So 1983 saw the introduction of the first of a wave of new entrants to the London bus tour market, many of whom used newly-redundant Fleetlines from London Transport. The business was exceedingly competitive. New ventures were tried: new routes, open-top Fleetlines. Some were successful, others not. Takeovers made recording of who owned what complicated- so my notes below are somewhat incomplete! Eventually the big players were Ensignbus (with London Pride) and The Big Bus Company, both long-term users of ex-LT Fleetlines. Who said they couldn't last in London? Who would have foreseen then that twenty years later some of the Fleetlines would still be operating on tour duties in London.
Culturebus, a Feltham-based company, began operating a hop-on, hop-off operation from May 1983.
Six ex-London Fleetlines had been bought in April (576,589,620,648,1444,1476),
followed by a further two (821,849) in February 1984.
These were repainted in overall yellow livery,
with the front destination gear panelled over.
This large panel was painted white with 21 varied destinations printed in black.
London Cityrama was an early-bird in the tourist-bus stakes.
The business was bought by Limebourne and set up as a separate operating unit from July 1982.
The company had long held a licence for operating London sightseeing tours, from its inception by Peter Newman (of Ensignbus).
Cityrama gathered a fleet of Fleetlines in deep blue livery from late 1982 onwards, to add to its other vehicles.
Some Fleetlines were converted to open-toppers.
London Fleetlines included (with approximate acquistion dates):
In March 1986 they won the LRT tender for route 200, and bought further DMS Fleetlines for that. The 196 followed, for which ex Sheffield Fleetlines were bought. but they kept their bus operations and tour operations fleets separate. Their service routes were plagued by unreliability, despite the purchase of two new Olympians, and in December 1988 the 200 was surrendered, followed by the 196 in October 1989. Cityrama pressed on with tour operations.
London Cityrama was acquired by Ensignbus in the autumn of 1993, and their tour-bus fleet was incorporated into the London Pride operation.
Ebdons was taken over by Ensignbus in late 1985.
Ensignbus was well-placed to take advantage of the changes in legislation,
with an enormous pool of DMS Fleetlines to choose from out of the sales stock
passing through the associated Ensign Coach & Bus.
Ensign's prepared Fleetlines for a variety of customers,
including engineering and restyling as required.
The company became adept at open-top conversions,
producing a variety of styles to suit the vagaries of the English weather.
It soon became apparent that the tourist bus was no longer a summer-only phenomenon,
and that open-top buses could attract clientele even on bright cold winter days.
But closed top buses were needed for rainy days.
A compromise that would give the best of both worlds on iffy days was the part-open-top conversion
where a smaller number of passengers could enjoy the front shelter if it rained,
or enjoy the breeze and pull a tan at the back.
Ensignbus gained experience contracting for the Round London Sightseeing Tour,
then began its own independent tourist operations.
Fleetlines began appearing in numbers from the end of 1983.
The individual buses in Ensign's tourist fleet varied rather more quickly than those in other fleets,
as they shifted between the tourist list, the service bus list, and sales stock.
Livery was blue and silver, with black lining, like the service-bus fleet,
but with London Pride lettering following the 1985 merger.
Emmerheath Ltd began operations in 1984, using Fleetlines in a striking pink and white livery.
Before long they adopted the London Pride fleetname.
Buses included both closed-top and open-top specimens:
The company merged with Ensignbus in late October 1985.
Buses then wore Ensignbus blue/silver, with London Pride markings.
DMS's involved are
25,33,104,165,188,192,255,264,279,
315,322,343,816,840 all open top.
589,620,648,1069,1092,1424,1444,
1469,1476,1680,1682,1709,1738,1941,
2000,2240,2407.
Later the London Pride fleet was given its own livery, distinct from that of Ensignbus,
as the bus operations of the latter were sold off to form Capital Citybus.
The new livery was distictly from the Ensign pattern-book, but with a plummy red in place of Ensign's blue.
During the spring of 1984 Wealden of London started two tourist services: the Richmond Heritage Ride,
an hourly circular tour along both banks of the Thames between Kew Gargens and Hampton Court,
and Wealden Westway Leisure Ride, which linked Hyde Park Corner and Windsor Safari Park via Kew,
Hampton Court and Thorpe Park. Yellow and black Fleetlines werte used,
but the services were spectacularly unsuccessful and were quickly withdrawn.
DMS 821 and DMS 849 were used.
The operations were recast as London Sightseeing Tours in 1985, with the addition of DMS141, 347, 371 and DMS1691
This in turn was replaced in 1993 by the London Hop-On Hop-Off Service. Some of these Fleetlines had the entre doorway transposed to the offside, behind the stairway, to enable offside stops in one-way systems.
They have a fleet with a variety of open-top styles, as shown in the gallery of photos below.
The Fleetlines have largely been displaced recently by newer buses. (The Big Bus Company became a major user of London Titans, and Hong Kong six-wheeler Metrobuses)
Bus Stop
Part 1.
Part 7.
DMO Class.
bus histories.
photos.