On Oct 22, 1:13*am, wrote:
In article
,

(John B) wrote:
I hate bendies because they are just too long to mix with other
traffic.

Based on what evidence?

Trying to get along Euston Road from King's Cross station to turn left
into Judd Street before and after the 73 became a bendy route. Observation
of the Cambridge Circus junction.

And experience of a whole load of other blocked junctions, blocked
crossings and uncomfortable journeys.

I don't understand why people's dislike, based on personal experience,
requires statistical evidence (any more than my dislike of brussels
sprouts requires statistical evidence) or should be bizarrely
dismissed as the product some kind of dodgy campaign.

(No doubt if Boris ever mentions Pendolinos, it will retrospectively
explain my hatred of them from the first time I travelled in one.)

On Oct 22, 8:20*am, MIG wrote:
On Oct 22, 1:13*am, wrote:

In article
,

(John B) wrote:
I hate bendies because they are just too long to mix with other
traffic.

Based on what evidence?

Trying to get along Euston Road from King's Cross station to turn left
into Judd Street before and after the 73 became a bendy route. Observation
of the Cambridge Circus junction.

And experience of a whole load of other blocked junctions, blocked
crossings and uncomfortable journeys.

Its a fair point, but how is that going to improve when they have to
run 40% more buses to get even vaguely the same capacity on the
routes?

Well the comparison point is the non-bendy routes that people use,
which generally are more pleasant. The mistake is to think that the
bendy routes would suddenly be more pleasant if only they were
converted to double decker, which as you say, is not the case.

This to me is the pertinent point that always seems to get lost in the
noise of the London Rags.

The majority of REGULAR commuters who use the bendy routes (a group
that includes my Missus who uses the 38) are, in my experience, more
than happy with them and dreading the inevitable change. They may not
be perfect but they are decidedly better than the full double deckers
that used to thunder past the bus stops.

Obviously the plural of "anecdote" is not "data" but, as the last
Travelwatch piece on the matter pointed out, actually speaking to
those who use the services regularly wouldn't be a bad place to start
if you're trying to get a fair assessment of their success (or
failure).

Quite frankly I tend to find (not here, but in general) that a lot of
the criticism the bendies get comes from people who've never even been
on one (let alone used them regularly), and whose vision of how London
buses should be involves Butler driving a Routemaster with Blakey
hanging off the back.

On 22 Oct, 10:54, wrote:
On Oct 22, 8:20*am, MIG wrote:





On Oct 22, 1:13*am, wrote:

In article
,

(John B) wrote:
I hate bendies because they are just too long to mix with other
traffic.

Based on what evidence?

Trying to get along Euston Road from King's Cross station to turn left
into Judd Street before and after the 73 became a bendy route. Observation
of the Cambridge Circus junction.

And experience of a whole load of other blocked junctions, blocked
crossings and uncomfortable journeys.

Its a fair point, but how is that going to improve when they have to
run 40% more buses to get even vaguely the same capacity on the
routes?

Well the comparison point is the non-bendy routes that people use,
which generally are more pleasant. The mistake is to think that the
bendy routes would suddenly be more pleasant if only they were
converted to double decker, which as you say, is not the case.

This to me is the pertinent point that always seems to get lost in the
noise of the London Rags.

The majority of REGULAR commuters who use the bendy routes (a group
that includes my Missus who uses the 38) are, in my experience, more
than happy with them and dreading the inevitable change. They may not
be perfect but they are decidedly better than the full double deckers
that used to thunder past the bus stops.

Obviously the plural of "anecdote" is not "data" but, as the last
Travelwatch piece on the matter pointed out, actually speaking to
those who use the services regularly wouldn't be a bad place to start
if you're trying to get a fair assessment of their success (or
failure).

Quite frankly I tend to find (not here, but in general) that a lot of
the criticism the bendies get comes from people who've never even been
on one (let alone used them regularly), and whose vision of how London
buses should be involves Butler driving a Routemaster with Blakey
hanging off the back.- Hide quoted text -



Travelling between Trafalgar Square and Camden Town is better on a 24
than on a 29. I know people who let the 29 go in the hope that a 24
will turn up, and I've done so myself at times.

Similarly where there is a choice of 36/436 or 53/453 etc.

On 22 Oct, 11:49, MIG wrote:
Travelling between Trafalgar Square and Camden Town is better on a 24
than on a 29. *I know people who let the 29 go in the hope that a 24
will turn up, and I've done so myself at times.

Similarly where there is a choice of 36/436 or 53/453 etc.

While it's often possible for individual passengers to have a more
pleasant journey by switching to a double decker, it's not possible to
switch a whole bendy bus load of passengers onto double deckers and
get the same result. Therein lies the bendy bus paradox.

U

On Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 02:54:00AM -0700, wrote:
On Oct 22, 8:20=A0am, MIG wrote:
And experience of a whole load of other blocked junctions, blocked
crossings and uncomfortable journeys.
Its a fair point, but how is that going to improve when they have to
run 40% more buses to get even vaguely the same capacity on the
routes?

Because a bendy bus has to move as one unit. When two buses replace
one, they can move independently.

--
David Cantrell | top google result for "internet beard fetish club"

Eye have a spelling chequer / It came with my pea sea
It planely marques four my revue / Miss Steaks eye kin knot sea.
Eye strike a quay and type a word / And weight for it to say
Weather eye am wrong oar write / It shows me strait a weigh.

On 22 Oct, 10:54, wrote:
Quite frankly I tend to find (not here, but in general) that a lot of
the criticism the bendies get comes from people who've never even been
on one (let alone used them regularly),

So the views of these people don't count then?

I've never been on a bendy bus, and pretty much never choose to travel
on buses (despite getting free travel on them).

I have, however, on many occasions come out of an Underground station
and been unable to cross a road because a bendy bus is blocking the
road, or had a road journey (by bicycle or car) take longer because of
congestion caused by these hideous things.

I have also witnessed safety-related incidents where the traffic
movements caused by bendy buses has posed a danger to cyclists and
pedestrians.

But, of course, my views don't count because I've never been on a
bendy bus.

On Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:56:32 -0700 (PDT), BRB Class 465
wrote:

I have, however, on many occasions come out of an Underground station
and been unable to cross a road because a bendy bus is blocking the
road

In London, I find lorry drivers are far, far worse at doing that.

Neil

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