London Banter - View Single Post

Tim Roll-Pickering · January 19th 12, 04:41 PM posted to uk.transport.london

d wrote:

All I ever see on a crowded double decker when it reaches a stop is
"excuse me" , "can I get past" , "excuse me". People falling down the
stairs, people having to get off so others can get off then fight their
way back on again.

With the exception of the stairs I saw all that to a much greater extent
on
the bendies.

I fail to see how it would be harder to get off a bus with 3 large exit
doors
than one with 1 small exit door (the front one is entrance only on DDs).

Because the bendy vestibles were far more packed and had people trying to
move in all directions.

You can dismiss people who prefer double deckers as nostalgic all you like
but it is grossly inaccurate. They prefer the double deckers because they
prefer its features and advantages over the bendies.

Please list them. The only one I can think of is for people who like a
nice
view from the top deck. Well I'm sorry, but thats hardly a good reason.

A more realistic official capacity.
More seats.
A clearer passenger flow.
A requirement to show tickets before boarding.
Less ram packed.

Just for starters and that's even before we get to the issue of how much
road space they took up.

Well nobody likes the idea of others getting a free ride at their own

In the rush hour I doubt many people cared.

expense but the substantial issue was people believed the free bus was
responsible for other problems on them, particularly the ram pack crowding
and some of the incidents.

So because they were popular and carried a lot of people thats a bad
thing?
Sorry, I must be missing the logic of your argument.

For the final time the point is people believed that because they were free
buses they attacted far more passengers than if they had to be paid for -
particularly attracting a lot of people for short hops who would otherwise
have walked. The comparison on sections where a bendy and a double decker
overlapped was quite telling at the time. Hence it was associated with the
ram packed crushed crowd effect.

Perception has a lot to do with it when the buses become a political
potato.

It was only ever a political issue in Boris's mind. I doubt it would even
have made the top 10 of any voters pressing concerns.

It came up in canvass returns, both in specific questions about individual
policies and the more general "what are the pressing issues" either
standalone or "...in the following [policy] areas".

All that said, I think Boris was elected for other reasons as well,
particularly Lee Jasper.