On Sat, 05 Jul 2008 12:08:15 +0100, Tom Barry
wrote:

Rupert Candy wrote:
I'm quite surprised nobody's commented on this yet!

Not only is there a whole new section of the TfL site devoted to it
(http://tinyurl.com/5euecn), they've even produced detailed
specifications for the 'serious' competition in proper house style.
These look very businesslike and impressive, with the occasional bit
of humour (Articulated design: No. Doors/Apertures: 1 open platform at
nearside). It's at http://tinyurl.com/6gnvpt if anyone's interested.

I know Autocar magazine sponsored a design company (Capoco?) to come
up with a New Routemaster concept a while back - I wonder if they will
enter it. Otherwise, I can't see any of the bus builders taking this
as anything other than the humorous whim of a bored politician...

Bored? It's the only transport policy he's shown any interest in (I'm
including the extra security on buses and tubes as a crime policy here).

I wish he would come up with something that resembled a transport
policy. I'm heartily fed up with this tokenistic tinkering.

He's deadly serious, although buried yesterday was some sort of
announcement that the first three bendy lines will go double-deck next
year on contract re-award (the 38 was mentioned, anyone know the other
two? Six lines have contracts expiring in 2009; 12, 25, 38, 73, 507,
521 - I'd like to see them try and operate the last two as single door
entry double deckers).

I think they are referring to the 507 and 521 which are the earliest
tranche in the "out to tender" list. The 25 and 73 have been awarded 2
year extensions to 2011. The 38 is definitely up for retender as I
think the old crew contract was extended for 2 years to "finance" the
conversion to bendy. TfL don't extend contracts beyond 7 years and
always retender school, tendered gross contract and all cross boundary
services after 5 years.

Quite why on earth the sensible use of bendy buses on routes like the
18, 25, 29, 149 and 207 should be stopped when they do a far better job
that the previous double decks in terms of getting people on and off
fast and then getting on their way I don't know. People have short
memories of how bad the former double deck routes were in terms of dwell
times, bunching and curtailments.

All we'll get are high density single decks on the former Red Arrows
with virtually no seats in them - think back to the old Nationals.
People will have worse crush conditions and fewer seats - think of the
typical single deck in a city like Rome which has 3 door rigid Citaros
with very few seats in them.

I think we'll just get conventional double decks on everything else
because TfL's budget constraints will mean that it will not be able to
afford to fund much higher numbers of untried custom vehicles on former
bendy routes. I could tolerate something like 12m tri-axles or something
swish like the Berlin Lion City big double decks but I don't think they
would fit on some of the routes like the 38 and 73. Worse still given
people's great reluctance to go upstairs on double decks these days I
can see any replacement design being less effective because it'll be
crammed full downstairs with seats available upstairs but people will
have to wait longer as drivers will simply be unable to get people
through the lower deck crush.

I can't see operators wishing to buy a completely untried design for a 5
or possible 7 year term. This is just a repeat of the old LT bus design
experiments that have gone wrong time after time after time.

However, if the bendies do go at contract re-award it means the 436 and
453 will still be bendy under the current contracts in 2013, having only
just been awarded this year.

And possibly through to 2015 if extensions are granted.

The Autocar proposal was about the same size as a normal double-decker
but with a longer wheelbase, which presumably means it's actually *less*
maneouvrable. I'm not sure how serious it was meant to be, and in any
case it was hideous.

I still think it's a total waste of everyone's time though - far more
important things to do; where's ELLX Phase 2 then?

Precisely. The Borismaster is a waste of time and public money based on
a personal prejudice of the Mayor and an unhinged press campaign. And
yes can we please have the go ahead for ELLX Phase 2 as soon as
possible.

--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!