Some of the favourite features of Routemaster buses with the general public were the focus of the most intense negative reaction by administrators.
These features were
Here is a short bit of movie showing just how quick a bus-stop (!) could be on a Routemaster route.
Explanation of how it worked at a busy stop with many people disembarking and embarking...
First, wherever the bus came to a stop, all the people from both the lower saloon and the upper deck streamed off simultaneously - as the single-file descending the stairs stream off to the right (considered facing the bus) of the platform and the central pole, while all the people in the lower saloon stream off to the left. The streams don't have to cross, so the flow is efficient.
When all the people have disembarked, the embarking starts, with people simultaneously streaming into the lower saloon and upper deck.
The process is like a stampede of animals, with clattering of feet, but is very very quick and efficient. Lovely when wanting to get home through rush-hour traffic.
In contrast, the modern double-deckers are really notably slower per bus-stop. The flow of people down the centre-located stair-well has to cross the flow of people trying to get off the lower deck and those already filing on from the front door. Even though the modern buses have two doors (front to alight and middle to disembark) they are defective compared to the smooth flow of passengers on a Routemaster.
Although Routemaster operation needs two personnel per bus (the driver and the conductor), private operators on dissolution of London Transport found that Routemasters keep moving more, hence more paying customers, and get to the front of the queue to sweep up passengers ahead of more modern single-operator buses with pneumatic doors. So more revenue outweighed the additional cost of two crew. Plus the buses are simpler and carefully designed to be fast to maintain.
The Routemaster found another 35years as the top London bus because it worked very busy routes so well. Single-operator buses replaced every "normal" route decades ago. But in the inner London zone...
Finally in 2004/2005 single-decker 3-entry-door "Bendys" (Bendy-buses) managed to sweep along passengers at the rate of Routemasters. It needed advances in electronics so that there is a ticket machine at every stop on the route, so pre-paid tickets become mandatory. And teams of three fare-enforcement officers "raiding" the buses to check that everyone on it has a paid-for ticket. Probably negating some of the economic advantage of single-operator operation... And the driver can be forced under pain of being fired to only open the doors at bus-stops, however close the bus is stuck in traffic to the passengers' intended destination. Delicious for overseeing bureaucrats... And the passengers are crammed like sardines in a long swaying tube of bus, forever reminded that their preferences are a lesser matter...
Anyway, enjoy the movies...