R2OK!

mark occomore · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK

Are the London Bendy Buses more hassel than they are worth? Maybe it's the un-experienced drivers. It would help if they use the mirrors too.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7035041.stm

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You can't help the buses bursting into flames, but that must be something to do with the fuel pump?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7024164.stm

firewirefred · Guest

The wide boulevards of European cities are more suited to bendy buses that London's crowded streets. Bring back Routemasters, that's what I say.

mark occomore · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK

firewirefred · Guest

But who's "they". The old London Transport commissioned the production and purchase of Routemasters back in the good old days before darling Maggie insisted that the whole thing was carved up (or cocked up??) so now it's down to the many individual bus operators to decide what they need to buy.

RockitRon · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 7646

Yes, as I recall, the main reason that LT designed and commissioned its own buses, rather than buying them "off the peg", was that there used to be a legal restriction on their size, to negotiate the city's narrow and winding streets.

At 18m long each "bendy" bus must take up as much space on the road as two of the old RTs or Routemasters. In theory I believe they carry 90 passengers (60 sitting, 30 standing), against 60 sitting and as many as could be squeezed in standing on one of the old ones. I shudder to think what the fuel consumption is (Boris Johnson has said it's 3mpg) but they can hardly be called environmentally friendly.

Nottingham has five of the things, which have been used, with little success, on various routes, and have now been cascaded down to the University shuttle service. The area is even less suitable for them than London and because of their inefficiency and lack of manoeuvreability (drivers have to be specially trained to drive them) they were very slow. As they were scheduled to run alternately with normal double deckers the bus behind always caught up, causing even worse than usual bunching.

None of them has caught fire, though (they're a different manufacturer, I believe).
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Ron

mark occomore · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23416188-details/Smoking+and+on+his+mobile+while+driving+a+bendy+bus/article.do