London Banter - View Single Post - Moir Lockhead, Routemasters and the bendy bus

Paul Corfield · May 14th 08, 09:20 PM posted to uk.transport.london

On Wed, 14 May 2008 19:38:00 GMT, (Neil
Williams) wrote:

Read in the Lite today that Moir Lockhead is warning Boris about the
plan to reintroduce Routemasters - and is trying to peddle him the
"ftr", which is, umm, a glorified bendy bus.

But ftr has conductors on it and nice curvy fronts and settees at the
back. Surely that makes it wonderful? I still don't understand how
First think ftr is an economically viable / profitable venture given the
staffing costs are double those of a conventional opo bus.

Will First never learn? In my experience, their buses in London are
some of the oldest, dirtiest and most poorly-maintained. Not a good
start.

I am a bit surprised by those comments. I don't think First are the
worst operator in London and I wouldn't pick on the issues you've
highlighted as being typical. First did have a bad patch and lost a
number of tenders which has curtailed fleet replacement to some degree
but I'd cite Metroline as having been equally bad and still distinctly
patchy on some of their routes. Care to share some examples?
--
Paul C

Admits to working for London Underground!