I've always liked them. Even when they spontaneously combusted.
I don't completely agree with the assumption that they attract fare
evaders, mainly because unlike other buses, you only have to be seen
to pay if you have a Saver ticket or Oyster Prepay. So people like me
who use them regularly never swipe because my Oyster card is loaded
with an Annual travelcard.

I've also been on numerous buses, from 6am in the morning to past 11pm
where ticket inspectors have boarded - and in many cases every single
person on board has had a valid ticket. The occasions where someone
didn't have a ticket where no more than on double deckers. I think
that the free travel for kids is potentially more damaging (and again,
only because of a minority) and I really think it should be limited to
transport to and from school.

The Evening Standard has a well publicised dislike of Bendys, but
reading their articles on them, comparing them to Routemasters and
more traditional buses, (the article on Routemasters was describing a
completely different kind of journey experience!) made me realise that
the writers had never travelled on any of them. Still, lets not let
the facts get in the way of the story.

That said, I would like conductors to be brought back.


On 3 Oct, 19:34, (Neil Williams) wrote:
On Wed, 03 Oct 2007 02:37:16 -0700, MIG
wrote:

I think bendy buses are WRONG in every way, but I have actually met
one person who likes them.

I like them, in the right role. Their role is in a European-style bus
system, whose primary purpose is to move very large numbers of people
to and from the rapid transit rail station nearest to their
destination/origin.

That makes them suitable, IMO, for very busy Central London services
(e.g. Oxford St) and for the Red Arrows, but not really for anything
very long-distance.

As for deckers, there are good ones and bad ones. IMO, the latest
Wright design is good, but most others I've seen are unmitigated crap.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.