismaster, requesting my camera in doing so. Man looked like a boss behind the wheel! For a shortage of Borismasters out on conversion date, this legend made my day. He soon departed for Victoria after a lengthy off peak and I re-embarked LT181 (LTZ 1181) back to central London, where the journey was just as fast as it was en route Clapton Pond from the driver change at Mildmay Park until we got to Angel, where we caught up and remained staring at the rear of the standard 38 ahead all the way to Piccadilly Circus.

But that was not all: route 38 has been promised around twenty new black-painted Borismasters as part of promoting the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. It took two weeks for one to enter service; their entrance into service was unexpected, as many were assuming them to enter service much later in June after Transport for London did a preview on the new buses. I could not say the two-week wait was worthwhile, but it is something new. Being a dark paint colour, they are hard to photograph but they are worth adding to your photo collection.

So after three phases, hence the title 'The Multi Phase', of Borismaster entries on route 38 - the Tube Strike, the official date for conversion which turned into planned twenty-day phase-in plan, and the entrance of the Adidas advertised buses - it is time to conclude.

My first ever experience back in 2012 and on (official) day one of Borismaster service on the 38 exceeded expectations and compensated for any flaws that tried to get in the way of both pleasant experiences. Even in summer 2012, it feels me with positive sentiment remembering when I took my mum on a short journey after chasing after one and boarding it between stops at a traffic light on an indelibly nostalgic sunny day in Bloomsbury; this was back when open-boarding was available at all public-suited times and all customers assistants were nice enough to be classed as conductors like the good days.

Before routes 10 and 38, I had been on routes 9 and 148 again, and I have to say that route 148 has always performed flawlessly every time whilst the 9 has either been slightly slower, more packed or provided small problems such as the doors having momentary faults, albeit being resolved quick enough to continue service. Its service also varies: sometimes it'll be fast journey, other times slower.

Therefore, after plenty thought, I have now realigned my Borismaster performance hierarchy to put at the top the consistently fast and excellent performance route 148, followed by the fullthrottle coaster of route 38 and then the favourable route 9. Route 10 follows as an average, agonisingly slowly driven but problem-free experience, before the controversial but now improving service of route 11 overtaking the boredom stricken route 390, leaving the controversially pointless conversion of route 24 last. I wonder where I'll put route 8 on 28 June 2014 - will it outperform the 38, do you think?