"Neil Williams" wrote in message

On Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:39:52 +0000, Paul Corfield
wrote:

My own theory is that most of them will sit in yards and decay. The
big problem is the third door in the rear section. All other
bendies - apart possibly from those on the Eden project shuttle -
are two doored because there is no open boarding elsewhere in the UK.

I assume they could be locked out of use. But as the Citaro can be
ordered in a single-door or dual-door bendy form, I suspect it'll just
be a module swap of some sort.

The other potential market for them is airports, where the 3 doors may
prove an advantage.

Wouldn't airports want doors on both sides? I'm sure they could be
added, but it's extra work.

On Thu, 22 Jan 2009 22:04:18 -0000, "Recliner"
wrote:

Wouldn't airports want doors on both sides? I'm sure they could be
added, but it's extra work.

Many of them don't have - Schiphol, for instance, use a load of normal
buses on hire from HTM (from the Hague) as well as the big unwieldy
yellow things. But in any case I was thinking more of the car park
shuttles.

Neil

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

wrote:
On Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:39:53 GMT, (Neil
Williams) wrote:


Where do Arriva use them? I thought First was the most prolific user
of them.
I have only seen First with them in London and Manchester I have never
seen Stagecoach with any they probably will get some to snarl up the
streets of Preston with once the buyout of PB is completed .

Stagecoach have some up in Scotland, mostly Volvo/Plaxton articulated
coaches used on busy express routes (saying that they might have been
replaced by ex-Megabus Neoplan Skyliners)

They did try them on the X38 between Exeter and Plymouth, it didn't last
long. Presumably they were fine on the A38 and in the cities, but
Ashburton and Buckfastleigh are pretty tight something which also caused
problems for the exHK/Megabus Olympians. Now they use 56 plate
Enviro400s (ex Manchester)

wrote:
On Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:34:16 GMT, (Neil
Williams) wrote:

On Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:27:21 GMT, wrote:

I have only seen First with them in London and Manchester I have never
seen Stagecoach with any they probably will get some to snarl up the
streets of Preston with once the buyout of PB is completed .
Stagecoach seem to be a fan of pretty much exclusively Alexander
Dennis products, whose range doesn't (as I recall) include a bendybus.
They do seem to have a small fleet of Optare's here in Lancashire
Neil and PB have a mixed variety of vehicles, it remains to be seen if
they respray and keep them all .

From Observation, Stagecoach have a very standardised fleet of
Alexander and Dennis products. You will see the occasional oddball order
where they are trying a new type.

Currently the standard seems to be

Mini: Optare Solo (MAN engines)
Midi: ADL Enviro200Dart (on Dennis/MAN chassis)
Full Size: ADL Enviro300 (on Dennis/MAN chassis)
Double Deck: ADL Enviro400 (on Dennis chassis mostly)
Coaches: Plaxton/Volvo

Paul Corfield wrote:


My own theory is that most of them will sit in yards and decay. The big
problem is the third door in the rear section. All other bendies -
apart possibly from those on the Eden project shuttle - are two doored
because there is no open boarding elsewhere in the UK.
I'd be perfectly happy for bendies to stay in service in London but we
know what the policy is.

The Eden ones are tri-door. They do occasionally work the Station
shuttles aswell...

On Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:34:16 GMT, (Neil
Williams) wrote:

On Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:27:21 GMT, wrote:

I have only seen First with them in London and Manchester I have never
seen Stagecoach with any they probably will get some to snarl up the
streets of Preston with once the buyout of PB is completed .

Stagecoach seem to be a fan of pretty much exclusively Alexander
Dennis products, whose range doesn't (as I recall) include a bendybus.

Not a great surprise given the Souter shareholding in Alexander Dennis.
To be strictly fair Stagecoach bought a lot of Alexander bodied products
over the years but that may well be loyalty to a Scottish business as
much as anything. Stagecoach have bought a lot of Optare Solos as the
low floor successor to Mercedes minibuses.
--
Paul C

wrote:
If Boris does get his way and boot all the bendies out of london where
would they go? Theres a lot of them, they can't be sold off in europe
because they're RHD, they're far too new to scrap and they're really
only suitable for a city enviroment. Are there any other cities that
they could be effectively used in?

When the 453 changed hands last year, some went to 'top up' other bendy
routes (most run by other companies), a few went to the Stratford Olympic
site as a worker mover (painted white), while some are still in store.

It has been suggested that they might go to Malta, and other Right-hand
drive countries are a possibility.

As has been said, several UK cities use or have used bendies; First has many
inferior bendies in Yorkshire (The sad claustrophobic Wrightbus that
pretends to be a tram and has conductors because the autoticket machines
don't work!), so any rival who introduced Citaros would clean up!

Worth pointing out that most of the bendies are not owned by operators, but
leased for the period of the contract, so final destination does not depend
on staying 'within the company', which is a boon for Go-Ahead and Arriva,
neither of whom have many urban areas that could take them.

Don't worry about the doors; it's very common for ex-London buses to have a
door or two removed and extra seats inserted - the problem may be that the
door they'd want to seal (the middle doors - not the rear doors), is the one
with the ramp. Most two-door bendies have the ramp at the front, I believe.
I don't know where the Wright "Streetcar" (yecch!) has its ramp; probably on
the roof, disguised as a pantograph.
--

Andrew
http://www.vuzen.com/2008/08/bendy-b...in-london.html

"If A is success in life, then A = x + y + z.
Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut." ~ Albert Einstein

Paul Corfield wrote:

there is a suggestion that some will end up in Malta.

*Makes mental note to visit Malta again sooner rather than later*

Saying that, they'd be useful on the evening and night service 662
between Valetta and Paceville (for the pubs and nightclubs) - this
service only runs at weekends, but leaves every 5 mins from around 7pm
to 3am and is always packed, especially when using ancient 40 seaters...

Yes, I think artics might work on that.

But please leave the day routes alone!

Cheers

Steve M

In message , at 22:04:18 on
Thu, 22 Jan 2009, Recliner remarked:
The other potential market for them is airports, where the 3 doors may
prove an advantage.

Wouldn't airports want doors on both sides?

Not if they are used as shuttle buses to the car parks.
--
Roland Perry

On Thu, 22 Jan 2009 22:26:56 +0000, Mark B wrote:

wrote:
On Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:39:53 GMT, (Neil
Williams) wrote:


Where do Arriva use them? I thought First was the most prolific user
of them.
I have only seen First with them in London and Manchester I have never
seen Stagecoach with any they probably will get some to snarl up the
streets of Preston with once the buyout of PB is completed .

Stagecoach have some up in Scotland, mostly Volvo/Plaxton articulated
coaches used on busy express routes (saying that they might have been
replaced by ex-Megabus Neoplan Skyliners)

We have three bendies used on the Aberdeen to Peterhead services,
alongside, inter alia, three Neoplan Skyliners.
--
Stuart Johnson in Peterhead, Scotland
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