Editorial

Issue nr 374
Wednesday, December 24th 2025

Past Issues : https://www.oxford-chiltern-bus-page.co.uk/

From the Editor

I am sure many of my readers will/ have wondered why there hs been a break of 21 days since issue 373.

Both my wife, who I care for and myself have been ill in the past days which has meant I could not find time to work producing each week as usual.

Anyway after some improvement in both of us, has allowed me the time to catch up.

My thanks for your understanding and my I wish all a Happy Christmas and safe New Year 2026.

In this issue

Oxfordshire: Council increase cost of weekly bus tickets
Visit to Oxford and trip to Carterton 27-11-2025 by Michael Wadman
Gavin Francis follows up on the X5 Historic Report
374 memories by Grahame Wareham
London Update by Gavin Francis on Saturday 6^th December 2025
Bromley Shoppers Running Day 7^th December 2025
Adrian Small visited Crawley
Matt Cooper's Wycombe Bus archive
The annual Thursford Christmas concerts by David Bell
Readers Write
Fleet News and developments
20th anniversary of Routemasters finishing - 131225 by Andrew Webb

Oxfordshire: Council increase cost of weekly bus tickets

The cost of a weekly bus ticket will go up, after Oxfordshire County Council found it had made a ‘huge overspend’ and that it could face a funding gap of up to £1.9 million.

Visit to Oxford and trip to Carterton 27-11-2025 by Michael Wadman

On Thursday 27^th November I made a trip from Oxford to Carterton and back to photograph some of the lesser-known bus routes in the area. Unfortunately the weather was too dull and dismal for my old camera so the photos aren’t wonderful, but hopefully will be of interest. My Tube was delayed en route by an rta on the M40 but despite this arrival at Gloucester Green was only a few minutes late, enabling a seamless transfer onto an S2 to Witney.

West Oxfordshire Community Transport operate a number of section 22 services around Witney, not all of which run on Thursdays. On this day two vehicles were between them working town services 213, 214, and 215, which were SJ24 JFU and SJ24 JFV, Mellor Orions on Fiat Ducato chassis. A third vehicle was on service 210 to Milton-under-Wychwood, which was Peugeot Boxer MM73 GKL.

Villager Community Bus of Stow-on-the-Wold runs two s22 services into Witney on Thursdays, both from Oddington by different routes.
V23 was worked by SJ23 JCY, and V26 by SG19 HOH, both Mellor Orions.

Having finished in Witney I intended catching the next S1 to Carterton, but in the event Pulham’s infrequent 64 came along first, which added to the interest by following a different route. West Oxfordshire Community Transport operates Carterton town services 345 and 355 on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings. There was a Thursday afternoon service, but this appears to have come off last May. Both routes are operated by the same vehicle, which on the day of my visit was SC65 HFU, yet another Mellor Orion.

I then returned to Oxford on an S1, but stopped off at Eynsham and dropped back one in order to photograph West Oxfordshire Community Transport on routes 411 (Eynsham – Hanborough station) and 418 (Eynsham – Standlake) which they look over from First & Last in September. Most journeys run through between Hanborough and Standlake with a brief hesitation in Eynsham and are worked by one vehicle, which on this day was LK65 BKN, a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter with Treka body.

As promised, some historical photographs of the area and services covered by my trip to Carterton last month.

In August 1994 R & B Travel of Witney were running service 45 between their home town and Standlake, using YNY 591T, a Bedford YMT / Plaxton new to Hills of Tredegar. I don’t know which route this service took, so I can’t say whether it has a modern equivalent.

In February 1999 Villager Community Bus were using Ford Transits on their section 22 services into Witney.

In the mid-‘nineties the Carterton town service, nowadays run by West Oxfordshire Community Bus, was operated by McLeans Coaches, whose D142 NON, a Freight Rover / Carlyle new to Manchester Minibuses, is seen in August 1994 on what was then service C1 but is now the 345. McLeans also operated service C3 to Shilton, Burford, and Fulbrook, which later became the 113 but has no current equivalent. C652 XDF, a former Cheltenham & Gloucester Mercedes-Benz L508D / Alexander, is seen in December 1996.

Service 64 between Swindon and Carterton is nowadays run by Pulham’s and extends to Witney; but back in the ‘nineties it was operated by Carterton Coaches. Here we see HFG 451T (formerly APH 519T), listed as a Ford R1014 / Duple but obviously with a shortened chassis, new to Hodge of Sandhurst, but still in the livery of its previous operator but one, Autopoint of Herstmonceux, in April 1996; NDD 113W, a former Swanbrook Bedford YMT / Plaxton with a total absence of any destination display in December 1996; and GLJ 681N, a rather woebegone (but at least it has a destination display) former Hants & Dorset Leyland National, still in the remains of the livery of its previous operator but one, Damory Coaches, in February 1997.

An excellent article - Ed.

Gavin Francis follows up on the X5 Historic Report

Reading Tony Bungay’s X5 Historic Report brought back a few memories.

RT 987, 1015 and 4107

I remember driving over to Tring on 17^th March 1973 to get a couple of pictures of RTs operating Rte 301 in this case 987 and 1015. Also I have a picture of RT 4107 outside Tring Garage in 1972 which I believe came from the Vic Zealy collection.

RT 2083

It is still possible to ride an RT on Rte 301 as each year RT 2083 operates a feeder service from Aylesbury to Berkhamsted before changing to a 353 on the annual Chesham Running Day. It is pictured outside Aylesbury Railway Station on 6^th October 2024. I was lucky enough on that day to drive the bus on the first half of its duty.

Fast forward now to 2009/10 and similar route 501 which was being operated by Red Rose at the time.

Pictured in the old Hemel Hempstead Bus Station on 16^th August 2009 are, FJ06URR, KX09ACU, OU08EHO

hen on 17^th September 2009 Y10DPC and finally on 2^nd September 2010 R102TKO still in its East Yorkshire livery.

Always interesting to look back. Ed.

374 memories by Grahame Wareham

O&CBP issue 374

L374 OFC374 1950 AEC Regent III 9612A with Park Royal L26/26R low-bridge body. L374 was renumbered L150 in 1952 and lasted in the fleet until March 1963 when it was withdrawn and sold to Transport Passenger Equipment, Macclesfield (dealer) in November 1963 being resold to Armstrong of Westerhope in January 1964. It was withdrawn in January 1968 and disposed of for scrap to W. North (dealer) Sherburn in Elmet in February 1964.

374 KFC374G 1968 Daimler Fleetline CRG6LX with Northern Counties (NCME) H41/31F low-height body. 374 was part of a batch of ten rear engined double deckers, the first of what was going to become the standard mechanical arrangement for the next four years which included 59 new vehicles built on Daimler chassis and a further 21 secondhand examples from Midland Red and North Western acquired between 1972 and 1977. 374 and its sisters were put to work as conventional conductor assisted buses on City routes but mainly on the 2 road corridor between Kidlington and Barton/Risinghurst/Sandhills estate until the dual-doored following batch arrived from 1969-70 which then saw 372-381 allocated to Country area garages and used as OMO vehicles. They were also brought back into the City Centre and used as OMO vehicles with, Almex, Solomatic and Electric Setright ticket machine trials to establish modernization of the issuing of tickets. 374 was repainted into a white based overall advertisement for Carfax Travel in 1972 , the first vehicle so ever treated in the COMS fleet and the first of many. In November 1974 374 was painted into an overall white livery in preparation for a revised application of the National Holidays advertisement which it carried for just over a year before being recertified in 1975 when it was also repainted into standard NBC poppy red livery. 374 was withdrawn in August 1980 and transferred to Bristol Omnibus Company as their C7002 being allocated to Weston- Super-Mare and Winterstoke depots. It was withdrawn in November 1982 and sold to Green (dlr) Weymouth passing to Sherrin, Carhampton the same month. It was withdrawn by Sherrin in May 1990 and sold for scrap to G.Ripley (dealer) Carlton in June 1990.

374 OX68FND 2018 Wright Streetdeck HEVC Gemini 3 H49/33F low-height body. It was part of a batch of six ordered to supplement the existing Brookes liveried E400 MMC buses being used on the U contracts and the 400 service. This batch of buses were similar to previous Streetdecks but incorporated a Hybrid regeneration system to feed all the auxiliary electrical outputs required to operate the bus leaving the engine to power the gearbox. In December 2023 a new fleet of Streetdeck EV's arrived releasing 374 and the other five diesel Streetdecks to be transferred to Pulham's for operation on the NHS Cheltenham and Gloucester hospitals contract. 374 was reregistered N99NHS and received new vinyl branding to advertise the service. In 2025 374 was renumbered 80374 along with the Go-Ahead national identification of the OBC Group fleet.

London Update by Gavin Francis on Saturday 6^th December 2025

A couple of weeks ago Matt Cooper reported on the collection of graffiti sprayed buses at Stratford Station so as I was in London Saturday I decided to go and have a look.

As Matt found the best view of them comes from the footbridge from The Bus Station to Westfield Shopping Centre although pictures can only be obtained through the glass sides of the footbridge. Basically the site is located between Platforms 11 and 10A but even though I went down to the platforms the walls are so high it is impossible to get any better shots. I think there must be about 20 buses there now. I took a walk right around the perimeter as close as possible and although I found the road entrance it was all locked with security cameras.

Whilst walking around I went past Stratford City Bus Station, this is much smaller than the main Bus Station and it is used by both National Express and Flixbus as their pick up/drop off point for Stratford

Flixbus YK25OME and YN25XKC along with National Express BF21CZA outside Stratford City and BF21CZG approaching it.

Then it was back on The Tube to Victoria.

Parked on the station forecourt was Metroline LT 775 wrapped for Snapdragon

Then outside on Buckingham Palace Road was Go-Ahead LT 486 wrapped for Cyprus Winter.

Further along the road I found yet another Afternoon Tea Bus this one belonging to Golden Tours. Unlike the vast majority of other Afternoon Tea buses this one was not ex-London instead it was ex-Lothian 520. It was wrapped to promote The Snowman which is always popular at this time of the year.

Bromley Shoppers Running Day 7^th December 2025

Sunday7th December saw the annual Bromley Shoppers Running Day and Nigel Eadon-Clarke went along to record the buses involved.

Three routes were operated, 94, 227 and 725 using the following buses: RT 1702, RM 980 and RM 1397, RF 28, RF 226, RF 368, RF 486 and RF 633.There was also a surprise appearance of RFW 14 running in service.

Adrian Small visited Crawley

With the news of the temporary withdrawal of the Metrobus hydrogen powered Wright Hydroliners at Crawley I visited this week.

Attached is a selection of photos of the buses brought in to help out.

Most are from fellow Go-Ahead group companies, but also a couple of independents have supplied some too.

01 - Bluestar 1008 (YN56 FFR) in Crawley

02 - Bluestar 2006 (HF58 HTN) in Horsham

03 - Bluestar 1004 (YN56 FFK) in Crawley

04 - Bluestar 1255 (LK08 FKX) in Crawley

05 - Bluestar 1006 (YN56 FFO) in Crawley

06 - Bluestar 6913 (LX06 EBP) in Crawley

07 - Bluestar 6901 (LX06 EAY) in Crawley

08 - Swindon Buses 1254 (LX56 ETR) in Crawley

09 - Swindon Buses 2008 (HF58 HTP) in Crawley

10 - Brighton & Hove 701 (YY73 THF) in Horsham

11 - London General WSD6 (SN18 XYY) in Crawley

12 - London General WSD4 (SN18 XYW) in Crawley

The independent operators:

13 - Chaseside 103 (V777 CSP) in Horsham

14 - Chaseside 204 (MR06 CSP) in Horsham

15 - Chaseside 102 (Y77 CSP) in Crawley

16 - Go-Coach 8345 (YX66 WFF) in Crawley

17 - Go-Coach 7533 (YX74 ODP) in Crawley

Quite some variety. Ed.

Matt Cooper's Wycombe Bus archive

I hope that you are well. I have been searching through some of my old timetables etc including the large selection from High Wycombe. It was 35 years ago on 23 November that Wycombe Bus was formed when COMS took over HW from The Berks Bucks Bus Co. The operation lasted for just over 10years before being sold to Arriva and merged in with what was once the London Country North West, later Luton and Districr, operation in the area. Half way through its existence the depot received a ‘brand refresh’ in July 1995with ‘the’ added to fleet name and black skirt on vehicles repainted blue. Wayfarer mk3 ticket machines soon followed along with the magnetic card reader equipment and choice of Freedom cards offered. This all matched a similar process which had taken place at parent Oxford Bus. The fleet number series was also changed soon after to match.

Soon after its inception a manager called Keith Roebuck joined the organisation from his native Yorkshire. I had several meetings with him and was shown around Newlands Bus Station. The hand written company structure was provided by him and can be compared to the one shown in the staff newsletter of some 8 years later. During my time living in Wycombe (1990 to 1996) I spent a lot of time at the bus station and got to know many of the staff of Wycombe Bus and L&D. One such gentleman was Fred Gibson who also hailed from Yorkshire. I learnt a lot from this kind man who, after a career in the military, was a driver firstly for Wesr Yorkshire PTE (later Yorkshire Rider) moving to HW and starting with The Bee Line in 1988. Staying with the operator’s successors WBC and Arriva he was greatly involved in the union under all organisations. I have recently heard he has passed away and my thoughts are with his family. No doubt he is driving in a better place now and whether it’s the cab of a bus, coach or perhaps a steam locomotive (which he loved) he will be singing away to the usual selection of songs he entertained passengers with! The pictures are of Fred and myself (with curtain hairstyle!) on the week we left High Wycombe for Northampton. The vehicles are typical of the fleet at the time, 1508 at Downey and 773 at Widmer End.

The rest of the documents!

Wycombe Bus archive

The 1997 WBC timetable exemplifies the fleet at the time with Mercedes-Benz minibuses from London General, Leyland Olympians (225 to 235) from Oxford and Dennis Dart SLF, seven delivered new in 1996 and the only new vehicle bought for the depot between 1990 and 2000.

The Chiltern Bus timetable book was quite substantial and detailed all routes operated in the HW and south Bucks area. One of the quartet of Northern Counties-bodies Leyland Olympians graces the cover posed at Penn pond. Interesting to note the map on the back covers offers many routes now covered in some form by other operators following Arriva’s departure from Wycombe and Aylesbury depots.

The Cressex area leaflet shows all routes operated by L&D at the time. This provided competition in this area which was also served by WBC and Motts Yellow Bus services. It also provided their depot at Lincoln Road with a regular service for staff to travel to the town centre on.

I am delighted that other operators are now expanding services in the area and offering the public some links lost many years ago. The Bee Line days out from HW leaflet details some places where changes of bus would have been necessary then bus not so with most today. The names Thames Valley, Wycombe Bus Company and even Chilrern Bus have returned and provide a nice local touch which was lost during Arriva days.

The newspaper article from the Wycombe Star details changes of routes in the July 1995 ‘re-shuffle’ where WBC took the majority of town services in Wycombe and The Shires most of the country routes. All would of course be joined together in 2000 under the Arriva title. Interesting to note that neither lineage exists today (Alder Valley or London Country) the nearest being Carousel Buses who are owned by COMS as Wycombe Bus once had been. Local Manager Frank Hinchy was a long standing member at HW, his wife also worked for the firm as secretary . Incidentally his home would have overlooked the Carousel depot on the outskirts of Downley! David Shadbolt (representing The Shires) was of United Counties pedigree.

The annual Thursford Christmas concerts by David Bell
https://www.thursford.com/&ved=2ahUKEwiBgb-9zM-RAxWYXUEAHdnIBgoQFnoECCQQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1IKanIF5teET7KLs5CHVKy

Thursford - Fakenham - Norfolk

The annual Thursford Christmas concerts started in early November and run to 23rd December. I thought you might like to see a selection of coaches which have turned up this year. Operators featured are Yorkshire Rose of Barnsley, Martins of Midsomer Norton, Brethertons of Longridge in Lancashire, Leger Holidays, Brookline of Ryarsh in Kent, Coachstyle of Chippenham, Three Star Coaches of Luton and Dickinson of Wrangle in Lincolnshire.

Andrew Dyer

Thanks for another great edition and every week I look forward to Grahame Wareham’s comprehensive fleet histories for various fleet numbers.

What your readers may not know though is that 373 should have been an AEC Renown, not a Daimler Fleetline!

Research by my good friend Martin Sutton into correspondence held at The Bus Archive shows that at the beginning of 1967, COMS tried to order a batch of seven Renowns but were told by AEC that they only had enough parts to make four! As a result the order for 53 seat AEC Swifts was enlarged by three instead.

So, had history been different 372, 3 & 4 would have been Renowns and 636, 7 & 8 wouldn’t have existed ….fascinating stuff!

Derek Taylor re Waddeson Manor bus service

In early September I with colleagues went up to Stafford Bus Sales to collect three Optare Versas to join the Waddesdon Manor fleet. The DYX ex Stagecoach is the first to be painted in the blue livery. GYD is expected to be completed next week. With MYZ probably in the New Year. They all have been down seated from 57 to 43. Wright bus MX61 BCY is withdrawn and used for spares. Citaro bendibus remains in service on busy days like the present Christmas event.

George Candelin

On 27th November on the A40 between Thornhill and Headington I noted ED106. No photo or other details as I was driving to London.

Are they being worked on by a local firm?

Coach Visitors to Oxford

from David Beynon

Seen on December 14th.

Fleet News and developments

Nick Ross

An Arriva image if needed. Looking good in old livery Arrivals 3896 awaits departure time from Luton interchange
with a 321 to Watford on November 27th 2025.

Tony Bungay

Just a couple of photos here of two operators which feature less on your web page these days!

Arriva Milton Keynes based 3867 works the faster X14 journey back to Milton Keynes from Aylesbury.

At this time of year many of the journeys on this service tend to be operated in the dark! Giving a very limited window for any in motion photos, and even then depending on camera and brightness!

Gavin Francis with variety in Wycombe on December 8th.

47693 with an X74.

Carousel Buses to run free festive travel and Christmas Day buses

Carousel Buses is marking the festive period by launching free bus travel in Berkshire on selected dates and providing Christmas Day services in Buckinghamshire for the first time.

The operator’s passengers in Slough, the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, and Wokingham will have complimentary travel on 13 and 20 December, after the first of such free days occurred on 6 December. Further free travel dates on 7, 14 and 21 December were announced for Wokingham only.

Subsidy for the free travel is coming from Slough Borough Council, the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, and Wokingham Borough Council.

In Buckinghamshire, Carousel Buses will run a special service from Christmas Eve to 3 January, with some buses running on Christmas Day.

Limited services on the 1A, 9, 32A, 33, 37B, 102, 103 and 850 will be in operation, thanks to support from Buckinghamshire Council and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.

The Airline services to Heathrow and Gatwick will operate on a limited basis as in previous years.

Luke Marion, Managing Director of Carousel Buses, says of the free Christmas travel offer: “Christmas is a time for thinking of others and giving back, so I’m delighted we’re able to offer free travel this month to help people get around.

“Whether you’re Christmas shopping or meeting up with friends or family, you can make use of this fantastic offer.

“Travelling by bus is cost-effective and healthier for the environment, and I’d like to thank our partner local authorities for their involvement in this collaboration.”

A great new bus link into Slough & Uxbridge

A great new bus link into Slough & Uxbridge - Carousel Buses

It is some months since I last visited Carousel's depot and it is interesting to see how much it has expanded to meet the growing fleet size. Five pictures attached.

I note that there are now exit doors into what used to be the overflow yard, as shown in one of the pictures.

Another shows recently repainted Scania 80231 outside the main doors. I note the sign above reception, showing the different branding applied to the buses.

The other three pictures are of buses at rest, so probably don't need extra captions!

Thank you again for another year of faithful service to us old bus enthusiasts. By my reckoning, I think you must be coming up to almost 30 years of faithful, regular reporting. Hopefully another 30 years or so and then it might be time to call it a day!!

The first of the Pulhams electrics have arrived in the form of LX75 ZKK and LX75 ZKL.
Based on the available information, I'm assuming these will become 80497 and 80498.

80915 on the X2 this morning heading to Didcot on December 19th, latest HEV to enter service.

A photo of Swindon's Bus Company 2750 on its first day in traffic since being transferred to Swindon. (10/12/2025)

Here are a couple of photos taken this morning. 806 is being pressed into service as there is a shortage of buses here as the chargers for the new electric buses are still not connected to the grid. Several of the route 17 buses are not available as they are being repainted and converted to single door for routes 23 and 24 to Caversham. This was obviously planned assuming that the new buses would be in use by now.

In the other photo, 792 is one of the ex-Newbury buses rebranded for route 20 which is a limited stop service from the station to the Whiteknights campus of the university. These run in term time to take pressure off route 21.

In the last week or so Reading have changed ticket machines to TransMach. These seem to read cards and phones much faster and loading times are noticeably better. This will only improve as everyone gets used to the new position of the card reader which is at an angle on top of the machine. The photo is taken from their website. I think Reading's model is similar but not identical.

SN75YZB & YZC. They are AD E40D-AD Enviro 400MMC H85F and are plain white pending livery application, if any, for Bucks University.

New Redline Enviro 400MMC vehicles, a picture of one on the X20 to Oxford this morning I have attached.

I also passed the second vehicle on the road last night near Gt Missenden, I assume returning to Aylesbury after working a Bucks Uni service to Uxbridge.

They both look to be identical Enviro 400 MMC models with the longer wheelbase (11.3m overall length I think).

I have also been told by staff at Redline/Red Rose that more Volvo B8RLE/MCV Evora vehicles are due over the coming months so I will keep my eyes peeked for their hopefull arrival.

Redline, Aylesbury have put a brand new Alexander Dennis Enviro400MMC into service.

SN75 YZC entered service with one trip on the 130 on Monday the 15th of December, but then made its debut on the X20 service on Tuesday the 16th.

Seen in New Road, Stokenchurch the current regular bus for the 275 (M-F) was working the 40 on December 13th.

Announced on Buckinghamshire Councils Bus changes website, much longer established Red Rose fast service to Milton Keynes route 100, is going to provide an hourly service from this December on a Sunday, the first time in a couple of years there has been a Bus service along the A418 on a Sunday since Arriva withdrew their limited 150 service on that day.

Here are details of changes on the Stagecoach West Fleet Card dated 05/12/2025. There isn’t much to report, though the four ADL EVs in use at Cheltenham have finally officially appeared on the Fleet Card Reserve list!

Of interest for the Oxford area Scania/Enviro400 15759 and 15992 have been repainted in the new Stagecoach 2024 steel blue livery. Swindon based Scania/Enviro300 28681-4/7 are on loan to Oxford covering a vehicle shortage, these being replaced in Swindon by Tridents.

80002 is seen travelling along the A44, having just stopped at Begbroke for the first time on the newly extended 800 service.

The 800 service not only offers a direct link to Oxford Airport from the nearby villages of Yarnton and Begbroke,
but also bolsters the S7 service on this section of the corridor.

80013 is seen departing Gloucester Green bus station towards the Parkway and Yarnton.

The 800 service, going in both directions, is timed to depart at the same time from Gloucester Green.

80009 is seen operating the extended 600 service, having departed from Oxford Parkway towards Thornhill via the JR Hospital.

The extension of the 800 service provides a much needed link for residents of Yarnton and Begbroke that can now easily travel to Oxford Airport, Kidlington, the Parkway and beyond.

The last Stagecoach service to operate between Yarnton and the Parkway was the 7A service, which started in Yarnton and then operated via the Frieze Way direct to the Parkway and onto Oxford via Banbury Road between the 13th of August 2017 until the 19th of April 2020, Although, it technically still didn't provide a link to Kidlington, without having to walk back from the Parkway.

On a very damp and dismal Sunday morning Stagecoach Midlands 28676 proceeds up Wendover High Street to Wendover Railway Station working a Chiltern Railways replacement Bus Service. The Yellow distance livery certainly stands out in these conditions! This vehicle is based in the part of Stagecoach Midlands that was formally the heartland of United Counties, so the appearance of a United Counties Bus as such in Wendover, while probably rare for many years, prior to 1986 would have been an everyday occurrence for over 30 years!

9 December marked the 20th anniversary of Routemasters finishing in mainstream TfL service when route 159 converted to operation by Alexander ALX400 Volvo B7TL buses from Arriva's VLA class. To commemorate this anniversary the Routemaster Owners and Operators Association organised their annual road run starting from the iconic Ace Cafe at Stonebridge Park on 13 December. 15 representatives of the Routemaster, plus a solitary Rf assembled for photos before some set off to cover the 159 route whilst others stayed more locally to visit Park Royal and Southall which both had a part in the Routemaster story.

RM2217 is widely recognised as the official last Routemaster to work on route 159 and received extensive press coverage when it arrived at Brixton Garage on 9 December 2005. RM54 is also recognised as the 'last' bus as it continued the full length of the route and was in service after RM2217 retired to the garage. RM2217 spent several more years with Arriva London as part of the company's small heritage fleet. This has now disbanded and the bus is operated by London Bus Company at Northfleet. It has recently been repainted into the attractive red and cream livery worn by buses on route 159 for a spell in the 1990s.

RML2744 spent several years in Denmark but has now been repatriated by Red Routemaster.

The Spongebob Movie opens in cinemas on 20 December, offering families a 'yellow Christmas'.

First London's BCE47023 has received this wrap for the movie - seen at Marble Arch on 6 December.

New Vehicles	80229/30/33/39	New Vehicles	To	Reserve

Out of Reserve	15993	Reserve (RTC)	To	Stroud

To Reserve	18087	Stroud	To	Reserve
	28685	Swindon	To	Reserve (RTA)