London Banter - View Single Post

Tom Barry · January 22nd 09, 04:48 PM posted to uk.transport.london,uk.transport.buses

wrote:
If Boris does get his way and boot all the bendies out of london where
would they go? Theres a lot of them, they can't be sold off in europe
because they're RHD, they're far too new to scrap and they're really
only suitable for a city enviroment. Are there any other cities that
they could be effectively used in?

B2003

Newer ones could theoretically replace older bendies on routes in London
(remember there'll still be a need for 100-odd bendies by the 2012
Mayoral campaign, so Boris isn't removing bendies any more than
Livingstone removed Routemasters). I'll stick my neck out and say
there'll be a damn sight more bendies in service on the date of the next
Mayoral election than Routemasters old or new.

Plenty of other cities in the UK have bendies now, remember the Bendy
Myths all date from about 2005, when this wasn't the case so much.
Indeed, one of the refutations of the policy is that the Jihad is purely
London-specific and exists in a mainly political context - no one uses
major newspapers to attack private companies putting bendy buses on the
streets of Swansea (although there are doubtless pro- and anti-
campaigners, there's nothing like the heat and gibberish produced in
London).

Tom