Was out and about in the West End yesterday, so decided to pop down to Piccadilly Circus and see if any new 38s were about. Quite a lot were, in fact, this greeted me as I turned the corner out of Regent Street (apologies for the poor quality, dark/crap camera/trying not to photograph a van bombing north up Piccadilly):
Two 38s blocking a junction really nicely.
What was immediately noticeable is the bunching, the lack of patronage on the two vehicles, barely a bendy-load between them, and the fact that they were blocking the junction. The 38, of course, is currently on diversion due to the works in the foreground, which are ironically to speed up the bendy 38*. Joined up thinking there.
Predictions? Slower, more chaotic, less good for passengers, less good for fare evaders (unlike the 507 and 521 the 38 has a real evasion problem), more expensive for TfL, bugger all difference as regards use of the road – shorter vehicles balanced out by longer waits at stops and bunching.
* Or, as the press release in a few months time will say, to ’smooth traffic flow’.
Tags: 8 Comments
8 responses so far ↓
One thing I’ve never understood… on bendies, I’ve seen plenty of people quickly touch in when they see a flock of ticket inspectors/community support officers/UK Borders Agency officials/film crew/press officers/TfL Managers (honestly, I’ve seen this motley crew in its entirety at Vauxhall Bus Station) getting on.
Are TfL wise to this? In theory if they can see that a card has just tapped in, they can allege that the person hasn’t just got on, and use CCTV to back it up.
If it’s not something they can do anything about… how about making people touch in *before* they get on, a la trams?
Much as i hate to make a pro-debendification argument, one advantage perhaps is that they can reduce capacity more easily off-peak, where clearly there is too much capacity provided.
The proof, however, of whether or not this works, will be in the rush hour. And I think performance there will be miserable.
There’s also one other obvious advantage of de-bendification… you can sit at the front on the top deck and pretend you’re the driver
“you can sit at the front on the top deck and pretend you’re the driver”
You can also watch all the bendies overtake as you wait for ages taking on passengers who could have got on in ten seconds on a bendy
[snail-like 94 bus last night, I'm looking at you here]
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“Are TfL wise to this? ”
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If that is what happens, why not just have a couple of people in TfL bibs get on each bendy for one stop, frighten the casual evaders into touching in or clearing off, then get the next one? Would be rather more cost-effective, I reckon. I doubt TfL would spend the cash persecuting someone who’s just touched in, they’ve got the money by then and it’s likely the legal and personnel costs would exceed the penalty imposed.
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Re: off-peak, my view is that the peak’s what matters, and you take the hit on capacity use efficiency off-peak (which is what Tories object to, not seeing the loadings in the peak or, often, at other points on the route to where they’re looking).
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On the trams point, I’d have branded bendies as something other than buses (different colour scheme/route numbers), and treated them as equivalent to trams until they could progressively be replaced by light rail, but in truth there’s no perfect solution between efficiency of travel and thorough ticketing compliance, as the latter negatively affects the former.
We discovered the joy of debendification on Saturday night – getting on with our 12 week old in his pram at Grays Inn Road heading back to Essex Road, there was already a pram and a large suitcase on the bus. While the owner of the pram was very helpful in trying to manoeuvre his pram around the strangely positioned vertical rail, the owner of the suitcase was not so helpful. As a result we were blocking the aisle, and the bus was unable to depart until we were all safely positioned. This took five minutes, during which time two more (empty) 38s went past.
Incidentally, these new 38’s don’t seem to ‘dip’ as the bendies and other double deckers do (notably the very very old buses that run the 271 route) to allow easy entrance of prams and wheelchairs and people with shopping etc. – but since the works to improve the bus stops for the bendy 38’s, the double deckers can’t get that close to the kerb and so there’s a very steep step down to the road and back up to the kerb – very impractical, almost impossible, with a pram.
We’re very annoyed, to say the least.
“What was immediately noticeable is the bunching”
Yep, never before in the history of public transport have two buses come along at the same time. Profound.
“the lack of patronage on the two vehicles”
Blimey, and that was never a feature of bendy buses either. Have you ever stopped to wonder why the system has needed such a colossal injection of other people’s money this last few years?
Bunching is worse with bendies. See the northbound stop at Vauxhall bus station when two 436s arrive at the same time as one double decker. The east exit and pedestrian crossing gets blocked until the lights let them on to Vauxhall bridge.
Drivers of the 12 seem incapable of getting near the curb at bus stops, worse if your at the back door. My experience is better with shorter buses.
As for getting prams or big items on a bus if you compare a 436 Bendy with a 36 Double decker (which run the same route for most of the way) you won’t be able to get on a 436 as its always more busy than the 36.
When it’s finally revealed that the cost of maintaining the kerb by the highways agency / local council has risen on the ‘pre-bendy’ routes I shall laugh in the face of the political idiocy that Boris has brought to London.
The whole point of the bendy bus is that they are easier to manouvre around London’s narrower streets – which is why they are also popular in other similar cities (Rome for example).
Get your wallets out mugs for the cost of the debendification will be hidden in a council tax bill near you in the future.
As with most ideas from the state machine – they seem a good idea on paper but the true costs are often felt much, much further down the line.
…and what was the problem with the bendy bus again? Was it one cyclist in London thought they were dangerous – and that cyclist happened to be the mayor of London?
….the basis for this decision would have made even Stalin baulk.
Longer articulated vehicles being better for narrow streets?
Thats an interesting view. I wouldn’t send one up King William St.
Round my way it is the bendy 436 that rips up the kerbs when it can’t get the back section round a corner on the road.