In message , Chris Read
writes

"Paul Corfield" wrote:

There will now follow a torrent of posts telling me I'm talking out of
the top of my head and that TfL is the evil empire and should be nuked
by George Dubya.

I reckon that, were the Routemaster to be re-introduced to oust the bendies,
there would be a torrent of complaints - not least from those who fought the
scrapping of the RM so vociferously over the last couple of years.

In terms of fare evasion, I am a semi-regular on the Heritage 15, and there
have been several occasions where the Conductor has not ventured upstairs
for the entire journey, despite only having to 'look after' about 20
passengers in total.
Conductors' attention to fare collecting on the Heritage routes was
exemplary when they first started, in marked contrast to their
latter-day work on the conventional RM services. However, as another
semi-regular user of the services, I, too, have noticed them becoming
more slack in this respect.

However, to my mind, the Bendies should be heavily targetted by Inspectors.
Indeed. The message that you are *very* likely to be checked needs to
come across.

I rather suspect that, as is human nature, the Inspectors go for 'easy
targets' - ie nice quiet suburban routes - wherever possible. I'm willing to
be proven wrong here, however. I use bendies maybe twice a week, and have
never been asked to produce my ticket since the Red Arrow 507 went over in
2002(?).
I've been asked a couple of times on the 521. I don't use suburban
buses much in London but I've never encountered *any* inspections on
those I have used.
--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk