--- "Annabel Smyth" wrote...

But we no longer have conductors to help disabled people get on and off,
to tell us when our stop is, and generally to keep the buses free of
unpleasantness

True, but there's nothing to stop TfL employing conductors on modern buses
if they wanted to. There's no law that says they can *only* be used on
routemasters. (In fact, I'd love to see conductors on *all* buses between
3pm and 4.30pm just to keep the kids quiet!)


As for cramped - you obviously don't have to travel on tiny buses like
the P5 or the 322....

No, never been on the P5. Don't even know where it runs. As for the 322,
anywhere I'd want to go on it is also served by the 432 or the 3, so in
practice I don't need to use it. But I still wouldn't use either of them
even if they were routemasters!