Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 10:05:41 on Tue, 1 Oct 2019,
Recliner remarked:
David Cantrell wrote:
On Mon, Sep 30, 2019 at 12:22:22PM +0100, Roland Perry wrote:

And today Boris's latest idea is to spend (or is he expecting someone
else to spend) ?220m on new buses (and all contactless payment) because
the Roastmaster was such a success, apparently.

I don't get this antipathy to the Boris buses. I'm a passenger,
frequently. They do their job well, combining the benefits of a normal
double decker with the one benefit of the bendy monstrosities - quick
boarding - without the humungous downsides of the bendies taking up too
much road space and blocking junctions.

They're very heavy, which limits their capacity as does the rear platform
and second staircase, the hybrid system has never worked properly, perhaps
because of the very limited space for the power unit under the rear stairs,
like the bendies they have double the fare evasion of normal buses, and
they cost almost twice as much as a conventional double decker (£350k vs
£190k). They acquired their 'Roastmaster' nickname because their
air-cooling didn't work and they lacked ventilation, which had to be
retro-fitted.

So, we have a bus that's 84% more expensive, with less capacity, longer and
heavier than a normal double-decker, less comfortable, worse fuel
consumption and whose entire reason for existence, the open rear platform,
is not used. No wonder the hoped-for sale of the design to other cities
never happened.

It's truly a fitting metaphor for the Boris Johnson mayoralty.

And let's hope his Brexit deal isn't as bad as his bus.

He was wittering on about buses on BBC Breakfast again this morning.

Mentioned smartcards as one of the ways to drive up usage.

There are various smartcard tickets in West Yorkshire, including one onto
which you can load daily, weekly or monthly passes (bus only or bus and
rail for various combinations of rail zones), and another which is a
stored-value card for bus travel.

Unfortunately, the only smart day pass offering is bus-only, which is a bit
annoying. A day pass for bus and rail, valid in the peak, would be very
useful for me.
--
Jeremy Double