.... The Headline Boris Couldn't Risk.

Some of London's buses would have had problems getting out this morning, but
the central area was pretty clear early on, on all major routes, and still
is at 8pm.

And yet Boris allowed a couple of dozen bendies to sit in a yard at Waterloo
all day, rather than have them working shuttles in the central area.

Even working their 'official' routes (Red Arrows), they's have made life
easier for a lot of Londoners; with a bit of imagination, they could have
also worked a straight central area East-west shuttle, and maybe a
north-south.

But the thought of Bendies being useful was a step too far for Boris.

Will they sit in the yard all week? we'll see.
--

Andrew
"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

Andrew Heenan wrote:
... The Headline Boris Couldn't Risk.

Some of London's buses would have had problems getting out this morning, but
the central area was pretty clear early on, on all major routes, and still
is at 8pm.

And yet Boris allowed a couple of dozen bendies to sit in a yard at Waterloo
all day, rather than have them working shuttles in the central area.

Even working their 'official' routes (Red Arrows), they's have made life
easier for a lot of Londoners; with a bit of imagination, they could have
also worked a straight central area East-west shuttle, and maybe a
north-south.

But the thought of Bendies being useful was a step too far for Boris.

Will they sit in the yard all week? we'll see.

I'm not actually aware of any bendy routes operating today, except the
29 and that was rumoured to be with double-deckers. I'd love to know
the truth of what happened there.

IIRC Southwark was one of the councils rumoured to be less than stellar
with the gritting. Westminster was OK. Obviously to run a route you
need all intervening points dealt with, which is why you need a *plan*.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/medi...hive/4146.aspx

t

I'm not actually aware of any bendy routes operating today, except the
29 and that was rumoured to be with double-deckers. I'd love to know
the truth of what happened there.


The N73 was operating this afternoon..

On Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:21:27 +0000, Tom Barry
wrote this gibberish:

Andrew Heenan wrote:
... The Headline Boris Couldn't Risk.

Some of London's buses would have had problems getting out this morning, but
the central area was pretty clear early on, on all major routes, and still
is at 8pm.

And yet Boris allowed a couple of dozen bendies to sit in a yard at Waterloo
all day, rather than have them working shuttles in the central area.

Even working their 'official' routes (Red Arrows), they's have made life
easier for a lot of Londoners; with a bit of imagination, they could have
also worked a straight central area East-west shuttle, and maybe a
north-south.

But the thought of Bendies being useful was a step too far for Boris.

Will they sit in the yard all week? we'll see.

I'm not actually aware of any bendy routes operating today, except the
29 and that was rumoured to be with double-deckers. I'd love to know
the truth of what happened there.

IIRC Southwark was one of the councils rumoured to be less than stellar
with the gritting. Westminster was OK. Obviously to run a route you
need all intervening points dealt with, which is why you need a *plan*.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/medi...hive/4146.aspx

t

I photographed a brace of 38's in the clapton depot today, in the same
parking areas were the staff cars, which seem to have managed to make
it into work ok....

I'm very disappointed to see that the busses were kept off the roads
leaving people to struggle to make their journeys on foot, all manner
of delivery vehicles were out working.
--
Mark Varley
MarkVarleyPhoto.co.uk
TwistedPhotography.co.uk
London, England.

On Mon, 2 Feb 2009 20:08:55 -0000, "Andrew Heenan"
wrote:

... The Headline Boris Couldn't Risk.

Some of London's buses would have had problems getting out this morning, but
the central area was pretty clear early on, on all major routes, and still
is at 8pm.

And yet Boris allowed a couple of dozen bendies to sit in a yard at Waterloo
all day, rather than have them working shuttles in the central area.

Even working their 'official' routes (Red Arrows), they's have made life
easier for a lot of Londoners; with a bit of imagination, they could have
also worked a straight central area East-west shuttle, and maybe a
north-south.

But the thought of Bendies being useful was a step too far for Boris.

Will they sit in the yard all week? we'll see.


yes but happens if the bus gets into a bit of a slide or cannot get
traction going round corners, something some of the drivers don't seem
to have mastered in dry weather ?

"martyn dawe" wrote ..
yes but happens if the bus gets into a bit of a slide or cannot get
traction going round corners, something some of the drivers don't seem
to have mastered in dry weather ?

I've never experienced that, and I was writing on the basis that they'd be
using appropriately trained drivers.
(silly old me, huh?)
--

Andrew

"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

gurgled happily, sounding much like they were
saying:

I'm not that familiar with the Models used in London but Southampton
had some a few years back. The type used there had their driven axle on
the rear section,on one of the rare occasions that city got a smattering
of snow one of these showed the weakness in that arrangement by
colliding with a pub on a sharp corner. The middle set of wheels lost
grip and the rear section carried on pushing causing the bus to
jackknife in the middle.

Same layout as in London.

"Adrian" wrote in :
I'm not that familiar with the Models used in London but Southampton
had some a few years back. The type used there had their driven axle on
the rear section,on one of the rare occasions that city got a smattering
of snow one of these showed the weakness in that arrangement by
colliding with a pub on a sharp corner. The middle set of wheels lost
grip and the rear section carried on pushing causing the bus to
jackknife in the middle.

What makes that "weakness" rather than a "driver error" - I'm really not
clear.

It's like looking at a jack-knifed articulated lorry and writing off the
whole breed, isn't it?
--

Andrew

wrote ...
Artic lorries don't have the driven wheels on the trailer ,the tractor
unit pulls it. most artic jacknifes occur under braking.
with the bendie buses the traction is at the back so on a slippery
surface the effect is like trying to push a length of string. its very
likely to bend.

At the risk of being boring, bendies have managed perfectly well in Europe
for 40 or 50 years; why is it that they don't have all these problems, if
they are are 'design weaknesses'?

Seems a little odd to me.
--

Andrew

On 4 Feb, 01:34, "Andrew Heenan" wrote:
At the risk of being boring, bendies have managed perfectly well in Europe
for 40 or 50 years; why is it that they don't have all these problems, if
they are are 'design weaknesses'?

Rear-engined bendy buses are a modern invention - there's some
ridiculously complicated hydraulics and computer control in the hinge
to stop them jacknifing constantly. It's a miracle they work at all,
and I can well imagine the system can't cope at all with icy roads (or
more specifically, the centre axle losing grip and sliding sideways).

Front-engined bendy buses have no such concerns, as they're no
different from an ordinary single decker with a trailer.

U