Comments on: John Gillman’s Bus Tickets

By: Graeme

Graeme — Fri, 19 Jan 2018 18:38:57 +0000

Such a lovely article…fascinating and so evocative of an innocent world, now lost. Sometimes a Gentle author daily blog stops me in my tracks and this is one such…thank you for sharing it.

By: Achim

Achim — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 15:19:05 +0000

An amazing collection of fantastic graphic design!

Love & Peace
ACHIM

By: Bonny Young

Bonny Young — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 11:54:54 +0000

My friend and I also used to buy a red rover (there must have been hoards of kids doing this) and our aim was always to see how far we could get, so taking a number 9 from Poplar (it only did that route on Sunday) we would go to Barnes and back home for Sunday Roast, then in the afternoon we would go to Hainault in the opposite direction.

Some of the boys in my class attempted to travel on every bus number in London in one day – quite a feat, and it took a lot of planning! Not sure if they ever achieved it.

happy memories. thank you

By: Ian Harris

Ian Harris — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 11:24:26 +0000

Fabulous collection. One of my precious childhood memories is the Red Rover go anywhere tickets from 1960-62. I would hop on a No52 from N.W. London on a mission to The Imperial War Museum, on my own with a packed lunch which I usually ate on the top deck of the bus. I was 12 at the time and felt like an explorer!

By: Gary Arber

Gary Arber — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 11:07:24 +0000

The bus tickets issued when I was a child in the early 1930’s were even more detailed. Each route had its own set of tickets with every stage on that route printed on it and the conductor punched it at the route where you boarded. When you think of the hundreds of routes run by London Transport, some of which extended well into the country i.e. Chipping Ongar in Essex, the amount of labour use to print every fare stage in the whole area for every individual route must have been very expensive.
Gary

By: Vivienne

Vivienne — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 02:22:46 +0000

This collection and its arrangement is also visually and aesthetically pleasing. I love the ink colours and how they contrast with the paper. It is almost like a fabric sample book.

By: Adele Lester

Adele Lester — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 14:34:05 +0000

What an interesting piece! Memories of friends and I taking the 23/25/15 from Stepney to explore our city. We must have been as young as 11+, and discovered such treasures as the Science Museum, National Gallery, and even Soho. I especially enjoyed the mention of the intended trip to Pratt’s Bottom, just to see the sign. Such an innocent childhood exploit, in a much more innocent time.

By: Marcia Howard

Marcia Howard — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 13:33:49 +0000

What a wonderful collection, and all beautifully documented in John’s ‘best’ handwriting. One of my older brothers (born 1940) also had a bus ticket collection from our childhood in London. He also had a wooden rack which all the different coloured tickets were clipped along the length of it. As far as I recall, each colour denoted the different prices, e.g the length of journey to be taken. I wouldn’t be surprised if my brother still has them! I shall have to check.

By: Peter Holford

Peter Holford — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 12:01:34 +0000

That is a great collection that brings back many memories. Waiting for the conductor as he made his way up the bus and watching the process of extracting a ticket from a rack suspended at his side before punching it to validate it – I was fascinated. It was also the period when West Indians became conductors. But they weren’t allowed to be drivers at that time!

A couple of my friends bought bus-spotting books and assiduously swapped information about where to find the likes of RTW28 and RM9. That was too arcane for me – I saw how obsessive they got over it and steered clear!

By: Lynne Perrella

Lynne Perrella — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 11:15:37 +0000

Stating the obvious…….This is a treasure!
The ephemera hounds and memory scouts thank you.
Wonderful!