2020 has been a strange year so far, I never would have imagined a virus coming into the UK, forcing us to be in lockdown all of a sudden. I expected much more since it's 2020. A new decade you know?
Was actually hyped. Anyways, here are my thoughts.
Thoughts on Lockdown
I find it odd to stay at home continuously I will be honest. The thing is I wish it happened a few weeks before, that's my only complaint. I have been busy, it's not like being in the summer holidays where you have all that freedom around you. At most it has been hard, because working at home is a completely different environment than school for example. Nonetheless the new "normal" has taken some time to get used to, though I have been finding other ways to keep myself occupied. One of these include drawing, which I decided to do one time and the end result came out pretty well - it was a bus.
Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 MMC
I managed to draw an Enviro 400 MMC, a product that has proved to be very popular around the UK. This one in particular is a smart hybrid variant however, in my drawing I didn't add the smart cameras - let's just say it was faulty and the cameras had problems seeing the road. Technology is always reliable. Proudest drawing I have ever done, looks so realistic to the end product.
Lets move over the main topic now!
Public transport (Buses)
In the beginning of April, bus trials were going ahead on some South London bus routes. It includes people to board at the middle door, instead of being at the front. This managed to be a success, meaning by the 20th April most double and single decker routes converted - except those routes that had single door buses (you had to not tap at the card reader). Even some double decker buses were provided on single decker routes to help with social distancing. The aim was to minimize as much contact between passengers and drivers as much as possible. While that's good there came a downside; TFL ended up being low on money due to the number of people not tapping in during this time. Wait hang on. How did TFL manage to be in this situation? They had like £10 billion at the start of the year then come May they were almost bankrupt? Would have been screwed there to be honest. For now, the Government was generous to give out £1.6 billion as part of emergency funding until at least September.
Back into the outside world
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| ©ELBE's photo - don't use without permission. |
Saturday 16th May 2020. It had been coming up to the second month in lockdown, though I needed to get something in Ilford so I took the 86 bus route. When the bus arrived at the stop, I immediately noticed those changes that I discussed above; it felt really weird boarding through the back since I am very much used to using my oyster card. The front seats were taped off, presumably to protect drivers. As we progressed the bus started to became a bit full, which felt rather odd since at the time lockdown wasn't even fully eased. Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of these stickers at the time but EastLondonBusEnthusiast has allowed these to be used in this post which I appreciate alot!
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| ©ELBE's photo - don't use without permission. |
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| ©ELBE's photo - don't use without permission. |
On the 29th May, TFL announced that they will be bringing back front door boarding onto all routes (124 were converted the day after). A few weeks later (Sunday 7th June 2020), I needed to go out for some shopping at ASDA so, I decided to use a bus since it was a while. I saw a brief preview of the stickers on routes 62, 86 and 362 while I was waiting. An ADL Enviro 400 (T72) 59-reg on route 173 managed to be my bus, this is known for the ridiculous stop bells that are placed inside. I should have taken a photo - oh well! The queue at ASDA seemed long but went fairly quickly than I thought. Again social distancing had to be done while queuing, with the yellow markers on the ground indicating the 2m distance. Eventhough stickers were put on the floor, inside the rule didn't seem to be applied so that's a bit worrying in my opinion...
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| ©ELBE's photo - don't use without permission. |
On the way back I going to walk home however, the rain and wind were preventing me so I decided to not take any chances and just get the bus back. While I was waiting I saw T199 (ADL Enviro 400 SN08-reg) with a pretty outdated "Sonic the Hedgehog" movie advert heading to Beckton stating the cinema release date of February 14. Just goes to show that advertising companies are also struggling too. After about 10 mins my bus came (T74 - 59 reg on the same bus type towards King George Hospital). Again there were changes to the front of the bus, including the oyster reader and drivers cab being covered off for the passengers. Hopefully the drivers are safe now. The front seats are still out of use at present, though it may return much later on.
Interior photos
While I was inside the bus, I saw some stickers for social distancing, number of people that can board at the drivers cab door and face coverings - the latter has already become compulsory on public transport from 15th June. While the bus roared away (like all E400s do) with it's engine towards King George Hospital, I considered to walk home instead of waiting again. So has this worked out? At the moment yes. People are keeping the distance on buses and going upstairs, incase seats have been occupied on the bottom deck. When I was walking back I saw an 86 bus with a slipboard saying "BUS FULL" at the front, eventhough it looks a bit empty. Is this how buses are going to be in the future? That's a question yet to be answered.
It's safe to say that the online market has dominated since March, noting the amount of delivery vehicles I have seen each day. Some shops have opened this week to the public, so that they can start their spree once again. One thing I do fear is of the queues, as most people would have had to go through over the past few months. Lockdown has started to ease down now, with more rules being put in place so I guess most of you can't wait to get outside again. In the meantime, I've been reading some blogs just so that can find my rhythm as it's been so long! Either way most of us will remember these times whether it's staying at home, the panic buying, or just witnessing life unfold day by day. Getting back to normal won't be easy, but remember there is hope - we can do it! :)
Either way I hope you liked the different layout of this post, it's different than to how I normally write so I wanted to try it out. Also at the time of writing it is the first day of summer, and today marked the longest day of the year!
As always - thanks for viewing the blog and staying safe, writing hasn't been easy. Thanks for sticking around and reading I really appreciate it. If you liked the post leave a comment below!
Thank you for reading!
Happy riding! :) (essentially of course - at the time of publish)
ELBE's links:
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoK0-Ux-ad0bePnrQGiuRHw
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/151611131@N05/
Interior photos
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| The last three photos are mine - I managed to take some! |
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| Managed to pull this off well - the bus was moving too! |
Exterior shot
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| Here you can see (almost) all of the stickers. |
While I was inside the bus, I saw some stickers for social distancing, number of people that can board at the drivers cab door and face coverings - the latter has already become compulsory on public transport from 15th June. While the bus roared away (like all E400s do) with it's engine towards King George Hospital, I considered to walk home instead of waiting again. So has this worked out? At the moment yes. People are keeping the distance on buses and going upstairs, incase seats have been occupied on the bottom deck. When I was walking back I saw an 86 bus with a slipboard saying "BUS FULL" at the front, eventhough it looks a bit empty. Is this how buses are going to be in the future? That's a question yet to be answered.
It's safe to say that the online market has dominated since March, noting the amount of delivery vehicles I have seen each day. Some shops have opened this week to the public, so that they can start their spree once again. One thing I do fear is of the queues, as most people would have had to go through over the past few months. Lockdown has started to ease down now, with more rules being put in place so I guess most of you can't wait to get outside again. In the meantime, I've been reading some blogs just so that can find my rhythm as it's been so long! Either way most of us will remember these times whether it's staying at home, the panic buying, or just witnessing life unfold day by day. Getting back to normal won't be easy, but remember there is hope - we can do it! :)
Either way I hope you liked the different layout of this post, it's different than to how I normally write so I wanted to try it out. Also at the time of writing it is the first day of summer, and today marked the longest day of the year!
As always - thanks for viewing the blog and staying safe, writing hasn't been easy. Thanks for sticking around and reading I really appreciate it. If you liked the post leave a comment below!
Thank you for reading!
Happy riding! :) (essentially of course - at the time of publish)
ELBE's links:
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoK0-Ux-ad0bePnrQGiuRHw
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/151611131@N05/
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