On Sun, 27 Dec 2009, John B wrote:

On Dec 26, 11:13*pm, (Neil Williams)
wrote:
On Sat, 26 Dec 2009 14:17:49 -0800 (PST), MIG

wrote:
But there is still the narrow gap and having to wave or bleep
something at the driver, which is surely unnecessary.

The gap is wide enough for people to get through if nobody stands
there. *This can be avoided by going for a bigger bus with more
dedicated standing room downstairs.

Revenue protection is clearly proving to be necessary, given the
reputation of "uncle Ken's free buses". *But then the UK never did,
and probably never will, do penalty fares correctly[1].

I'm not sure this is true, except for highly depressing, party-
political values of "necessary". The actual TfL studies show that
evasion isn't significantly higher on bendies than regular buses -
unfortunately, the urban myth of 'uncle Ken's free buses' has obscured
the reality.

(CUE: pointless anecdotes of "I got on the 29 and only saw 4 people
touching in". Well, yes - the others have Travelcards or bus passes).

I got on the 29 last night and, er, well actually a chap cheerfully
grilled me about whether i was a member of various terrorist
organisations, then explained that there was a plot involving
gravitational forces, and that he was trying to save London. I don't know
if he'd touched in, but he was certainly touched.

tom

--
I was employed by a Lacanian and, believe me, you don't want to see what
a postmodern approach to cashflow entails. -- G'