Please, Spare Me The Big Picture!
16 November 2024
ABOVE: Oxford Bus Company 611 (LM64 OXF), an ADL Enviro400 MMC, stands at the Market Square in Witney, at the end of a trip from Oxford on route X15, on Monday 30 September 2024.
Brighton & Hove does it. The Oxford Bus Company does it. First is doing it in Leeds. Arriva does it in some places, depending on where its buses end up. Lothian Buses does it at the double. And it’s very annoying!
Before you wonder whether I have completely lost it (what do you mean “even more than usual?”), I will explain that I am talking about those big TV screens that are starting to appear at the front of the top decks of double-decker buses.
ABOVE: The intrusive screen on a Brighton & Hove Enviro400 ER, approaching Patcham High School, Brighton and Hove, on route 5 (Hangleton to Patcham), on Friday 17 November 2023
Ostensibly to provide visible “passenger information”, under accessibility rules, these screens are more often than not used for advertising. That’s if they’re working at all...
As I have said on numerous occasions, windows are there to be looked out of; they are not provided for advertising purposes. There is nothing worse than clambering upstairs to the front seat that you know is available to find that a significant part of the view has been obscured by a TV monitor.
ABOVE: A 'landscape'-shaped screen at the front of an Oxford Bus Company Wright Streetdeck Electroliner is being used to advertise the company's sightseeing tours. The photo has been taken at my eye level, with a partial view of Abingdon High Street, Oxfordshire, beyond it. The route is the 35 from Abingdon to Oxford, and it's Saturday 28 September 2024.
I always try to get the front seat on a double-decker but, when it isn’t available, I will position myself close behind – on a busy bus, that means the next available row; on a quieter service, two rows back (so as not to spook the front seat occupant or invade their space). The objective is to put myself in pole position to move forward, should they disembark.
Sometimes, a view from a row or two behind can be as good as the front. A small person leaning back in their seat can give an uninterrupted view that is almost as good as being in the front yourself! Of course, it doesn’t stop someone of the build of ... well, me, actually, to board later and block that view out!
But, if there’s a great big TV monitor in the way, my view from a row or two back will be substantially diminished.
People need to be able to see where they are going, for a number of practical reasons as well as for the fun of it. Finding that landmark, chasing that bus in front that you want to jump onto, or even just looking for your own stop on a dark country lane.
ABOVE: The TV screen on the upper deck is hideously visible on Brighton and Hove 309 (YX69 NVU), an ADL Enviro400ER. The bus is loading at the Neville Way stop in West Blatchington, whilst operating a short working on route 5B from Hangleton to Hollingbury, on Friday 17 November 2023.
It was noticeable that the screen on an Arriva service I travelled on recently was significantly smaller than the casing it was in. It was just showing CCTV pictures of the bus. This might be useful in a “we’re watching you, so behave yourselves” kind of way, but it's not helpful when it’s at the expense of the view.
And the combination of high-back seats and these monitors can completely destroy the forward view from a few rows back.
ABOVE: On Wednesday 13 November 2024, the TV screen in the middle of the panoramic front windscreen of this ADL Enviro400 MMC makes the view of Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, far more difficult to enjoy. This is an Arriva Yorkshire route 268 bus bound for Wakefield. The screen could be raised to absorb the "Bus Stopping" sign (which could be worked in to the electronic display), and the casing could be a lot smaller.
The worst I have found so far has been Lothian Buses in Edinburgh. One screen isn’t good enough for them – they need two. Two screens, side-by-side, at the front of the bus.
ABOVE: I have used this picture before, but it illustrates the use, by Lothian Buses, of not one full-size screen but TWO, right across the windscreen of this Volvo B8L ADL Enviro400XLB. This is at the junction of Queensferry Road with Craigleith Road, north of Ravelston, on Wednesday 13 September 2023.
It can be done acceptably. This Manchester Bee Network bus has an information screen, but it is not obtrusive and the view from the front is unaffected:
ABOVE: Clear and concise information is presented on this Stagecoach Manchester (Bee Network) BYD D8UR-DD ADL Enviro400EV. As can be deduced from the display, it is approaching the Butler Street stop in Miles Platting, whilst working route 83 (Manchester to Oldham Mumps) on Tuesday 12 November 2024.
Even Transport for London, so often a model of how not to do things, gets this right:
ABOVE: The TfL standard display alternates between the route / destination as here, and the next stop information, in a compact and unintrusive way. This is Bromley North on Sunday 7 April 2024, and I have just boarded a New Routemaster during my Superloop adventure (see BusesTopDeck.co.uk/158).
Modern buses (excluding New Routemasters and the “City” variant of the Enviro400) have some of the most panoramic front windows of all time. The traditional Enviro400 and the Wrightbus Eclipse 2 will probably never be bettered for this. And yet, operators would take that away for the benefits of a little extra advertising.
ABOVE: Go-Ahead London Central WVL 465 (LJ61 NVA), a Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Gemini 2, shows off its panoramic and unobscured windscreen to excellent effect, whilst working Transport for London route 51 (Woolwich to Orpington). This is Welling High Street, South East London, on Sunday 29 September 2024.
Operators will tell you that they are required to provide visual information for passengers on new vehicles. But hopefully I have illustrated in this short article that there is a balance to be struck - providing this visual information does not mean that it is necessary to block out large parts of the front upstairs windscreen.
The worst example I have ever seen takes us back to the Oxford Bus Company, and to the bus illustrated at the top of this article. Did you look closely at it?
I had decided to try out the “new” X15 service from Oxford to Witney, which replaced Pulhams' service 15 from 1 September 2024. This was my second attempt to ride this route (the first is a story for another day) and it is only an hourly service, so one can’t pick and choose, unfortunately.
The bus that turned up not only had a TV screen blocking a sizeable part of the front windscreen, but it also had other stickers added to the screen as well, as though a child had been given a sticker book and told to use them all up...
ABOVE: A close-up view of Oxford Bus Company 611 (LM64 OXF), the bus illustrated at the top of this article. There is SO much clutter on the front windscreen that the view out is appallingly restricted, and this is a 90-minute drive from Oxford to Witney.
It's an hour-and-a-half from end-to-end on the X15. How on earth is one supposed to enjoy the forward view through that lot?
The bus proclaims that it is "leading the way". It's leading the way in completely the wrong direction as far as I'm concerned...