April 2006                                                        The Megaphone                                                             Page 4

Those Big Red Double Deckers

by Julie (Stout) Crim

A type of bus many have never seen in its natural environment, the Double Decker, is going to be phased out soon. Seldom is a mode of transportation so well known throughout the world as the British double decker bus. Each and every thing in all the world has it's time and place and sadly the double decker bus is bringing its career to an end.

I loved the buses and the people that worked on them. For about 30 cents, I could ride anywhere in London on a Big Red. If I wanted to go to another town or city I rode a green double decker. One usually boarded and disembarked at the back. The driver never waited for someone to sit before moving. There was plenty of poles to hold on to and one knew to always have hold of at least one, moving or not! Of course the seats on top were the best for seeing and so that is where I went . . . at first. After a while, (been there/ done that) I rode on the lower level. It was quite a trick going up and down the stairs while moving. The ticket taker would come along and ask where you were going and sell you a ticket. Don't ever think of causing trouble because they wore a shiny large whistle around their neck and would summon a policeman is seconds if need be.

We always had a car but moving around in London was faster and cheaper by public transport, at the time, the best in the world. I often would go to the West End (downtown) by tube (subway). It was faster. However, I had to walk about a quarter of a mile to the tube station. The bus stopped closer than that to my house so in rainy weather the bus was the best choice. The price was about the same.

The route, stops and times were always posted and one could set their watch by their arrival. I never bothered to know the times. Didn't need to. No matter where in London I was, there was never a longer wait that seven minutes for a bus or a train and in the heart of the West End they ran closer than that . . . four minutes.

There was a feeling that came over many people that rode those buses, a feeling of nostalgia maybe or being in an important part of history. My goodness, the Big Reds have been around for such a long time. How does one think of London without seeing a mental picture of a red bus?

I hate to see them go. London is a beautiful and wondrous place to live. It will never be the same . . . and all in the name of progress.

For two and a half years I lived in London's western borough of Hillingdon at 17 Sweetcroft Lane. The other year and a half was spent at High Wycombe -- another story, another time.

Julie (Stout) Crim '57
Yuma, Arizona