Talk:London Routemaster last day
Re RM54..
I have over 200 images taken with my digital camera that day, all EXIF timestamped, my camera was on EU time on the day, but UK time is reached by deducting 1 hour.
I was a passenger on RM6, 2nd last departure, and being painted gold, many confused as being the last bus. It overtook RM5 and RM54 enroute. I can review the timestamps of every image & video, and in sequence. RM6 arrived at 1350, it took 2 minutes once empty, to pass the crowds and turn empty into the depot. I have a picture with RM6 partially turning into the depot, with RM54 in view behind it, at 1351 RM54 passed the crowds at Brixton garage at 1353pm, not 1357pm as stated…added to this..RM6 headed straight out of the back of the bus depot, out to the tram depot, as I have a 15second video-picture on the same camera, with numerically sequence pictures before and after all at 1353 with RM6 heading empty north to the tramdepot, whilst RM54 was still heading south, stalled for a minute with passengers blocking the road at the depot.
RM5 arrived at 1359 according to the timestamp on the camera, followed by the press bus at 1402, with the last bus behind.
The crowd immediately doubled in size as RM54, RM5 and the press bus passengers all deboarded and swarmed the road bringing it to stand still, and hence why it took 4 minutes with police moving people off the road to get RM2217 into the depot… that plus passengers werent that eager to get off, indeed some were trying to get on, and the police had to take control.
My camera timestamp corroborates the 1406 last entry into the depot as reported.
so once RM54 past the crowd, at 1353, there really was no traffic of any kind in front of that bus, and is mirrored by the fact the crowds blocking the road prevented RM2217 by 4 minutes just turning the corner into the depot…cars were stuck down the road (as well as several non-service preserved routemasters ).
Did it really take RM54 13 minutes to travel 1mile further,up a now empty dual carriage way, (the road was blocked at the bus depot by crowds, and the press bus which stopped in the middle of the road)..if it did, then those passengers would surely have missed the last bus arriving..i’m not sure that would have been their intention, as there really wasn't many ordinary passengers on any of the last 4 Routemasters… I find this highly unlikely it took RM54 13 minutes, when you can walk this distance faster.
This rumour of RM54 has been a myth, propagate by a select few revisionists for reasons I can only speculate and given the hundreds of people taking hundreds of images like myself, I dont think it would be too difficult to reach factual concensus and put this to bed. It is without question it was the last Routemaster to Streatham Hill bus station, but I believe not the last to have a passenger onboard. It is a nice bedtime story though.
Finally 1417, RM2217 was photographed heading north upto the Tram Depot, where it was actually lined up with RM5/6 and thus retired.
If you have your own pictures, look at the exif, and to be certain, look at the last image of RM2217 entering the depot, benchmark that timestamp against 1406, and calculate the time of you your images backwards. — Preceding unsigned comment was added by 86.15.93.137 (talk) 23:58, 7 October 2021 (UTC)