Greater Glasgow Passenger Transport Executive Leyland Atlantean AN68/1R / Alexander AL-type
Last of a forgotten trend….
LA697 (HGD903L) was one of the last batch of Atlanteans ordered by Glasgow Corporation Transport (GCT), and was delivered in GCT colours, shortly after the formation of Greater Glasgow Passenger Transport Executive (GGPTE).
You may notice the dual doors. This was a fad that many operators went through towards the late 1960s and 1970s when driver only operation was legalised. The perceived wisdom from so-called experts was that dual door buses would ease passenger traffic flows and ease the drivers’ workload if the passengers left the bus from the ones they came on from. However the truth was all they did was reduce the capacity of the bus and in sone cases actually add to delays.
GCT was an early convert to driver only operation, mainly to reduce costs. It started ordering dual-door buses but the system they ordered was particularly troublesome. It was because some whizz-kid salesperson convinced GCT that the safest way was if the exit doors would only open if someone pressed the bell on the bus to signify that they wanted off, something that for many years passengers had been told was the conductor’s responsibility. You could see the flaws in it daily. The bus came to a stop. The passengers went to exit doors to get off. The doors stayed shut. The driver shouted something in frustrated Glaswegian about ‘pressing the bell’ with an expletive added. By this stage, the front doors had opened and the passengers had used these to leap to freedom. An interlock then prevented the bus from moving until the exit doors were opened and closed.
Despite this obvious flaw, a combination of hope and inertia meant several hundred dual door Atlanteans arrived, both PDR-types and AN68 when they type was launched. When the PTE inherited the GCT fleet, it decided to launch a standard design of bus based on the Atlantean with a single door (more seats) and panoramic windows, which in due course presented their own issues. But after the PTE took control, it then spent a fortune ripping out the dual doors and panelling them over.
Although delivered with dual doors, LA697 escaped the normal conversion back to single door layout that many Atlanteans had. Its dual-door layout meant that towards the end of its service life it was ideal for conversion to a driver training bus, at which point the front door was removed to make space for an instructor's seat, leaving the bus as a centre-entrance vehicle.
LA697 was initially restored by a group of Strathclyde's Buses drivers who bought the bus when it was replaced as a driver trainer by a more modern Atlantean. By this stage, it had been on fleet strength for over 20-years but was saved by some drivers of the company who restored it, which included reinstalling the front door. It then spent a bit of time in the Bristol area before it came back to the Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust and now looks as good as new. Also note the running card in the windscreen and the ‘please pay driver’ sign. This was someone that could be reversed when a conductor was on board and was designed to enable potential passengers to know whether a conductor was on board.
Greater Glasgow Passenger Transport Executive Leyland Atlantean AN68/1R / Alexander AL-type
Last of a forgotten trend….
LA697 (HGD903L) was one of the last batch of Atlanteans ordered by Glasgow Corporation Transport (GCT), and was delivered in GCT colours, shortly after the formation of Greater Glasgow Passenger Transport Executive (GGPTE).
You may notice the dual doors. This was a fad that many operators went through towards the late 1960s and 1970s when driver only operation was legalised. The perceived wisdom from so-called experts was that dual door buses would ease passenger traffic flows and ease the drivers’ workload if the passengers left the bus from the ones they came on from. However the truth was all they did was reduce the capacity of the bus and in sone cases actually add to delays.
GCT was an early convert to driver only operation, mainly to reduce costs. It started ordering dual-door buses but the system they ordered was particularly troublesome. It was because some whizz-kid salesperson convinced GCT that the safest way was if the exit doors would only open if someone pressed the bell on the bus to signify that they wanted off, something that for many years passengers had been told was the conductor’s responsibility. You could see the flaws in it daily. The bus came to a stop. The passengers went to exit doors to get off. The doors stayed shut. The driver shouted something in frustrated Glaswegian about ‘pressing the bell’ with an expletive added. By this stage, the front doors had opened and the passengers had used these to leap to freedom. An interlock then prevented the bus from moving until the exit doors were opened and closed.
Despite this obvious flaw, a combination of hope and inertia meant several hundred dual door Atlanteans arrived, both PDR-types and AN68 when they type was launched. When the PTE inherited the GCT fleet, it decided to launch a standard design of bus based on the Atlantean with a single door (more seats) and panoramic windows, which in due course presented their own issues. But after the PTE took control, it then spent a fortune ripping out the dual doors and panelling them over.
Although delivered with dual doors, LA697 escaped the normal conversion back to single door layout that many Atlanteans had. Its dual-door layout meant that towards the end of its service life it was ideal for conversion to a driver training bus, at which point the front door was removed to make space for an instructor's seat, leaving the bus as a centre-entrance vehicle.
LA697 was initially restored by a group of Strathclyde's Buses drivers who bought the bus when it was replaced as a driver trainer by a more modern Atlantean. By this stage, it had been on fleet strength for over 20-years but was saved by some drivers of the company who restored it, which included reinstalling the front door. It then spent a bit of time in the Bristol area before it came back to the Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust and now looks as good as new. Also note the running card in the windscreen and the ‘please pay driver’ sign. This was someone that could be reversed when a conductor was on board and was designed to enable potential passengers to know whether a conductor was on board.