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Paul Corfield · January 22nd 09, 07:39 PM posted to uk.transport.london,uk.transport.buses

On Thu, 22 Jan 2009 08:59:10 -0800 (PST), 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?

there is a suggestion that some will end up in Malta. The government
there has employed consultants who have come up with a scheme to
completely revise the Maltese bus system. This would scrap the current
scheme that uses largely second hand buses run by owner drivers in a
form of cooperative. The proposals envisage a hierarchy of services
with bendies on the very high demand corridors. There are very few
double deck buses in Malta as there was long term resistance to their
use so single decks are the main bus type. The article is in the latest
Buses Magazine.

My own theory is that most of them will sit in yards and decay. The big
problem is the third door in the rear section. All other bendies -
apart possibly from those on the Eden project shuttle - are two doored
because there is no open boarding elsewhere in the UK. I doubt any UK
commercial operators will adopt open boarding so it entirely depends on
whether Mercedes can remove the third door. If they can there might be
a market for the vehicles elsewhere in the UK - particularly if they are
offered cheaply and operators want to push up their compliance with the
approaching low floor vehicle legislation. The other big issue is garage
space and whether they can be accommodated - this was an issue in London
so can't be ignored outside.

I'd be perfectly happy for bendies to stay in service in London but we
know what the policy is.
--
Paul C