James Penton wrote to uk.transport.london on Sun, 5 Sep 2004:


AFAICS, the presence of conductors on RMs seems to be the only universal
(i.e. non-subjective) reason as to why they should be kept. I'm not
convinced. Nevertheless, I am worrying about the 73...

What about loading times? I know that in Central London you have to
possess a ticket before boarding the bus, but the area in which that
happens is very small - it takes far less time for passengers to get on
and off the (very wide) rear platforms than it does for them to enter
one at a time. Granted, most people have some sort of Travelcard, but
there are always one or two who don't, and need to buy a ticket. Or
else the driver has noticed that someone's Travelcard has expired, and
has to call them back to check it, and maybe there's a furious argument
with the bus going nowhere until it's been fixed. When there was a
conductor to deal with all that sort of thing, dwell times at bus stops
were (are) far quicker. The only reason I don't always catch a 159 from
Brixton to Streatham, given a choice, is that the 159 frequently pauses
for crew change at Brixton Garage, which does slow it down.
--
"Mrs Redboots"
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/