Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that answer the question.
Query: When were the first London double-decker buses introduced?
The first commercial horse-drawn double-decker omnibuses were introduced in England in 1847 by Adams & Co. of Fairfield, Bow, then improved upon by John Greenwood, who introduced a new double-decker in 1852.[2]
In George Town, Penang, five retired AEC C1-type double-decker trolleybuses were procured in 1956 by the George Town Municipal Tramways from London Transport as an experiment for the possible use of double-decker buses in George Town. Poor performance results and the advancing ages of the buses, coupled with efforts to replace the entire trolleybus fleet with single-deck diesel-powered buses in the 1960s, led to the withdrawal of the only double-deck buses in early Penangite public transport.
Alexander Dennis Enviro400H double deckers were introduced in January 2012. New Routemasters were introduced on 28 February 2015. When next tendered, the route was taken awarded to Blue Triangle who commenced operations on 26 August 2017.
New Alexander Dennis Enviro400 double deckers were introduced on 17 April 2011, replacing the existing single deckers.
Singapore Bus Service, now known as SBS Transit (SBST), was for many years the only operator of double-decker buses in Singapore, launched its first double-decker bus service on 13 June 1977 with 20 Leyland Atlanteans running on service 86 and launched by then-Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Communications Ong Teng Cheong The fleet grew steadily, with the further introduction of the Mercedes-Benz O305 and the Leyland Olympian in 1993, the latter being the first air-conditioned double-decker bus and the longest bus to date at 12 metres (39ft 41⁄2in) in length, leading to its nickname of "Superbus". The Volvo B10TL, the first stepless, ultra-low-floor "Superbus" was launched in 1999. Volvo B9TL wheelchair-accessible buses began to be introduced in 2006, by 2014, SBST had over 1631 of these buses in service.
The company was founded in 1973 and was officially named Argas Persicus Ltd trading as Topdeck Travel. The name was a reference to the turkey tick, due to the founders having met in veterinary school. Transport was provided by Bristol K5 and Lodekka double decker buses, converted to a camper-van layout where passengers slept in the bus. The first trip was to Spain and Morocco. From 1974 and right through the 1990s, these ‘deckers’ travelled Europe and further afield to the Middle East, and even overland between London and Kathmandu.
In the early 1980s, the company expanded its operations into the United States where it coined the name Decker Homes for its Bristol Lodekka buses. The company also ran trips from Sydney to London from 1980, with the final stretch using a converted Sydney double-decker. Coaches were introduced in the mid-1980s. primarily for winter ski holidays. The elderly Lodekkas, some over 40 years old, started to be retired in the early 1990s in great numbers, many heading abroad for active retirement, and the focus shifted to camping and hard-top trips staying in European campsites. Later, hotel adventure trips were introduced.
In the Republic of Ireland, nearly all of buses operated in and around Greater Dublin by Dublin Bus are double-deckers. There are 936 double-decker buses (second after London) in the company's fleet of 942.
The first few double-decker buses arrived in Ottawa on August 23, 2012. The following day Ottawa mayor Jim Watson and transit chair Diane Deans introduced the first of the 75 double-decker buses at a ceremony at Ottawa city hall. The new double-deckers started entering service in October 2012, and are primarily used on connexion routes from Kanata, Barrhaven, and Orleans.
On July 1, 2016, the first double-decker electric buses entered service in Beijing on Route 观光3, a tourist route that runs from the Summer Palace to the north gate of the Forbidden City. In February 2017, the first double-decker electric buses for a standard route were introduced to Bus 44. The electric double-decker bus has 70 seats and can carry 100 passengers. By March 2017, the electric double decker fleet had expanded to 10 bus routes: 13, 44, 55, 121, 425, 510, 569, 专6, 专8 and 特12. Later that same year, route 10 also started running Yinlong double-decker EVs. In January 2018, Huairou bus H64 was converted to double-decker electric buses.
Until 1980, articulated buses were illegal on the UK's roads. A 1979 experiment by South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive with buses manufactured by MAN and Leyland-DAB led to a change in the law, but the experiment was abandoned in 1981 because double-decker buses were generally considered less expensive both to purchase and to operate. The cost and weight of the strengthened deck framing and staircase of a double-decker was lower than the cost and weight of the additional axle(s) and coupling mechanism of an articulated bus. Modern technology has reduced the weight disadvantage, and the benefits of a continuous low floor allowing easier access plus additional entrance doors for smoother loading have led to reconsideration of the use of articulated buses in the UK.
In London, articulated buses were used on some routes from 2001 until 2011, but they were not a success. Boris Johnson, former Mayor of London, promised in the run-up to the mayoral election of 2008 to rid the city of the controversial buses and replaced them with double deckers.
Alexander ALX400 bodied Dennis Trident 2 double deckers were introduced on 30 August 2003 to replace the AEC Routemasters when the route was converted to one person operation.
During the 2008 Mayoral campaign, Boris Johnson pledged to withdraw articulated buses on the grounds that they were unsuitable for London, and to introduce a modern version of the AEC Routemaster. Withdrawals began in July 2009, when articulated buses on routes 38, 507 and 521 were replaced with conventional single and double decker buses, and a prototype for the New Routemaster was promised to be on the streets by 2012. The last articulated buses were withdrawn in December 2011.
In 2010, the government of the Republic of Macedonia ordered 202 double-decker buses from the Chinese manufacturer Yutong, two of which were cabriolet buses with removable roofs to be used by tourists, and the remaining 200 as city buses for the capital city of Skopje. The buses were to be in a "retro" style, similar to Routemasters. Former London double-deckers were used in Skopje until the 1963 Skopje earthquake in which 75%–80% of the city's infrastructure was destroyed.
Growing populations in towns and cities meant larger capacity buses were a necessity, leading Guy to develop a 6-wheeled version of their dropped-frame chassis which allowed for the introduction of the first 6-wheeled double decker buses and 6 wheeled trolleybuses in 1926. Guy double decker buses and trolleybuses would prove popular with a fleet of double deckers sold to the London Public Omnibus Company and exports supplied all around the world. Exports served as a major source of income for Guy with sales to South Africa, Pakistan, India and the Netherlands, their armoured vehicles proving particularly popular for covering difficult terrain with 100 supplied to the Indian government in 1928.
Double-decker buses in Russia are currently operated in the city of Barnaul, capital of Altai Krai. The fleet of double-decker buses in Barnaul consist of MAN SD200 and MAN SD202 buses imported from Berlin. Those buses are in use on routes 3, 10 and 17. Some cities in Russia, including Moscow and Saint Petersburg, have plans to begin operation of double-decker buses; in the mid-1990s, some double-deckers were operated briefly in Saint Petersburg.
Double-decker buses were introduced in 2014 in Bilbao by the city bus operator Bilbobus. They are not the first double deck vehicles in the city as ex-London Transport Q1 trolleybuses were sold to Bilbao after the end of London trolleybus operations in 1962 and were operated until the system's closure in 1978.[19] Initially, six vehicles are operating on Bilbobus route 56. They have a capacity of 132 passengers - 80 seated and fifty standing.
The former British colony of Hong Kong introduced its first double-decker buses in 1949 by Kowloon Motor Bus. They have become very popular since then, and they are found in large numbers among the fleets of the territory's major bus operators (see below). By law, double-decker buses in Hong Kong are limited to a length of 12.8 metres (42feet). Today, the majority of buses running in Hong Kong are double-decker buses, and all of them are air-conditioned. Also, Hong Kong has a double-deck trams system, one of three only in the world as of 2015 and the only fleet which is all double-deck.
In the 1950s, double-decker buses of the South Western Bus Company plied on the Galle Road in Colombo, Sri Lanka. These were taken over by the Ceylon Transport Board (CTB) when all bus services were nationalised in 1958. Beginning around 1959, large numbers of second-hand double-decker buses of the RT, RTL and RTW classes were imported by the CTB from London Transport, and ran in their original red livery with the oval CTB logo painted on the sides. These buses were phased out beginning in the mid-1970s, and none remain in service. Later, around 1985, 40 ex-London Routemaster entered service. One Routemaster bus is run by the Sirasa TV and radio station.
London was one of the earliest major users of low-floor buses. From 2000, the mainstay of fleet, double-decker buses, were augmented with a fleet of articulated buses, rising to a peak fleet size of 393 Mercedes-Benz Citaros. These were introduced to help replace the AEC Routemaster, as well as to cope with an increased capacity. A small fleet of hybrid buses was also introduced.
Presently double-decker buses are used by the Mall of Asia Arena (Higer KLQ6119GSE3 B91H-series) and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (King Long XMQ6110GS). Former operators were Manila Motor Company (Matorco), which introduced such buses to the Philippines, and the Metro Manila Transit Corporation (Leyland Atlantean). The first double-decker bus in decades to serve the riding public in the capital region debuted in January 2016, serving the SM City North Edsa-Ayala Center route. It also sports PWD and elderly sitting, a national first.
In the 1970s a number of former London double decker buses were imported for museums, such as the Museum of Transport and Technology who used AEC Regent Low Height (RLH) buses to connect museum sites and for charters. Sydney double decker and more London buses of various models (AEC Regent III RT, AEC Routemasters etc.) were imported by charter and tourist operators and slowly became more commonplace. Bridge heights and shop verandas restricted the use of double deckers around New Zealand until congestion and high public transport use required some innovative solutions.
Through the 1970s Unitrans added eight former London Transport RT type double-deck buses, and in the early 1980s Unitrans added two Daimler Fleetline double-deck buses that had previously operated in Yorkshire, a county in northern England. The late 1970s and early 1980s saw the addition of a 40-foot and a number of 35-foot General Motors New Look buses. In 1982 Unitrans purchases its first all new, never before used, buses when it purchased five 35-foot Gillig Phantoms from the manufacturer in Hayward, California. Two RT type double-decker buses were retired in the early 1980s, and by this time the fleet of single-deck buses outnumbered the double-deckers.
The tramways committee first introduced bus services in 1928 to serve areas which the trams did not go to. These motor buses were single deckers; Maudslay, Leyland and Bristols. The Maudslay ML3 no 5 (FJ6154)of this period is now preserved. After testing several different buses they eventually chose AEC Regent and Leyland TD2 double deckers (delivered in 1931).
As the councillors could not decide whether to replace the trams completely with buses, they commissioned a report from an independent expert whose report was completed in April 1929. He found that there was a backlog of track renewals and other repairs, that the narrow streets were not suitable for trams and that at an average speed of 6.5 miles per hour (compared to 9.5 mph in London) the trams were slower than in any of 11 other cities. In council elections in November 1929, the Labour Party campaigned on a platform of keeping the trams but their vote declined. In 1930 the council finally decide to replace the trams with double-decker buses.
In 1996, super low floor single-deckers were introduced in Hong Kong, Citybus introduced ten Volvo B6LE, then KMB followed by introducing 12 Dennis Dart SLF buses. Later in 1997, the first super low floor double-deckers (Dennis Trident) were also introduced by KMB and Citybus; in the following two years, different models of super low floor buses were being introduced.
In 2007, a hybrid-powered double-decker entered service on London Buses route 141. By late 2008, more hybrid double-deckers from three manufacturers entered service in London. A New Routemaster was developed that year, and entered service on 20 February 2012. In October 2015, London added five all-electric double-decker buses - the world's first - made by Chinese firm BYD.[8]