This page created 28th February 1999.
Pay As You Board STLs
The PAYB STLs, STL1793, STL2284, (Total 2)
London Transport started some experiments towards the end of the war with Pay As You Board,
using seated conductors at a till, plus a small waiting area for those still to pay.
Two STLs were modified for the trials, plus two trolleybuses and
RT97.
STL 1793 was rebuilt in September 1944 with a single centre doorway
and a staircase ascending to the rear over the offside rear wheel arch.
Between October 1945 and March 1945 it ran with a seated conductor on Route 65
(Ealing - Richmond - Leatherhead).
Or rather it crawled: loading times were extended as not all passengers could
board into the waiting area at busy stops
(a lesson ignored several years later when LT went wholesale for one-person operation.)
But London Transport learned some lessons at the time.
STL1793 continued in service but with a normally mobile conductor,
latterly in the Country Area, until it went for overhaul in September 1947,
when it was given a standard body.
Meanwhile STL2284 was rebuilt in November 1945 with dual doors:
an entrance in the first bay and an exit in the third bay,
with the cash register and seated conductor in between.
It too went to work from Kingston garage (K) on the 65, until April 1946.
Never a concern to give up an idea without exhausting the possibilities,
LT sent it to Windsor to work on the 445 (Windsor - Datchet Common)
for a month or so, then the experiment was terminated.
STL2284 operated in normal conductor mode at Leatherhead until March 1948,
then it too was rebuilt.
Photographic References
A key to the references is given in the
bibliography.
STL1793 DLU 11 BBB7 p85 1944 K on 65 to Kingston, Ealing Bdy, PAYB, centre entrance
LSubB p56 1944 K on 65 to Kingston, Ealing Bdy, PAYB, centre entrance
CB31 p36 CY on 434, Roffey Corner & Horsham, green, standard body
STL2284 EGO 336 CB37 p37 K on 65 to Chessington Zoo, PAYB 2 dr roofbox
LSubB p56 1945 K on 65 to Kingston, PAYB, two dr
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Bus Stop
contents
unfrozen
PAYB.
Sainsbury STL.
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