Today sees the last of the bendy buses making their last drive through London. Route 207 from Hayes is the last to be 'debendified', with standard double deckers replacing the unpopular articulated vehicles. Reduced fare evasion on the former bendy routes is set to save TfL over £5 million per year.
Meanwhile the first of the new super clean Boris Buses is due to arrive in the capital. In the coming months eight prototype models will be tested on London's streets to see how they stand up to our stop-start traffic and heavy passenger volumes. With any problems identified and resolved this trial should pave the way for their arrival en masse after the Olympics.
Like buses, the delivered manifesto promises arrive in twos...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
16 comments:
Good riddance to Kenny's krokodiles. Let's bring back the quiet, non-polluting trolleybuses.
Roger, You may like the Friday joke on this subject at the Barnet Eye -
http://barneteye.blogspot.com/2011/12/friday-joke-what-is-difference-between.html
Then again, you may not ! On a more serious note, why didn't Boris wait till the Boris bus was ready before phasing these out, surely that would have made more financial sense?
Unlike many on the left, I think a purpose designed bus is a great idea. It is odd how what won morrsion much praise from the left gets Boris derision. As I'm sure you are aware, I generally am critical of Boris, but I think the left missed a trick here. They should have praised Boris for showing that the private sector cannot deliver innovation without strong political intervention.
Rog, I imagine the answer to your question can be found in the contract timings. Contracts for bus routes are let for several years and specify the type of vehicle to be used, so for example if the 207 was still a bendy on monday, it would remain one for a long time to come.
Also, the heavily used bendy routes may not be the best ones to trial the new vehicles on at first, because they are not typical of the average London bus route.
Nice to see a bit of Friday humour from the Barnet Bloggers. I have been round all of you and I think today's prize should go to Mr Mustard for the first of his three jokes - the one about the doctor's waiting room. However Mrs A hasn't got out of bed to post yet, so she may well provide something even better...
Thanks for the answer. As to the joke, I'd concur that Lord Mustard of Barnet certainly pulled a cracker of one for Xmas
And last Tuesday I saw a Routemaster - WLT 346. Number 15, complete with conductor, in Farringdon Road while waiting for a 63.
Yes Weggis, number 15 is a tourist route using Routemasters preserved for enthusiasts.
There isn't a route using bendies preserved for enthusiasts...
They are used during the daytime on route 15 from Tower Hill to Trafalgar Square, and on route 9 from Trafalgar Square to Kensington High Street. Both are short workings of their respective route numbers.
I say "good riddance": http://dasteepsspeaks.blogspot.com/2011/12/bendy-chariots-youre-fired.html
Hi Matthew and welcome to the blog. I like your own production - some good food and drink recommendations in the centre of town...
oy ... my Friday joke took a long time to write, as it happens, being based on the comedy routine which passes for the audit committee in the London Borough of Broken Barnet. As you may know, I am now a global expert on armchair auditing, despite the fact that in my early education the evil Miss O'Donovan failed to beat any understanding whatsoever of maths into my empty head (ask Rog T, who had the same happy experience).
Dear Mrs Angry,
I hope you crossed yourself when you spake her name. I can confirm that Miss O'Donovan was truly the scariest woman on the planet. When my kids went to St V's, Mrs O'Leary, who was headmistress told me that even the rest of the staff were scared of her. She caned my elder brothers on their first day of primary school aged 4. Luckily when I went, they'd moved her from the "baby class" - what we now lovingly call reception, so you were 6 before you learned the true meaning of fear. Still it meant i was never frightened by Dr Who and the Daleks ever again.
I doubt too many Ex St V pupils hark after the good old days of corporal punishment, still we all turned out ok, Ha Ha Ha !
Such acquired fear, Rog T, proved surely to be a useful characteristic for dealing with the voluminous Brian Coleman?
I see from a local report that the loss was estimated at £7.4-millions a year on the 12 routes. Of that £1.4-millions (18.92%) was lost on just 1 route - the 25 from Ilford to Oxford Circus.
Correct - my £5 million quoted saving was a very conservative under estimate. Official figures are over £7 million. And I'm not surprised the evasion on the 25 was so high. A few years ago I joined the ticket inspectors at Stratford and many of the passengers were genuinely surprised, affronted even, when told they needed to pay.
Not that either of you, or I, have to pay...
Maybe, Weggis - but you're still required to swipe your Freedom Pass.
Post a Comment