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Paul Corfield · August 5th 07, 03:25 PM posted to uk.transport.london

On Sun, 5 Aug 2007 14:16 +0100 (BST), (Colin
Rosenstiel) wrote:

In article ,
(Paul Corfield) wrote:

You might get to mobile phone acceptance in due course but not as
the first step and certainly not with anything like bar code readers.
FTR in York put paid to that concept.

What happened to FTR in York?

Well the FTR vehicles are still running on route 4 but the whizzy off
bus ticket sales and bar code on mobile phone readers have been rendered
redundant. Replaced by conductors. The Leeds scheme is also conductor
based - seems bloody daft to me given that conductors were scrapped as
being too expensive (in the 60s and 70s) because buses could
legitimately be operated with one person. If anything, cost pressures
are greater now than they were then as the revenue base of passengers is
so much smaller.

People may very well criticise London's open boarding on bendies but at
least it is pretty damn fast. The reliability of York route 4 collapsed
once FTR was introduced as the boarding times became hopelessly extended
and, of course, the driver sorry pilot cannot help as he's sealed away
in a separate compartment.

--
Paul C

Admits to working for London Underground!