I'm just over 6 ft and the only bus I can sit in easily to this day on a Routemaster.The seats are slightly narrower than modern buses but then again the Routemaster is slightly narrower than modern buses at 8ft making it more nimble in crowded London Streets The seats are, though, way more comfortable than on modern buses. A real bug bear of mine, now that the old back is showing it's age!!Have you tried the buses on the 267 ? The rear lower seats are impossible unless you have detatchable legs. The upper deck front seats on most modern buses are only suitable for children.The new Borisbus has decent seats but they are raked to steeply to be comfortable in and the leg room is very tight in them as well. But the ambience is really rather good.Modern buses have the most uncomfortable seats. The exception are the buses on the 237 which are not bad, but the leg room is poor. The buses on the 65 are by far the worst, Really uncomfortable.London Transport did have some Leyland Atlanteans, I used to get one when visiting an aunt in Croydon. They were always overheating and breaking down and used so much fuel that they cost more than a Crewed bus to run.They were succeeded by the DMS a Daimler Fleetline, almost identical to the Atlantean but none too clever either. Routemasters and their predecessors had to be revived to bale out the failed services operated by them due to their high running costs and unreliability.The Routemaster simply ended up being the best vehicle for the job it was required to do. Cheap and easy to repair and maintain compared with most other buses, easy to drive and operate and their longevity made them hugely cost effective for mass transit.
Anthony Waller ● 4031d