London Banter - View Single Post

Tim Roll-Pickering · January 16th 12, 02:20 PM posted to uk.transport.london

d wrote:

But bendy buses weren't restricted to cental london. Some routes went out
into the burbs where you'll find a lot of HGVs. So what was the rationale
in getting rid of them from there?

Because a bus primarily designed for fast rapid trips at airports and in
city centres is not automatically suitable for longer journeys across the
suburbs. The bendies had an official capacity (as printed on the signs by
the driver's cab) that was about 50% more than they could hold in practice,
and they had limited seats and space to safely store the likes of
supermarket shopping. When you have long journeys seats are invariably more
desirable than a bus rampacked with standing room only crush crowded because
the route has had its de facto capacity cut despite official figures saying
it is sufficient. Furthermore the "free bus" aspect was particular disliked
because many passengers felt it brought extra problems to the route - and it
was hard to persuade people the bendies weren't "free" when ticket checks
were rare, especially outside zone 1, and a person who didn't mind the
stigma of being occasionally fined would be significantly better off because
the fines never approached regular usage (plus with readers spread across
the bus one could always tap their Oyster onto one if they did get wind of
an inspection).