On Thu, 22 Nov 2007 11:29:33 +0000, "R.C. Payne"
wrote:

Restricting boarding to the front doors only is the standard mode of
operation in all places I have visited in the US and Canada.

I didn't mean that, I meant the practice throughout the UK (other than
London) of having only one door, it being used for both boarding and
alighting. It is a stupid practice that I don't think I've seen
anywhere outside the UK. Even German minibuses have two sets of
doors.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

Here in Birmingham (where all buses have manually operated ramps),
passengers tend to be very centralised in their destinations. Between
my house and the centre (about 30 stops), only about 2 of those are
major points for getting off. In the city centre, everyone gets on and
off at one stop*. Therefore, the bus is pretty much like a bucket
filling up with water, and emptying at the last minute. If two doors
are provided, the chances are loading/unloading times will not be
increased.

In London on the other hand, I can picture buses being a bucket of
water with a hole in the bottom. Passengers will get on everywhere,
and off everywhere (tube stations, railway stations, bus interchanges,
etc). Therefore it helps to have the extra door to improve efficiency.
London is very decentralised, Birmingham is not, therefore those extra
6 seats that we can fit in on our Birmingham buses are more cost
effective than an extra door.

(*Timing point so buses tend to wait for a while anyway.)

Steve Dulieu wrote:
I believe that the correct term for such vehicles is "Pavement Panzer"...

Excellent! Duly noted, thanks.

ESB

On Thu, 22 Nov 2007 15:00:46 +0000, Ernst S Blofeld
wrote:

You have demonstrated my point. In having been furnished with lower
floors and wider aisles (even if only as a side-effect of disabled
provision), the child minder no longer contemplates folding in advance
even when they have the time and space to do so. Previously it was a
necessity but now it is largely an optional act of consideration for
others that is rarely exercised.

Up to a point I agree with you , but I don't buy the idea that this is
symptomatic of some broader decline. In most circumstances now, it's
a perfectly rational decision for people with push-chairs not to fold
them when they get onto buses. An unintended consequence of this is
that people sometimes need to fold push-chairs in a hurry.

Martin

Paul G typed


In message , Helen Deborah
Vecht writes
In the dark and p***ing rain, sitting in a chair facing traffic at 8pm
on a Sunday night, there are few buses and it's normal to want to stay
within sight of the driver. He could see I was in the chair.

Many people wait by the bus stop and don't necessarily want that
particular bus. Sometimes one does need to ask (even) for the obvious.
What's obvious to one isn't always obvious to another.


Two of us, (one in a wheelchair, one out) waving arms (with reflective
piping on all sleeves) at the only bus approaching a bus stop isn't
obvious to the driver? How else should we attract attention?

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

"Richard" wrote in message
...

I wonder whether the Anglo-Saxon (as they say in France) way of doing
it isn't in fact *more* common throughout Europe.

It's certainly the case on buses everywhere I've been in Spain,
Portugal, Belgium and is becoming the norm again in France, thanks to
anti-social types.

Some places (Paris) make an exception and allow boarding anywhere on
bendies, some (Barcelona) make you get on at the front.

Some places tolerate you getting off at the front but try to put you
off the idea, some won't let you at all.

Some Teutonic places allow boarding anywhere except after some time in
the evening (2000, 2100) after which you have to get on at the front.
Although there are a lot of options, I'd pick this one as the most
sensible for London's artics, at least outside the central area. Maybe
with a few hundred thousand new revenue inspectors it could be
extended to other buses as well...


You have to board some Amsterdam trams at the middle or rear doors, as I
recall.

On Sat, 24 Nov 2007 11:21:36 GMT, wrote:

You have to board some Amsterdam trams at the middle or rear doors, as I
recall.

Front and middle. It was due to large-scale fare evasion. What they
did, rather curiously, was to build a conductor's office by the middle
doors.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

In message , Helen Deborah
Vecht writes
Paul G typed


In message , Helen Deborah
Vecht writes
In the dark and p***ing rain, sitting in a chair facing traffic at 8pm
on a Sunday night, there are few buses and it's normal to want to stay
within sight of the driver. He could see I was in the chair.

Many people wait by the bus stop and don't necessarily want that
particular bus. Sometimes one does need to ask (even) for the obvious.
What's obvious to one isn't always obvious to another.


Two of us, (one in a wheelchair, one out) waving arms (with reflective
piping on all sleeves) at the only bus approaching a bus stop isn't
obvious to the driver? How else should we attract attention?

Ah! You didn't mention that in the original post. I would definitely
agree that that is sufficient form of attention seeking (although I can
think of more distracting things to do, I wouldn't necessarily think
them appropriate on a British street...).


--
Paul G
Typing from Barking

Paul G typed

Ah! You didn't mention that in the original post. I would definitely
agree that that is sufficient form of attention seeking (although I can
think of more distracting things to do, I wouldn't necessarily think
them appropriate on a British street...).

It was *far* too clod and wet for me to strip naked...

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

On Sun, 25 Nov 2007, Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:

Paul G typed

Ah! You didn't mention that in the original post. I would definitely
agree that that is sufficient form of attention seeking (although I can
think of more distracting things to do, I wouldn't necessarily think
them appropriate on a British street...).

It was *far* too clod and wet for me to strip naked...

Also, unless you've got retroreflective nipples, this might not even have
been more distracting.

tom

--
20 Minutes into the Future