The London Bus route that SPLITS in HALF! | Route 108

In this video, I have a look and ride on the London bus route that splits in half and I tell you how you can have a ride on it too!

Shout out to my Patrons: Will Tucker, Tony Cottam, Martin Cox, Chloe, Alice Lee, Johan Jacobsson Franzén, Kodzo

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MUSIC
Music from Epidemic Sound:

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[TheHoveHeretic]

Fun Fact time: The 108 is an old (pre-London Transport) route, originally run by London General Omnibus Company with single deckers. In 1927 things stepped up a gear when the first bespoke double deck design for the 108 consisted of 25 NS Class buses, fitted with special narrow bodies and domed roofs. These lasted until replaced in 1937, by the 'Tunnel STL', which featured special tyres with reinforced walls (to counter kerb strikes) and copied the earlier NS roof profile (for obvious reasons!). They went extinct after alterations to the tunnel permitted standard RT buses to be used from 1953.

Not sure when it went back to single decker, but I remember the handsome but short lived Merlin Swifts (MB) on the 108B at Eltham in the early 1970s.

[winsony]

Making me miss those Mercedes bendy-buses, we got a load of them from Go-Ahead London here in Brighton for the uni route, recently left the fleet :(

[PsychicLord]

Last time I was in London, I rode the 108 from Lewisham to North Greenwich. As I child I regularly remember riding on the 108B (when a 75 or 194 was not around).

[peterplumb]

Should come to sussex. Theres a bus service that runs from Brighton to Portsmouth, but you have to get a different bus 3 times. 700 from Brighton to Chichester. Then another 700 from Chichester to Bognor Regis, then change again @ Bognor to Portsmouth!

[colinn_]

Route 108 under appreciated workhorse.. I do appreciate you addressed the usual route though . A102 isn’t the south circular.. Blackwall tunnel southern approach I believe it’s called

[realmanft]

On match days the 108 goes to Stratford Bus Station and doesn’t serve Stratford International. And on days when there’s no overnight Jubilee Line service it goes on diversionnnon stop from Bow to Tower Bridge then back to line of route.

[networknathan]

great video!! love the 108 citaro's

[krissmgvlogs]

Great seeing you in my hood, Lewisham I used to catch this bus often to get to Stratford when I couldn't be bothered with the DLR! Why did you have to film this the following week, I missed the reason!

[VexSG]

another Citaro enjoyer i see! You'll have to check out the High Peak ones in operation up north between Manchester Airport and Buxton on the 199 (though they also operate e200 MMCs and versas, but the citaros are really nice!!)

[Peter-mjlz]

5:31 that actually looks like mini twin towers

[LdnRR]

the South Circular Road is the A205 from the Woolwich Ferry in the east to the Chiswick Flyover in the west

[winsony]

You walked out that door head on into an undy at 9:56 lol

[leylandlynxvlog]

Very interesting. Nice to see someone else who loves the Citaros as much as me. My favourite bus of all time is the Leyland Lynx, as one might guess from my name. But the Citaro is my favourite of buses still in production/operation. I was fortunate to drive a Citaro for a short time, but I was on a driving assessment so I couldn't enjoy it to it's fullest. I tried to get to drive the 108 but they wouldn't allow me as an agency driver so left the contract to go drive Routemasters from Kent instead.

[simonochana]

Not lived in London for nearly 40 years but remember that bus route back in the early 1970’s going through Blackpool tunnel. Surprised that route is still running. It also meets the iconic route 25 at Stratford international!

[nathanw]

Great video! I used the 108 sometimes when I attended CTK Emmanuel college, when I couldn't be bothered to walk up the long hill lol. I loved the sounds the Citaros made when charging up Belmont Hill, as well as the former Volvo B7TL's that used to operate the 89 sometimes. I am glad that the 129 got extended to Lewisham though since waiting for the 108 to North Greenwich was a pain sometimes.

Also small correction, the A102 isn't the South Circular Road the A205 is. A fun fact about the A102 is that it's part of the same dual carriageway that goes all the way from Ipswich to Dover as it directly connects the A2 and A12 main roads.

[Teesbrough]

Fascinating to see how much has changed in last 30 years. Back then, pre-Jubilee, 108 was a busy route. Then I worked on bus station design for JLE bus stations, especially for North Greenwich. Soji Abass had recently completed Stratford Bus Station which all the bosses were highly impressed with.
Citaros can be nice to drive but they’re ponderous and often unreliable so not liked by drivers. Driver’s seat is exceptionally bouncy and cab door is cumbersome.
Great video as ever though 👍🏻

[Keyaans_Photography]

Nice video. love the dedication you went through 😂

[crispinleung]

Hey super glad to see your video on my feed - great format, keep it up!! Particularly like your thumbnail whixh made me click and the 47 4 cracked me up lmao
Hope you grow quick 📈📈🤜🏼

[trebor]

Waited, waited, and waited. Wait some more

[ssga_tgbuddy]

Thanks for the tour of a part of London that most of us Yanks won't see. I actually like to see how regular people live in their daily lives.