On Sun, 5 Sep 2004 10:54:04 +0100, "Solar Penguin"
wrote:

True, but there's nothing to stop TfL employing conductors on modern buses
if they wanted to. There's no law that says they can *only* be used on
routemasters. (In fact, I'd love to see conductors on *all* buses between
3pm and 4.30pm just to keep the kids quiet!)

It was tried, and it didn't work (I think it was route 8). It didn't
work for two reasons:-

1) People don't expect to be able to board "normal" double-deckers by
any door, nor do they expect not to have to pay the driver. Thus,
boarding was slowed by the conductor having to stand by the driver and
point this out. (Signs didn't work)

2) Modern deckers are designed for lower-deck crush loading. This
meant a substantial reduction in capacity, people being forced to go
upstairs for short journeys when they'd rather stand in the wheelchair
space, and annoyed passengers being left behind at stops when they'd
otherwise have fitted on.

Given the above, I doubt we'll see it reappearing.

Neil

--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
To e-mail use neil at the above domain