On Sat, 10 Jul 2004, Dave Arquati wrote:

Ian Tindale wrote:

John Rowland wrote:

Yes. Articulated vehicles don't just bend left to right, they bend up
and down as well. Assuming that the lower floor was of a fixed length,
the upper floor would have to be able to change length, i.e. there
would need to be something like a concertina section in the *floor* of
the upper deck. The best I can think of would be to have something
like the combs used at the end of an escalator, but because the combs
would be sliding back and forth unpredictably, I think it would be
less safe than an escalator.

I think there should just be a gap, with some netting across it; people
can jump across if they want. Would also improve ventilation.

Hang on, there is also twisting to think of. That scuppers the combs idea,
so the only way to have a double-decker bendibus would be to have two
separate upper decks with two staircases.

Then again, if the bendibus had only four wheels - one at the front, two
in the articulation and one at the back - there would be no twisting
movements to worry about, so that resuscitates the combs idea.

YOU ARE AN ENGINEERING GENIUS.

I don't know what I'm talking about. I should shut up.

What about, instead of increasingly complex double decker bendy
polydimensional buses with towbars for the wheelchairs, prams,
cyclists and skateboarders to tag along behind the bus, etc, what
about simply having normal buses, but more than one of them. Say,
perhaps, three - all come at once. Wouldn't that be a functional
equivalent?

I think what's required are buses which are out of phase with each other
and so can simultaneously occupy the same position in space and time.
They could have Tardis-like properties too. Then you might have a
10-minute wait between buses but at least when three of them arrive at
once, they do so without obstructing traffic, and each one has enough
seats to fill a stadium.

Better yet, we could arrange for the buses to travel in _imaginary_ time,
so if we had a suitable complex timetable, the product would be that
delays would be negative!

No, wait, that would still suck. And a lot of people would probably get
turned inside-out in the process.

Either way, it's another manifesto commitment!

Actually that's probably not a good idea; you might have problems with
dwell times at stops as 150,000 people try to alight from three buses at
the same stop.

Yes, flash crowds, rather dangerous; see 'The Stars My Destination', by
Alfred Bester, for further details.

tom

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