"CJB" wrote in message
...

They don't seem to check tickets so fare evasion could be as bad as on the
bendi-buses (BTW the latter seem to have been sold off to provincial bus
companies such as Brighton).

There are no conductors per se. The uniformed staff member on the platform
seems to be there because of elf&safety - they don't actually seem to have
anything to do which is why they do not actually seem to be doing
anything - but they get paid for it.

The notices posted at the stops describe them as 'conductors', but whether
that is their official jib title I don't know. They do provide information
to passengers, but could probably do this more effectively if they could
move through the bus, rather than having to remain on the platform. Fitting
an entrance/exit with doors, but then leaving them open and posting a member
of staff there to try to stop passengers falling off, or getting hurt while
boarding a moving bus seems rather odd, and not particularly productive use
of staff.

Some of the Hi-Vi people at stops yesterday were providing advice to
passengers, for example of other routes which they could use, while others
seemed to be doing nothing. Perhaps there is a case for providing travel
advisors at stops in areas where there are many visitors, at busy times.
This would seem to be more useful than guarding an open platform which
doesn't need to be there.

'Push and Shove' and 'Me, Me, Me' by passengers usually wired up with
earplugs is the new more - its as bad on the Tube, National Rail, and
other buses. Its the way of the Third World that our society has become. I
guess its bad on the Boris buses because all entrances / exits are just
that with no dedicated doors.

Also, if passengers are going to be allowed, whether officially or not, to
board a bus between stops, then that effectively allows them to queue-jump
those who are waiting at the stop. At least sometimes the conductors do not
seem to attempt to stop a passenger boarding or alighting from a moving bus,
and if they were to do so it would create the potential for conflict.

When I was young all of the buses in my area were either old ones (RT) or
new ones (RM). While I was at school, probably around 1971 ish the first
front entrance ones, Daimler Fleetline I believe, with the short-lived split
entrance with self-service ticket machines and turnstiles were introduced.
They were not successful, and were long outlived by the older Routemasters.
Since then we seem to have had a long series of bus types, all of which have
been either unsuitable, or not up to the job, and short lived. I think
Boris deserves credit for recognising this, and trying to get something
better. They do seem to be of a higher quality than most of the new buses
which we've seen in recent years. The Routemaster was a very good bus in
its day, but times have moved on, and requirements have changed, e.g. the
need to carry wheelchairs and baby buggies. Re-introducing the open
platform because the Routemaster had one does not seem to be a good idea.
Reducing dwell times at stops is important, but Oyster cards have been far
more effective at doing that than bringing back the open platform. Separate
entrance and exit doors also seem to help, but we've lost that with these
new buses, and with the previous articulated ones, on which, due to their
great length, a third door was possibly useful.

The curtailing of a service part route is a well known TfL scam to make
passengers pay twice for a journey. If a service is suddenly curtailed or
turned back early drivers are supposed to give passengers a ticket
'voucher' for the rest of their journey. At best I've seen drivers simply
not bother; at worst thy simply refuse. Most tourists don't realise this,
and so TfL is effectively perpetrating a fraud. I can't see the driver of
a Boris bus bothering to issue so many 'voucher' tickets, especially if
his/her bus is full.

Also the splitting of a long route into multiple short ones, e.g. the 68
being split into the 468, 68 and 168, though admittedly that is now extended
to Hampstead Heath rather than the original terminus at Chalk Farm. If you
pay cash when boarding a MTA bus in New York City you can ask the driver for
a transfer, which looks like a single ride Metrocard, except that the
printing on it is blue rather than green. It's valid for two hours, but not
for transfer to another bus on the same route, so you cannot use it if you
want to get off and then continue your journey later, but if you need to use
two routes to complete you’re your journey, then you do not need to pay a
second fare. If you use a pay-per-ride Metrocard then I think the transfer
is automatically allowed.