page_title: AEC Routemaster
section_title: Colour schemes
hierarchical_section_title: AEC Routemaster / Colour schemes
caption_attribution_description: English: Arriva London special purposes fleet Routemaster bus RM6 (reg. VLT 6), pictured in an unknown location operating route 159, heading north en route to Trafalgar Square. It is wearing a gold livery commemorating the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II. Not normally a service bus, it is pictured operating a special extra journey on the 159 on 8 December 2005, the second to last day of normal public transport use of Routemasters in London. By the afternoon of 9 December, on which RM6 also worked specials, the route had been transferred to modern double-decker buses. After that day, the only Routemasters operating public transport routes in London would be on the short-worked tourism focused Routemaster Heritage Routes 9H and 15H.
context_page_description: The AEC Routemaster is a front-engined double-decker bus that was designed by London Transport and built by the Associated Equipment Company and Park Royal Vehicles. The first prototype was completed in September 1954 and the last one was delivered in 1968. The layout of the vehicle was conventional for the time, with a half-cab, front-mounted engine and open rear platform, although the coach version was fitted with rear platform doors. Forward entrance vehicles with platform doors were also produced as was a unique front-entrance prototype with the engine mounted transversely at the rear.
  The first Routemasters entered service with London Transport in February 1956 and the last were withdrawn from regular service in December 2005, although one heritage route is still operated by Routemasters in central London. The first London bus route to be operated by the Routemaster was route 2, on 8 February 1956, with RM1. The same bus, with a revised front end, appeared at the Lord Mayor's Show in November 1956.
  Most Routemasters were built for London Transport, although small numbers were built for British European Airways and the Northern General Transport Company.
context_section_description: With the Routemaster's longevity, examples were painted to celebrate both the Queen's Silver and Golden Jubilees. In 1977, 25 Routemasters were painted silver and temporarily renumbered SRM1 to SRM25 to celebrate the Silver Jubilee and, in 2002, 50 buses were painted gold including three RMs and 12 RMLs.
  During privatisation in London from 1986, several private operators won contracts to operate services, including Routemaster-operated routes. Before an 80% red rule for liveries was introduced in 1997 by London Transport, the contract tendering authority, some of these new entrants ran Routemasters in non-red liveries, most notably Kentish Bus on route 19 and Borehamwood Travel Services on route 13.
  The Routemaster appealed to the many new operators outside London that appeared post-1986 in the UK following bus deregulation. Several traditional operators purchased second-hand Routemasters as a cheap way of expanding their fleets in response to competition from new operators after deregulation, and new operators also chose it as a distinctive-looking bus. Painted in a variety of colours, they were used in regular service in Bedford, Blackpool, Burnley, Carlisle, Corby, Doncaster, Dundee, Glasgow, Hull, Manchester, Perth, Rotherham. Scarborough, Southampton and Southend-on-Sea.
  One of the earliest examples, if not the earliest, of deregulated use of Routemasters was early in the history of the Stagecoach Group, by 2014 one of the largest operators in the UK. Stagecoach used vintage Routemasters in its new corporate livery of all-over white with red, orange and blue stripes, to start one of its first operations, Magic Bus, in Glasgow in the late 1980s.
  In the mid 1980s Clydeside Scottish purchased 114 Routemasters for use in Glasgow, with many repainted at Aldenham Works. Most were withdrawn in 1990.
  Towards the end of this period, in July 1994 in Reading, new operator Reading Mainline built up a 45-strong Routemaster fleet to compete with the established operator, Reading Buses, in the process becoming the largest operator of Routemasters outside London. They used conductors to compete on speed in the town centre and, in the outskirts, took advantage of the rear platform to operate hail and ride sections of route. In 1998 Reading Mainline was sold to Reading Buses; some Routemasters continued in use until July 2000.
  With the costs of running elderly two-crew buses, and with a general reduction in the number of operators, buses, and services in the years following deregulation as competitors merged or closed, use of Routemasters outside London declined through the 1990s. Many of these buses found their way back to London to assist with the refurbishment programme, as spares donors or to increase fleet size.
  Withdrawal from mainstream London service saw another resurgence in the use of Routemasters outside London, but on a smaller scale than immediately after deregulation. After 2000 Routemasters were mostly used on small novelty or seasonal routes.
caption: RM6 on route 159 in December 2005 in Golden Jubilee colours
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