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10 Interesting and Unique Bus Facts

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A mid bus card reader Boarding from the middle door of a London bus used to be quite common (especially in central London) but the number of routes where this is allowed has now decreased substantially to two. They are, in fact, both of the remaining red arrows routes the 507 and 521. The former of these routes runs from Lon...
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The 733 - What Was This Temporary Bus Route

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The 733 was a bus route operating in central London and lasted less than 6 months. Starting on Monday 17th January 2022 and with the last bus on Friday 13th May 2022 the route was created because of large upgrade works at Bank station which closed a section of the Northern Line. The Bigger Picture Bank station is busy. Bank station is old. And whilst Bank station is large, complex, and confusing it doesn't have enough capacity for all the passengers wanting to enter, exit, and change between trains at the station. Part of the problem at Bank ...
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The R8: An Intriguing London Bus Route

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The R8 runs between Orpington Station and Biggin Hill via Green Street Green and Downe with the route mostly traversing very narrow rural roads. With an end to end journey time of just over 30 minutes and a scheduled bus every 70-90 minutes the whole route can be served by a single bus. There are 12 services each way a day and no service on Sundays or Public Holidays. The R8 is one of 13 TfL routes with an R prefix, with these numbered R1-R11, R68, and R70. The R1-R11 all operate in and around Orpington with the R68 and R70 operating around Richmond. Intriguingly all 11 R prefixed buses in Orpington stop at High Street / Orpington War Memorial in central Orpington. ...
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The Bus Stop That's Not a Bus Stop (Epsom Golf Club and Rose Bushes)

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London has over 19,000 bus stops, several hail and ride sections , and (to my knowledge) two bus stops that are not a bus stop. Bus stops that are not a bus stop are common outside of TfL's remit with them usually seen as a way to save money and only erect one bus stop not two. Interestingly, whilst served by a TfL operated bus route both of these stops are actually located in the county of Surrey (outside of Greater London) with one in the borough of Epsom and Ewell, and the other in Reigate and Banstead. ...
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The London Congestion Charge

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The congestion charge as its name suggests charges drivers £15 a day to drive in Central London. Currently these fares operate between 07:00 and 18:00 Monday to Friday and 12:00 to 18:00 on Weekends and Bank Holidays but during the pandemic the times of operation were increased to between 07:00 and 22:00 everyday. The charges and fines are recorded using several hundred cameras in and on the border of the zone. The Zone The Congestion Charging Zone is roughly similar to zone 1 on the Tube Map (but the Congestion Charge Zone spans less far west than Zone 1). With it, roughly, bounded by the A5, A4202, and Vauxhall Bridge Road on the west and the A3204, A201, and Tower Bridge Road on...
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Bees And What Is Really Vegan

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Bees, through being pollinators, are vitality important in fertilising many flowers which grow into plants for us to eat (and for other animals to eat which we then eat). This is why the declining bee population is so concerning with some people believing that bee extinction will be the cause of human extinction. Bees are small animals and are the right size to fly into a flower, collect pollen, and then play their role in fertilisation by releasing their pollen into another flower. But bees are just like humans and they need to get something out of their work which is fertilising plants. This is the role of nectar which has a sweet smell that invites the bees to a flower and when consumed the pollen of the flower is unknowably transferred onto the bees body. T...
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The BT Towers (Formerly The Post Office Towers)

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BT (British Telecommunications) is a telecommunications company based in Britain and it used to be owned by the public sector (which meant that the government directly oversaw its operation). But in 1984 it was privatised under Margaret Thatcher's reign with all the government's shares sold by 1993. British Telecommunications (that is an eighteen character word and the reason why the company is almost always shortened to BT) owns a lot of street infrastructure and a few famous towers leftover from its public sector days. BT has towers in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, London, Manchester, and Swansea. Cardiff’s and Swansea’s towers are just tall office blocks, Bristol’s and Manchester’s are actual telecommunication towers. But Birmingham’s and London’s to...
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