Paul Corfield wrote:

Well, it was one of his clearest manifesto commitments, so it's fair to
assume at least some of his voters also approved of the idea.

Possibly but how many of them run in Barnet, Bromley, Croydon, Harrow,
Hillingdon, Bexley, Sutton etc? I think the number is a great fat
zero [1].

Well when campaigning for Boris in Tower Hamlets and Newham, we found many
voters who heavily approved of the policy based on their direct experience
of the 25 (and before anyone jumps in, no this wasn't people in the docks
end of the two boroughs but those actually living around the route). Now
some of this may be the general problems the 25 has, but people believe it
was better when it was a double decker, and indeed IMHO on the
Ilford-Stratford section many passengers have shown a clear preference for
the 86. Certainly the idea that the bendy bus is primarily hated by those
who don't have any near them is a myth.

There isn't a universal bendy experience but is the same bus design really
suitable for both Waterloo to Victoria/London Bridge and central London to
outer suburbs?

[1] not entirely certain where Sudbury sits borough wise but the 18
stretches that far so may be more zero.

It's the point where Ealing, Brent and Harrow meet and the name is used in
all three boroughs. Very much the Crystal Palace of north west London.