On Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:59:42 +0100, Tom Barry
wrote:
Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:
On Jul 28, 11:10 am, wrote:
Tell me , are british commuter cyclists just particularly incompetant
and/or
stupid compared to european ones who've been living with bendy buses
for years or are you all - what most people suspect is the case -
nothing but a bunch of tedious whingers?
I suggest you try riding a bike round some European city centres some
time. The bus routes in major European cities where bendy buses are
common typically run along broad boulevards which are straight or have
wide, sweeping bends.

What, like the Uxbridge Road, where the 207 bendies will shortly (well,
2011) be replaced by a great many slow-loading single door entry double
deckers like we used to have? RMLs having departed in 1987, it's back
to the Eighties with Boris, then.

As it happens, the 207 is the bendy I encounter most often. There are long
stretches of that route where there isn't room for any bus to overtake a
cyclist safely without crossing the centreline. The longer buses need
longer to pass, meaning there are fewer gaps long enough. Sadly, the
drivers often go for it anyway, and cut or squeeze in.

The longer length gives more opportunity for the bus to move off while a
cyclist is trying to pass, at stops or traffic lights. The extra length is
critical at traffic lights - if the lights start to change at the worst
possible time you can generally get to the front of a rigid before it
moves, but a bendy takes longer to get past. So a bendy at the front of a
queue is an obstacle that cannot be filtered past safely (like an HGV)
whereas a rigid bus can be filtered past safely.

Conclusion: bendy buses make cycle journeys slower and less pleasant. They
may not make them much less safe, but only because cyclists mostly choose
extra delay rather than extra danger.

All that said, if they are a genuine benefit to bus passengers, and there
aren't too many of them, I can live with them. But the drivers need to be
well-trained (including cycle-awareness), and complaints against them need
to be followed up properly.

Colin McKenzie


--
No-one has ever proved that cycle helmets make cycling any safer at the
population level, and anyway cycling is about as safe per mile as walking.
Make an informed choice - visit www.cyclehelmets.org.