Martin Deutsch wrote:
On Jul 26, 11:34 pm, Andy wrote:
On Jul 26, 11:06 pm, "Ian F." wrote:

"Bruce" wrote in message
...
I admit to having an inbuilt patholgocial hatred of cyclists who
disobey the rules of the road, so I'm as guilty as anyone. But I do
think that the bendy buses have been vilified for a lot of problems
that they don't cause.
I hate them for the one major problem they *do* cause - fare-dodging!
Well, they don't cause the fare-dodging. Facilitate it maybe, but the
it is the fare-dodgers that cause the fare-dodging.

Pedantry aside, surely the solution to discouraging fare-dodging is to
increase inspections, not to change the bus?

I don't suppose anyone knows how the statistics compare for fare-
dodging on bendy buses vs Tramlink or the DLR, where it's also easy to
board without a ticket?

Or indeed on Routemasters in the old days, where when packed it was
perfectly easy to dodge, apparently, not least because it could easily
have been impossible to buy a ticket in the time available.

We do know that fare evasion dropped sharply on Overground
post-Silverlink and before that on the Underground when Oyster and
gating came in, so it's likely that on the transport network as a whole
fare evasion is rather lower than it was a few years ago. I have to say
I don't consider fare evasion alone as sufficient reason to scrap them,
not least because it nowhere near pays for the extra cost of less
efficient buses, so you end up not being able to do something socially
useful elsewhere in the city.

Tom