Paul Corfield wrote:


Ken cancelled such schemes when it suited him, TfL seem to have cold
feet about electric traction on the streets for some reason

Having witnessed the local tactics that led to the West London Tram
cancellation, Ken was mugged by borough Tories on that one. Mainly
whipping up 'the tram will increase traffic down your street and make it
difficult to use your car' fear, as well as worries over worksites etc.
Ironically, of course, it meant more bendies and more pollution, but
there you go. Remember that Ealing and Hammersmith & Fulham councils
changed from mildly supportive Labour to violently opposed (and very
car-friendly) Tory ones in 2006 and there's a limit to how long you can
push on a locked door, particularly when the great and unpleasant bulk
of Stephen Greenhalgh is on the other side.

I am sure there are plenty of "off the shelf" products that have been
developed for use across the world that can serve London's bus
system. I don't see the bus companies in Hong Kong running a "new bus
for Hong Kong" competition

Hmm. Presumably the TfL market being so large in UK terms the
manufacturers have to consider the suitability for London use in any new
bus design anyway, so every New Bus is more or less For London, at least
in a UK design (which IIRC have the bulk of the market). It's
noticeable that the UK's bus manufacturers are keen to have Peter Hendy
visit from time to time, which rather betrays where their priorities
are. Didn't TfL put a ban on Volvo products a while back for some
reason related to noise?

It follows from that that Boris's competition is not so much for a New
Bus For London as a New Bus Unsuitable For Anywhere Else. I'm not sure
I see the point.

BTW, from LOTS:

"At the eleventh hour, just half-a-dozen Citaros (MEC class) arrived in
time for the conversion from bendy-bus of route 507 - in conjunction
with the addition of a 12-minute frequency on Sats and Suns requiring
just four buses on each day. It remains to be seen how soon the rest
of the route's weekday pvr requirement of 14 buses can be replaced."

Bodes well for the next 500+ buses, doesn't it? It's the waste of time
for the people at the bus companies and TfL that riles me most.

Tom