Show them who’s boss of the bus-lane on this fabulous bus driving experience! No need for your Public Service Vehicle (PSV) licence here as you will be driving a bus (or two!) around the specially coned out area at North Weald Airfield circuit in Essex. Ding ding all aboard!
We have a duo of big and beautiful vehicles ready for you to drive namely the classic Routemaster and a proper bendy bus – and of course both of them are red. You can go for the classic Routemaster Experience or you can drive both on the ‘Old vs New’ bus driving experience.
The Routemaster is a long serving legend of London. These iconic double decker buses first tooted their way onto the streets in 1958 and ran until 2005. The new generation Routemasters you see today are fine but nothing compares to an original which is exactly what you’ll be driving.
Unique in that the engine is up front the driver is perched high up in a little half-cab whilst the conductor is near that open rear platform that made it so easy for us all to hop on and hop off with little regard for actual bus stops or road safety but it was fun. The 73 route these buses were most famous for took fare paying passengers right through all the most celebrated streets of Westminster and each ride was like a tourist tour.
Riding on a Routemaster however is very different to driving one. For a start you actually have to climb up into your wee cab. Then you’ll see that unlike a normal car the steering wheel is gigantic and very flat. To get full-lock on in a hurry you’ll have to have to put some elbow grease into it that’s for sure.
Then for those on the ‘Old vs New’ session there’s the bendy one. These 18 metre-long articulated monsters had a short-lived career on London’s streets having lasted just seven years on 12 routes in the capital before Mayor Boris Johnson branded them ‘writhing whales of the roads’ and somewhat unceremoniously decommissioned them all and sold most of them to Malta. Like you do.
Luckily for you at least one has remained in the UK and it’s here in Essex. Still resplendent in its proper Transport for London pillar box red and still adorned with those stickers politely asking us to ‘Buy your ticket before boarding’ it’s as authentic as you can get. These behemoths of the city streets are still really common on the continent but now long gone and forgotten in this country it’s really rather cool to be able to have a go at driving one. And whilst you are in the hot seat on your bus driving experience take a look in the rear view mirror and imagine 120 commuters’ faces looking at you…that’s a lot of passengers.
