On Tue, 28 Jun 2011 09:50:07 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote:
Because you can almost always find one upstairs if you can be
bothered
to look.

Not dissimilar, then, to the way to ensure a seat on any 12 car peak
departure from Euston...

Neil

--
Neil Williams, Milton Keynes, UK

In article ,
Neil Williams wrote:
On Mon, 27 Jun 2011 23:00:30 +0100, Peter
wrote:
FFS, don't suggest that to Swansea council...

You wouldn't rather have what is being described, i.e. a train
service?

I had in mind more of a tram, effectively reinstating the Swansea and
Mumbles, but otherwise correct

Nick
--
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"The Internet, a sort of ersatz counterfeit of real life"
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On 28/06/2011 10:09, d wrote:
On Tue, 28 Jun 2011 09:50:07 +0100
Roland wrote:
In , at 08:29:14 on Tue, 28 Jun
2011, d remarked:

And I used the new doubledecker 25 both ways today - much more
pleasant, a much better chance of getting a seat, a much more
realistic official capacity and far less of the crush crowding so
hated on the bendies.

How can a bus with less seats offer more chance of getting a seat?

Because you can almost always find one upstairs if you can be bothered
to look.

Eh? Are you suggesting most people hang around downstairs even if its
packed but there are free seats upstairs? Thats not my experience.

It's my experience. The only time I find I can't get a seat upstairs
seems to be on post-pub late night buses from Trafalgar Square.


I'll
tell you who does hang around downstairs however - people with prams, the
elderly and others who can't make it up those narrow stairs. And thats
assuming there's enough room for anyone with a pram or in a wheelchair to
get on in the first place. But hey, double deckers are a british tradition
and thats whats most important. Screw practicality or giving a **** about
the less able bodied.

They could be a German or Danish tradition. I saw some in Poland too.

As for the worst buses, I didn't fancy the pick-up truck based ones in
Thailand. Abu Dhabi had some ropey looking things, although I suspect
they might have been for building site traffic rather than public use.

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

In message , at 21:00:58 on
Tue, 28 Jun 2011, Paul Corfield remarked:

How can a bus with less seats offer more chance of getting a seat?

Because you can almost always find one upstairs if you can be bothered
to look.

You can?

Not always, but more often.

How often do you use buses in London in the rush hour? Some
of the time you can get a seat - as I managed to this evening on the
way home. However we soon ended up with people standing upstairs, on
the stairs and I have to assume (as I don't have x ray vision) all
along the lower deck. This is not an unusual experience and it can
happen in the morning - at 0640 or so! Or try a full bus at 0605
(first one) on a Sunday? This is on a suburban orbital route that
serves a few tube / rail stations along its route. Central London
radial services are far busier so you will see people squashed inside
buses with all seats taken on a regular basis.

Nottingham has a decent bus system and is well used but I am afraid it
is not in the London league at all.

Agreed. I wonder how Nottingham can manage to provide enough capacity
(on the Trent Bridge from the south, at least one bus per minute), and
London can't, despite the cash pouring in from all those passengers?
--
Roland Perry

On 28/06/2011 21:11, Roland Perry wrote:

London can't, despite the cash pouring in from all those passengers?

Except on bendy buses...

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

On Tue, 28 Jun 2011 18:55:45 +0200
Neil Williams wrote:
On Tue, 28 Jun 2011 08:29:14 +0000 (UTC), d
wrote:
reason that very few countries use them - they're crap.

The fact that bridges are typically lower in cities in other EU
countries may be a bigger reason.

No they're not. They have to be high enough for HGVs which means they'll
be high enough for a double decker.

B2003

On Wed, 29 Jun 2011 08:28:38 +0000 (UTC), d
wrote:
No they're not. They have to be high enough for HGVs which means
they'll
be high enough for a double decker.

Not all HGVs are that high. And I can think of many that are not.

Neil

--
Neil Williams, Milton Keynes, UK

I disagree.

The delays to London's traffic is caused primarily by the traffic not being allowed to make normal progress. Bendy buses were and are still a minor but nevertheless irritating aggravating factor. The main reasons for traffic being held up are, of course, the forest of unnecessary traffic lights, the phasing of the traffic lights, bus lanes, the closure of useful "cut-throughs", the narrowing of roads, the narrowing of T-junctions, the consistent elimination of gyratory systems, the expanding of pavements at bus-stops and the establishing of bus stations at crucial crossroads, e.g Hammersmith, Vauxhall and Clapton.

Your idea that "London's traffic is slow because everyone is on tenterhooks waiting to avoid the next hazard" is original but eccentric. If I'm held up at unnecessary traffic lights, I'm anxious to avoid the next set of lights not the next hazard.

On Sun, 26 Jun 2011 23:41:29 +0100, Arthur Figgis
wrote:

On 26/06/2011 11:01, Paul Corfield wrote:

the X26 from Kingston to Heathrow.

?? I hope you don't know something I don't, IYSWIM. Still, it wouldn't
surprise me after...

Shhh!

FWIW, I saw an X26 full and standing at Croydon a couple of hours ago.

The general rule seems to be that I don't get a seat on the way to
Heathrow but do on the way back. A perfect route for bendy
conversion, with a bit of extra luggage rack. I think there are a
number of Heathrow - W/SW suburbs that would benefit.

Richard.

In message , at 17:37:04
on Sat, 25 Jun 2011, writes

I noticed some ex-TfL bendies in use in Leicester on Friday on route 80,
between various Leicester Uni locations. They were painted bright green!

I had to chuckle on a tour of Leicester University yesterday when one of
the guides pointed out the fluorescent green bendy buses and said
enthusiastically "we've got bendy buses now, just like in London".

Err, no, you've got them because London doesn't!
--
Roland Perry