Triple Figures

The Bus Inspectors have smashed an important landmark in the early stages of their project to grade the nation's historic buses and coaches.

With visits to museums and collections now under way in four regions, provisional scores have been filed for more than a hundred vehicles so far, with the number growing steadily week by week.

So far, The Bus Inspectors have visited sites in Leicestershire, Hampshire, Lancashire and Devon to meet vehicle owners and curators who can help them to understand the significance of each bus and coach and explain what it represents.

As their findings could play an important role in future prioritisation and funding, it's important that the The Bus Inspectors are thorough and take their time to hear the story of each vehicle.

A scoring matrix is used to assess the importance of vehicles in a national and regional context and provisional scores are awarded against a series of different criteria. Just as important as the numbers, The Bus Inspectors take copious notes which will accompany the records for each vehicle so that its history, significance and context within the national story of bus travel may be understood by generations to come.

The Bus Inspectors are initially visiting collections within the National Association of Road Transport Museums, with the longer term aim to score most of the nation's 10,000 preserved buses and coaches. Their tour will gain momentum as new members of the team set off on their first missions and they expect to make good progress once the demands of the holiday and rally seasons begin to ease for museums.

Further down the line, the provisional scores and notes taken by The Bus Inspectors will be ratified by a panel of moderators, who will scrutinise data and ensure a consistent and fair approach has been taken to reach the final scores which will inform grading.

Find out more about how and why we're grading the nation's historic buses and coaches in our podcast.