First And RATP - The Business

Sadly, fbb's plans for this blog seemed to be going the same way as Coca Cola's ill-fated entry into the canned or bottled water business. They (both!) wished that they hadn't bothered!

The aim was (and still is, possibly) to show our readers a taste of what First Bus has bought in spending £90 million on snaffling up RATP in London.

But let's do the easy bit.

RATP's web site gives a list of all theu London bus services. There are no timetables - well that would just be silly! - but we are told which are operated by electric buses. That's a great help in finding out were you might want to go and when.

So fbb decided to start with Harrow, once the base of an early experiment to bring a taster of privatisation into London's Buses.

Harrow Buses was an independent company operating services under contract to London Transport, but back then it was deemed acceptable to bring a little variety into the red, read and red paint schemes.

The operations had its own logo ...

... the spire and top of the tower of St Mary's Harrow-on-the-Hill.

So a look at a nice, self contained "town" network would be a good starter for fbb, and possibly even the senior managers of First as they grapple with what they have bought.

Here are RATP's Harrow "local" services numbered in a series with prefix letter H. All are operated by London Sovereign which, although managed as part of London United, retains the older company "ownership". Except one "H" that is! fbb has no idea why.

And for the nostalgia freaks, here is one as operated by Blazefield's Sovereign.

And an H11 in th hands of Transdev, successors to Sovereign.

And a previous, and short lived, company, London Traveller.

Here Transdev before the swap over to RATP, and in all red.

Now very much RATP "Group" but once branded "Hoppa".

Until 2018 the route was operated by Arriva.

H18 and H19 both started in 2006 and were Arriva routes ...

... until Transdev took over in 2018, then changed to RATP.

Seems simple (?), but are there any other "H" toutes that are NOT in the hands of RATP?

There's a challenging question. First we ask, "H for where?".

In addition to RATP's current H services for Harrow, we have recorded an H1, H13, H15 and H16. The current list is best checked on Robert Munster's timetable web site.

Just to confuse us all, there are H routes for Hampstead (as in "Garden Suburb"):-

There is H is for Hounslow and area ....

... and sort of.

Don't you just LOVE London Buses' numbering schemes.

Fortunately fbb is online interested in Harrow.

The Harrow H1 ceased in 1986. The above  historic lists come from Ian Armstrong's excellent record of London (Red) Bus Routes, so other numbers in the Harrow series may have disappeared.

Robert Munster's timetable site has the current list for Harrow's H routes.

Mr Munster ahows H13 and H17 as operated by Metroline. RATP thibks H17 is operated by London United! Let's hope that First Bus knows what it will be running!

It would be good if we could know where these Harrow H routes actually go; and fbb will attempt that challenge with the usual precautions ...

... in  Friday's  blog.

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"NOT the Advent Calendar", but ...

     The      

  CHRIST -mas 

  Criss-muss  

   Confusion  

 Critique  18 

What Does "Son of God" Mean?

Over the centuries, we have made Criss-muss so unreal that it is easy to forget what it is all about. One thing is certain - it was not pretty. The manger would not have been clean, the cloth wrapped round the baby would not have been white and, certainly initially, the child would have been messy and bashed about.

Human birth is a tough business.

We already know that the baby was nor conceived by human activity but by Divine intervention, perfectly feasible for a God outside our universe and beyond our experience or understanding.

John' Gospel has a go at explaining the event.

The Word became a human being and, full of grace and truth, lived among us. We saw his glory, the glory which he received as the Father's only Son.

No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is the same as God and is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

The activity and authority of God is born as a child in a manger ...

... but a child with a purpose, a child who grew up!

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  Next Cement blog : Thurs 19th Dec