On 14/04/2016 19:59, Paul Corfield wrote:

On Wed, 13 Apr 2016 15:08:29 -0700 (PDT), Christopher Jolly
wrote:

I've noticed that London Buses share a common livery but have various different interior schemes dependent on operator, some buses in my area are looking increasingly tired on the inside due to heavy usage or vandalism.

Do TfL have any plans to standardise on interior decor across the bus sector? I wouldn't mind seeing the NB4L red and maroon interior spec used in the New Routemasters being applied to older bus fleets.

I hope they don't standardise on the NB4L interior - it's dark, dingy
and the seats are uncomfortable. There is the ghastly SRM where the
Borismaster body (2 doors, 1 staircase version) has been grafted onto
Volvo hybrid chassis - they apparently have the NB4L interior. Six
are on order for London United.

TfL typically specify an interior refresh if the operator wins a
second contract term using existing vehicles. This means it can be 5
or 7 years before vehicles that we were new at the start of a contract
receive any substantive attention to their interiors. Operators have
no financial or marketing incentive to spend money on vehicle
interiors other than in order to comply with TfL's requirements.


If the interior of buses is particularly grotty then it's probably not
meeting ongoing TfL specs anyway, no? In which case a complaint to TfL
Buses might possibly produce some improvement.