Ian Harper wrote to uk.transport.london on Wed, 30 Mar 2005:

Add a lot more when the 207/427 gets bent in a couple of weeks time. From
observation, a lot of people still pay cash on the route(s). Will they
still bother in a few weeks? Will they?


They can't - it's not allowed on bendies!

If people have a reasonable chance of not getting caught, they won't
pay. I first saw this in Paris in the 1970s when the "tricoteuses" who
used to punch your ticket when you went into the system were phased out,
and the magnetic card readers hadn't been brought in. The interim
system punched your ticket and then let you in through the turnstile,
but there was nothing to show whether your ticket had been punched once
or 100 times. Many people appeared to think it worth the risk of a fine
if you were caught by an inspector.....

When I was in Poland, we were warned that if you were caught on the
buses without a valid ticket, you would be given an on-the-spot fine;
actually, although I was there for a week and used the buses every day,
I never saw an inspector. Unlike in Vienna, where we were for 24 hours
some years ago, and our tickets were checked at least once in that time,
if not twice.

If London Buses want bendies to be a success, they really do need to
employ a team of inspectors to go round on the bendy buses and check
people's tickets. Not every journey, but so that you can reliably
expect to be checked at least once per day.
--
"Mrs Redboots"
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/
Website updated 20 March 2005