Have you ever ridden on a double decker bus?

Did you ride on the lower or upper level?


Chrissy

Loads of  times!  I loved going  upstairs  as a kid but won't  now I'm an OAP at 67. Love my free travel.
Drove double decker buses in Blackpool  and London 

Quote from: ChrissyRyan on March 30, 2025, 12:24:17 PMHave you ever ridden on a double decker bus?

Did you ride on the lower or upper level?


Chrissy

It's kind of commonplace to ride on Double Decker buses in the UK. As a kid, being right at the front, on the upper deck, is like... the coolest thing ever, lol. Do you even have double deck buses in the US?

Quote from: Sephirah on March 30, 2025, 03:43:47 PMDo you even have double deck buses in the US?

We do, but they are usually used for sightseeing tours. Most common commuter buses are single-level, from what I have seen.

Quite often when I was a kid growing up in Glasgow, Scotland.  That was how people got around.  Most people didn't have cars, and taxis were only for trips where you had to get to the railway station with luggage, so if you wanted to get to another part of town, you took the bus.  All of them were double-deckers.  Only tourist coaches were single-deckers.

Where you rode depended on how far you were going.  For a short trip, you'd go "inside" (downstairs).  For a long crosstown trip, you'd go upstairs.  (Downstairs was called "inside" probably as a holdover from when the upper deck was open.  The buses were all fully-enclosed by my time, but the term "inside" was still used.)

Once or twice, I rode on a double-decker tram.  The tracks are long gone now, but the trams still ran on Maryhill Road when I was a kid.

Quote from: Lori Dee on March 30, 2025, 03:50:00 PMWe do, but they are usually used for sightseeing tours. Most common commuter buses are single-level, from what I have seen.

All I know of US buses is the movie "Speed". They aren't like UK buses at all. Probably because public transport is like... I mean... when a "local" place is a hundred miles away, you just can't have the same infrastructure.

Kathy, you're originally a Scot? I never knew that! Kind of explains a few things. <3 It is very different in the UK. Cars these days are transportation the higher ups are trying to make people do without, lol. Through fuel tax, rules on emissions, congestion charging... heck even the government wants to ban all internal combustion vehicles from the country by 2030. But then the UK is kind of small enough that you can get away with it. I've seen reaction videos from American folks about UK cities and it blows their mind that people actually walk around. Which is just wild to me, lol. Like... what's the alternative?

Quote from: big kim on March 30, 2025, 03:33:04 PMLoads of  times!  I loved going  upstairs  as a kid but won't  now I'm an OAP at 67. Love my free travel.
Drove double decker buses in Blackpool  and London

Kim,

What is an OAP?

Chrissy

Quote from: Sephirah on March 30, 2025, 04:35:16 PMKathy, you're originally a Scot? I never knew that! Kind of explains a few things. <3

Actually, while I am 50% Scottish by blood and lived for a few years in Scotland, I was born in Ireland.  In fact, in preparation for the coming political apocalypse, I have applied for an Irish passport.  (Hopefully, I won't need it, but it is best to be prepared.)

Quote from: Sephirah on March 30, 2025, 04:35:16 PMCars these days are transportation the higher ups are trying to make people do without, lol.

Times have changed since I was a kid.  Here are two photos of the same street in Glasgow.  One was taken in 1959 by my mother, from a 4th-floor window.  The other is the same view, as close as I can get in Google Street View, dated 2020.  The big difference is glaring: cars!

Quote from: ChrissyRyan on March 30, 2025, 05:26:44 PMKim,

What is an OAP?

Chrissy

Stands for Old Age Pensioner, Chrissy. Someone of retirement age.

Quote from: KathyLauren on March 30, 2025, 05:27:14 PMActually, while I am 50% Scottish by blood and lived for a few years in Scotland, I was born in Ireland.  In fact, in preparation for the coming political apocalypse, I have applied for an Irish passport.  (Hopefully, I won't need it, but it is best to be prepared.)

Let's go with Celtic, then. <3

QuoteTimes have changed since I was a kid.  Here are two photos of the same street in Glasgow.  One was taken in 1959 by my mother, from a 4th-floor window.  The other is the same view, as close as I can get in Google Street View, dated 2020.  The big difference is glaring: cars!

Yeah, probably why they're more of a hinderance nowadays. The roads are like half as wide because you have cars parked bumper to bumper along most of them.

That is quite a difference.

Now compare those roads to the Katy Freeway, near Houston, Texas. It is reportedly the widest in the world with 26 lanes (if you count frontage roads, managed lanes, and such).

Quote from: Lori Dee on March 30, 2025, 05:50:48 PMThat is quite a difference.

Now compare those roads to the Katy Freeway, near Houston, Texas. It is reportedly the widest in the world with 26 lanes (if you count frontage roads, managed lanes, and such).

Does not look that wide for the main road traveling in one direction.  Must be counting a lot of entrance, exit, etc. lanes as you mentioned and must count lanes going in both directions. 

There are wide freeways in the LA area.

The King's Highway 401 in Ontario, Canada has 18 drive lanes near the Toronto Pearson International Airport.  That is nine lanes in each direction.

I thought this topic was about double decker buses. We get sidetracked at times, do not we?

In Hong Kong you can still ride double decker trams:

Quote from: ChrissyRyan on March 30, 2025, 06:10:17 PMI thought this topic was about double decker buses. We get sidetracked at times, do not we?

My apologies, Chrissy. 

Lots of interesting posts.  Including the ones that got sidetracked!

Chrissy

Half Scot  here, mum from Buckie dad was son of Irishman and  English  mother. I was born in Fleetwood Lancashire and  still live nearby. Also drove double deck and single  deck trams in Blackpool 

i travel on buses most of the time and they are usually double decker, living not far from a large high school they need the capacity and yes i sit upstairs with the little monsters

I have seen these busses but I have never rode in one.

These were "city tours" busses in the USA.

Quote from: big kim on March 31, 2025, 12:26:17 AMHalf Scot  here, mum from Buckie dad was son of Irishman and  English  mother. I was born in Fleetwood Lancashire and  still live nearby. Also drove double deck and single  deck trams in Blackpool

Well done for sharing background with Kathy while still keeping your post on track.

I have often ridden on double-decker buses and like Kim, I have changed my level preference as I got older.  Most buses in Bradford are now single-decker anyway.  When I was a child I often rode in double-decker trolleybuses in Bradford and in my teens I sometimes did in Johannesburg.  I later learned that some of the Bradford trolleybuses had actually been specially made for Johannesburg but had been diverted to Bradford because of WW2.  In Bradford, some people called them trams but they were not really trams, as they ran on overhead cables.  I liked watching the sparks they made when they turned corners. 

Quote from: Iztaccihuatl on March 30, 2025, 07:56:23 PMIn Hong Kong you can still ride double decker trams:

I've ridden upstairs on Hong Kong trams.  I have also travelled by Hong Kong ricksha, sampan, junk (not under sail, sadly), ferry, hovercraft, hydrofoil, funicular railway, conventional railway, shuttle bus and taxi.  In Macau, I travelled by bicycle rickshaw and went aboard a lorcha but only in dock.  I gathered that at least one Hong Kong sedan chair could still be hired but unfortunately I did not have the opportunity to experience that mode of travel.  For a small place, Hong Kong has a large choice of transport.