The Original Tour

The Original Tour, or previously The Original London Sightseeing Tour, is an open-top tour run by Arriva in London, England. They also hold the franchise to run City Sightseeing's London tour. It is based in Wandsworth, South West London.

Sightseeing Tour
Founded in 1951 at the time of The Festival of Britain, The Original Tour is now the largest single sightseeing operation in the world. The hop-on hop-off service allows customers to board any of its’ tour routes at over 80 different stops. Services operate daily, with a commentary in English or a wide choice of languages. A free river cruise and three walking tours are included with every ticket and the exclusive Kids' Club provides an educational but fun alternative for 5-12 year olds.

The Original Tour operates four sightseeing routes, with two connectors from other places linking to them :

† Pre-recorded language commentaries provided on the T2 and T4 routes are English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Russian, Japanese, as well as the "Kids' Club" children commentary in English.

T-prefixed Route Numbers
The "T.." route numbers came with the arrival of the Ayats Volvo B7Ls, which were specified with electronic destination displays. Previously, the routes were only distinguishable by a coloured triangle, propped up on the dash on the bus, although some had a metal holder on the front. Now the triangle (which still exist for the older tour buses) have "T.." printed on them for the appropriate coloured triangle. Also, some buses now have destination display blinds, traditionally removed from these buses, which have the coloured triangle on them with the "T.." route number inside that.

Other routes
From their Wandsworth bus garage, The Original Tour also operate London Buses route 337 (Clapham Junction - Richmond), under contract to Transport for London's London Buses using 14 Volvo B7TLs with Alexander Dennis ALX400 bodywork.

Bus events
The Original Tour's buses can often be seen at bus events, either for show or to carry passenger. Events frequently attended include Showbus and the London Bus Preservation Trust's Cobham rally.

Fares
Local fares are available on the sightseeing routes, but the main tickets are valid for 24 hours, which is sometimes extended to 48 hours in Winter to attract custom. Each ticket includes three free Walking Tours (Changing of the Guard, London Legends and Jack the Ripper) and a free 24-hours River Cruise Pass ; tickets can also be used for Choice tickets and certain discounted attractions. Standard London Buses fares are charged on route 337.

The Original London visitor centre
At the end of 2007, The Original Tour opened a new visitor centre on 17-19 Cockspur Street, off Trafalgar Square. It sells tickets to the major London attractions, out of town tours and tickets for The Original Tour buses. General advice is also given.

History
In November 2006, an order was made for 10 Volvo B9TL/East Lancs Visionaires, worth £1.6 million. They have Euro IV engines. The first of these were delivered in May 2007 and all were in operation by the beginning of 2008. Following the delivery of these buses, 45% of the fleet is now low floor and wheelchair accessible.

Current fleet
The company operates a number of vehicle types :

Allocation
Some of the buses are in the standard City Sightseeing livery, rather than the Original Tour version, for use on route T2, which is branded as City Sightseeing. However, in practice, buses can be mixed up. The standard buses for normal London Buses route 337 stay on that route.