One thing I've noticed a lot lately, both as a passenger and as a pedestrian
in central London, is the apparent gulf between the driving styles used on
many 'ordinary' buses, compared to that used on the bendy buses.

The former on the whole are badly driven, often with little concept of
smooth starting or smooth braking.

The Mercedes-built bendy buses seem a lot smoother - is this because drivers
of these much longer vehicles are actually trained to drive properly, or are
they - the buses, that is - fitted with some kind of smooth start/smooth
braking electronic trickery?

J D