Ray Crofts, General Manager at RedRoutemaster, outlines to Jade Smith what work the operator carries out, providing vehicles for jobs ranging from weddings to TV adverts
RedRoutemaster is a London-based operator that primarily provides vintage Routemaster buses for a range of private hire work, including weddings, corporate transfers, scenic tours, birthdays, retirements and funerals. The company also undertakes rail replacement work.
Ray Crofts, General Manager at RedRoutemaster, has been working within her current role for nine months, but worked with the operator previously in 2012. She took up the story: “My role is to keep the office running and coordinate all the different strands of the business. We have a team who handles bookings and a team that delivers the experience to the customers and ensures the buses are in good shape.”
Background
“RedRoutemaster is run by Adam Shailes and Darren Kidd, partners both in business and their personal lives,” Ray said. “Adam has run an IT company since he was 17 and has always been keen to do things in his own way. Both Adam and Darren had an interest in buses, so in 2011 they purchased their first Routemaster and RedRoutemaster was born.
“In 2012 I worked in the old office in Northfields, while the buses were stored on Commerce Road. The business steadily grew from there.”
The business moved from Commerce Road three years ago to Brentford’s high street, with the offices in front of the yard. Ray said that with development work taking place in the local area, RedRoutemaster will eventually have to move again within the next five years: “Brentford has always been semi-industrial as we’re right on the Thames and the last working boatyard on the Thames is just around the corner from us.
“The area will be used for modern flats, which is necessary with the housing crisis but a shame. The boatyard won’t survive, and although we can move, it will be tricky to find what we need. It’s sad, too – Brentford has been our home since day one.”
Fleet
Fleet list
1 x Daimler Fleetline (1972)
1 x Dennis Dart (1997)
1 x RM AEC Routemaster (1961)
1 x RMA AEC Routemaster (1967)
7 x RML AEC Routemaster
(1965, 1966, 1967)
1 x open-top Leyland Titan (1985)
1 x Leyland Titan (1980)
2 x Volvo B7TL (2002)
“Currently, five out of seven of our RMLs are in active service,” Ray said. “The two not in service consist of one bought this summer which will undergo restoration and one that starred in the film ’28 Days Later’ which had been comprehensively destroyed, with the top taken off, and is used for spares. RM1086 is also based in the yard, awaiting restoration works.”
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“There are some modern vehicles as well – a Dennis Dart, a pink open-top Leyland Titan and an exhibition vehicle which is another Leyland Titan. The inside has been renovated as an event space – it has a clear space upstairs, and seating downstairs with a service hatch so it is perfect for entertaining. We also use it for a lot of community events.
“Most recently we acquired two Volvo Plaxton Presidents which just came out of service with a London operator. Due to our location we carry out a lot of rail replacement work, covering the South Western Railway lines out of London. It’s not a part of our core business, but it’s a good strand to have. Occasionally we get requests for more modern buses from film and TV people, so it’s good to have that offering.
“All our vehicles are named once they are restored and their personalities come out. We’ve gone against the grain by giving them male names: traditionally Routemasters were all given female names.
“The fleet is continually expanding. We have space for all our vehicles, they just need to earn their keep, which they do. All our vehicles are based here, but our engineering base is in Wales. We have a Daimler Fleetline there at the moment, which is an event vehicle, but needs some work doing to it. Adam is passionate about restoring vehicles and there is a growing trend for the Routemasters to have a lot changed about them, which he isn’t a fan of. We’re pleased to be able to expand our fleet and restore them to either their original condition or the 90s restoration.
“Eddy, the first bus we bought, is a 90s RML with the 90s interior. A lot of people of my generation remember Routemaster that way, rather than the original 60s interior. We had someone request Eddy for some filming work because they specifically wanted the 90s look.
“Horace and Boris are RML brothers as they’re sequential, 2682 and 2683. Giles, the RML 2323, was a Green Line bus so he was green for a while before being painted red.
“The most recent bus came back from Denmark. He was in a field for over 10 years and the local Danish teenagers had been partying on him, so he needs a lot of work.”
Types of work
Ray outlined the various jobs RedRoutemaster has requests for: “Advertising is a big part of our business – one of our vehicles was featured a Cadbury’s Milk Tray advert just before Christmas. It took two days of filming for them to get a two second shot that was used in the final product.
“Another job was for Barry’s Bootcamp, a London-based gym that focuses on body building. They were launching a new gym in Victoria which involved a photoshoot with us and we also transported people for a launch party. It was a little odd having bodybuilders covered in oil draping themselves over the bus, but good fun!
“Weddings are quite popular. From a practical sense, you can fit more people onto a bus than a coach, taking 72 people on the RMLs and 64 on the original Routemasters. They’re an excellent backdrop for wedding photographs.
“Whilst having standard blinds sets in the vehicles, we can also design and print bespoke blinds in-house. The bride and groom’s names can be put in the destination blind and the newlyweds can keep the sign after their special day.
“Tour work is another branch of what we do. We work with a few tour agents in the summer two or three days a week taking their groups around London.
“In 2016 Hendricks Gin hired a bus for a big promo job in London and Edinburgh. Our bus had a vinyl wrap on it to make it look like a cucumber. The interior was stripped and transformed into a funky gentleman’s club. Our Operations Manager Darren loved that – he drove around for a month in a giant cucumber filled with gin. We love to do work like that.
“We’ll do pretty much everything!”
For smaller branding on the vehicles, RedRoutemaster uses a local company called Octink, and for wraps, Mardens in Essex. When wraps are required, the cost of a spray paint has to be factored in, as it tends to damage the paintwork underneath.
“One job we’re part of this year involves moving 5,000 people with 25 Routemasters. There aren’t 25 Routemasters in London anymore so they’re bringing them in from various operators.
“Organising that is going to be interesting. Everyone else will be after space to park and we all know each other, so I’m sure the companies we’re friendly with will ask if they can park with us once they know we’re involved. We’re all competitors, but also friends as it’s just a small industry. We benefit from each other’s knowledge and regularly see each other during running days.
“The Brentford Festival is an event that we have been involved with for the last five years by running a vintage vehicle display. It involves a lot of buses, not just ours. One of our drivers, Pete, has an RM (2116) that is still painted in the special livery it was given in 1983 to celebrate Transport for London’s 50th Anniversary, and he brings that down. We also have an RT that comes down – a woman last year said she was one of the first females clippies on an RT, and she was so happy to see it again, which was lovely. Other people bring their vintage cars.
“Schools like to book work with us. The Routemasters were originally built nearby in Park Royal, so we do a lot with local schools, talking about the history of the vehicles or just having a ride around the block. We give the children a little pack of gifts at the end of the trip.
“We love doing work that shares the joy of the Routemasters. Pedestrians always react well to the buses when they see them on the road.”
Rail replacement
Most weekends RedRoutemaster is involved in rail replacement work. “We do everything!” Ray enthused. “For example, soon, Twickenham station is being closed early to work on the line each night, so we’re covering one train run on a bus for them every evening for a week.
“Our location is an advantage as we are well-placed for that work and also have the full-time drivers on our books, whereas other companies may not be able to justify travelling out for that job.
“Our Dennis Dart also does a lot of rail replacement, particularly out on the South Western Railway due to the low bridges, so having a single decker is a great advantage.
“We carry out rail replacement work with the Routemasters as well, but that tends to be emergency cases such as Tube strikes where everyone in London is involved.”
Maintenance
Ray said that, in terms of maintenance, the Routemasters are fantastic as their mechanics are quite simple with very few electrical components. “They are also very reliable vehicles,” she said. “Martin Detheridge at London Bus 4 Hire in Wales has a Routemaster business and a great Routemaster mechanic. We used to use a local firm, but they deal more with modern vehicles so they didn’t have the Routemaster knowledge that London Bus 4 Hire has.
“Very early on we learnt that if you can buy spares, do. We have a great stock of everything, especially seats. “They’re very tough vehicles which were built to take a lot of abuse. As they’re securely parked in our yard we don’t have any issues with graffiti. The lightweight aluminium bodies can get dented by low-hanging trees, so our drivers need to be careful when out on the road.”
Drivers
RedRoutemaster currently has a pool of full-time, part-time and casual drivers and its Operations Manager also drives. The operator is currently looking for another full-time driver but Ray said finding the right person for the job can be difficult.
“The types of people who drive for us vary,” Ray said. “We get people who specifically love driving Routemasters, which is fantastic.
“People who are very good at driving buses are generally used to following specific routes, whereas every single job we do is different. We require the ability to plan a route, so we prefer coach drivers, which is quite hard to get across when we advertise the role.
“Our drivers have to be willing to get their hands dirty to clean the bus, which coach drivers are used to, but bus drivers are perhaps not. Coach drivers are also used to making sure people have a good time onboard, having done tour work.
“Sourcing drivers is always a challenge as we keep growing and adding buses to the fleet! It requires a lot of flexibility and creative thinking, but we always find a solution.”
Spreading the word and staying ahead
Most of the quotes RedRoutemaster received are through its website, and they invest a lot in their online presence and marketing, but the operator still creates a lot of paper-based advertising such as postcards. “They’re a bit retro but people really love them” Ray said. They show the buses in a wide range of jobs, providing an idea of the variety of work the operator can offer.
“A lot of people fill out our online form rather than call us,” Ray stated. “I think people prefer the anonymity online. If it’s a complicated quote we will want to talk to them over the phone to discuss it, but it’s funny how many people don’t want to do that. As it’s such a bespoke service we need to talk to people to figure out what people want. I think that’s a sign of the times.”
A new product offering from RedRoutemaster is the Celebration Bus. Ray explained: “If you have a wedding with 72 guests, paying £400-500 for a bus is reasonable for that number of people. However, a birthday party, anniversary, team building, or celebration with 25 people doesn’t seem like such a good deal.
“Last month we launched this taster product designed to allow more people to experience a Routemaster. Passengers are picked up from a particular spot, taken on a 45-minute tour and then dropped off at one of four final locations. It’s priced at £250 to make it more accessible to those smaller groups, and limited to 20 passengers to make sure it is a real experience. The passengers have the option of playing music or even karaoke while they travel.
“We’re always looking to be innovative and refresh what we can offer. The Routemaster industry can be perceived as archaic, but we are modern in what we do.
“The whole fleet is fitted with professional sound systems that hirers can use to play their own music and use a microphone. For the Celebration Bus we also have access to a music player and karaoke. The passengers can then play whatever music they want.
“We also migrated to Distinctive Systems’ Coach Manager in October 2016. Because of our IT connections we have been able to design and code some plug-ins to add to its functionality, which has included an easy and quick to use quotation booking order, automatic trip sheet generation and emailing, automatic error checking and connections to the company telematics system and external mailing system. We’re particularly proud of the Webfleet integration we designed.
“All our vehicles have TomToms on board and tracking units from TomTom Webfleet, which is rare for a Routemaster operator. Adam’s IT side has influenced that – we’re embracing technology. It’s great for rail replacement too – this is increasingly a requirement for rail replacement vehicles and as our drivers are already tracked, they have no issue with being tracked on the rail replacement services that require it.”
RedRoutemaster’s history
In 2010 two bus enthusiasts, Adam Shailes and Darren Kidd, were interested in having a change in direction of their careers. Adam had an IT business and Darren had a waste and recycling company. Darren also had a PCV licence and had driven Routemasters for Metroline at Holloway Garage. Their partnership created RedRoutemaster.
The first Routemaster, RML2366, was acquired from Ensignbus in August 2010 which had been withdrawn from service five years earlier. The bus was parked opposite the Metroline garage on Commerce Road, Brentford, which became RedRoutemaster’s first operating base. In February 2011, the second bus was purchased – RMA58 was acquired from fellow enthusiast Rob Duker.
An operator’s licence was granted in August 2011 and private hire work began to take place. The business rented an enlarged space in the yard at Brentford and created offices, workshop and a store out of lorry backs and freight containers.
Two further buses were acquired. The first was RML2683 from Ensignbus in September 2012, second was RML2323 from a group of enthusiasts via Martin Detheridge of London Bus 4 Hire in Usk in July 2013. They honoured Martin’s agreement to retain the London County bright green livery for 12 months and it was used as a spare bus, but was not popular with hirers who wanted the traditional red.
However, it was hired to Flying Tiger, the retailers, for their opening of a new flagship store in Oxford Street, Central London. It can be seen on the BBC One program, “Oxford Street Revealed” [Episode 1], where it ran for a day up and down Oxford street.
In 2012 RedRoutemaster was offered the opportunity to buy RM1086 that was in Denmark and in desperate need of a new home. The bus was retrieved in March that year.
The yard at Commerce Road Brentford was on development land so new premises were sought out in the Brentford area. A new yard was found nearby on development land, as well as new offices that overlooked the yard. RedRoutemaster moved into its current home early 2015.
The operator looked for an open-top vehicle, ideally a Routemaster, but were struggling to find one. An ex-London Transport Titan T1100 from South Yorkshire became available, so it joined the fleet in March 2015.
RML2682 was potentially becoming available, after being used for non-PSV purposes in Manchester. It was purchased in September 2014. This bus was used by Hendricks Gin in London & Edinburgh in 2016 to promote their gin by wrapping the bus to look like a cucumber.
In 2015, RedRoutemaster increased its number of operating discs from three to nine, to accommodate the extra buses being added to its fleet.
RML2504 was purchased in May 2016 and took 14 months to be prepared, making it the most thorough restoration carried out on any of the operator’s vehicles.
In 2016 a half open-topper Leyland Olympian ex-LT L245 and Dennis Dart single decker ex-Go-Ahead DP64 joined the fleet. Another Leyland Titan T114 was purchased for use as an events bus. It can no longer carry passengers but has flexible space and a 240v generator for power requirement and air-conditioning on both decks.
The fourth purchase in 2016 was VO260 from Notts and Derby (originally with Lothian bus before, from new), an Alexander Royal-bodied Volvo Olympian, with 81 seat belted seats. In April 2017 it was sold to Arthurs Coaches near Falkirk in Scotland.
The most recent purchase is another RML, this time 2744, which has returned from Denmark where it has been since 2007 via a deal brokered by Klaus Gotchalk, the former owner of RM1086. RedRoutemaster has no immediate plans to bring this bus into service.
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