On 19/04/2020 16:47, Richard wrote:

London was sensible in keeping them - after a wobble in the 90s.Â* Much
of the country, especially in the larger urban areas, had dual-door
buses decades ago as you will remember, and IMO changing that was a
mistake.Â* Some forward-thinkers are bringing them back (Brighton,
Bristol, Oxford in the past, and now Dublin, where the bad idea also
spread), but I didn't expect *this* to be an argument in their favour.

Birmingham tried them very briefly in the 70's but withdrew them almost
immediately as the local "yoof" found that boarding via the middle door
meant they bypassed the driver and the ticket machine.


--
Ria in Aberdeen

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On 19/04/2020 22:27, David Cantrell wrote:
On Sun, Apr 19, 2020 at 04:47:40PM +0100, Richard wrote:

London's move to board by the middle door comes about a month after it
was done in several other European bus networks, I wonder how much
illness and worse could have been avoided if TfL had made this decision
earlier ...

Very little, I would think, given that drivers are separated from
passengers by a plastic screen rather more substantial than the plastic
screens that are popping up in places like pharmacies. This change is
just an attempt to stop the public transport unions behaving like
bell-ends when management have more important things to worry about.

Those plastic screens are less than useless if a yob decides to have a
go at you. Glass has more strength to it, although back in the day I was
once driving a Metro double decker which had a glass screen. A friendly
local decided he didn't want to pay his fare and when I challenged him
he punched the screen with such force that his hand went straight
through it. This was 1/4" thick glass, remember.

He then got off and walked away like nothing had happened. Never did
find out if he hurt himself..!!


--
Ria in Aberdeen

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MissRiaElaine wrote:
On 19/04/2020 22:27, David Cantrell wrote:
On Sun, Apr 19, 2020 at 04:47:40PM +0100, Richard wrote:

London's move to board by the middle door comes about a month after it
was done in several other European bus networks, I wonder how much
illness and worse could have been avoided if TfL had made this decision
earlier ...

Very little, I would think, given that drivers are separated from
passengers by a plastic screen rather more substantial than the plastic
screens that are popping up in places like pharmacies. This change is
just an attempt to stop the public transport unions behaving like
bell-ends when management have more important things to worry about.

Those plastic screens are less than useless if a yob decides to have a
go at you. Glass has more strength to it, although back in the day I was
once driving a Metro double decker which had a glass screen. A friendly
local decided he didn't want to pay his fare and when I challenged him
he punched the screen with such force that his hand went straight
through it. This was 1/4" thick glass, remember.

He then got off and walked away like nothing had happened. Never did
find out if he hurt himself..!!



The screens are for virus, not yob, protection.

On 19/04/2020 23:54, Recliner wrote:

The screens are for virus, not yob, protection.

Not with holes in so you can hear people talk. Well maybe they are now,
but they weren't back in the 90's when I started on the job.


--
Ria in Aberdeen

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MissRiaElaine wrote:
On 19/04/2020 23:54, Recliner wrote:

The screens are for virus, not yob, protection.

Not with holes in so you can hear people talk. Well maybe they are now,
but they weren't back in the 90's when I started on the job.

The holes have been covered now.

On Sun, 19 Apr 2020 16:47:40 +0100
Richard wrote:
On 17/04/2020 15:25, MissRiaElaine wrote:
On 17/04/2020 13:44, Recliner wrote:

"Free travel and middle door-only boarding will be temporarily introduced
from Monday to protect drivers and keep passengers safe from the
coronavirus, the operator said in a statement."

This is all very well, but London is one of the few places in the UK
where buses have middle doors, they certainly don't up here. I'm not
sure how many places other than London do, ISTR York does, but it's been
a while since I was last there.

London was sensible in keeping them - after a wobble in the 90s. Much
of the country, especially in the larger urban areas, had dual-door
buses decades ago as you will remember, and IMO changing that was a
mistake. Some forward-thinkers are bringing them back (Brighton,
Bristol, Oxford in the past, and now Dublin, where the bad idea also
spread), but I didn't expect *this* to be an argument in their favour.

London's move to board by the middle door comes about a month after it
was done in several other European bus networks, I wonder how much
illness and worse could have been avoided if TfL had made this decision

Sod all I should think. The drives who got it almost certainly got it elsewhere,
not through a thick plastic screen via people who walk past in seconds.

On Sun, 19 Apr 2020 23:46:37 +0100
MissRiaElaine wrote:
On 19/04/2020 22:27, David Cantrell wrote:
On Sun, Apr 19, 2020 at 04:47:40PM +0100, Richard wrote:

London's move to board by the middle door comes about a month after it
was done in several other European bus networks, I wonder how much
illness and worse could have been avoided if TfL had made this decision
earlier ...

Very little, I would think, given that drivers are separated from
passengers by a plastic screen rather more substantial than the plastic
screens that are popping up in places like pharmacies. This change is
just an attempt to stop the public transport unions behaving like
bell-ends when management have more important things to worry about.

Those plastic screens are less than useless if a yob decides to have a
go at you. Glass has more strength to it, although back in the day I was
once driving a Metro double decker which had a glass screen. A friendly
local decided he didn't want to pay his fare and when I challenged him
he punched the screen with such force that his hand went straight
through it. This was 1/4" thick glass, remember.

He then got off and walked away like nothing had happened. Never did
find out if he hurt himself..!!

When he sobered up be probably realised he'd broken half his knuckles.

On 20/04/2020 09:33, wrote:
On Sun, 19 Apr 2020 23:46:37 +0100
MissRiaElaine wrote:

Those plastic screens are less than useless if a yob decides to have a
go at you. Glass has more strength to it, although back in the day I was
once driving a Metro double decker which had a glass screen. A friendly
local decided he didn't want to pay his fare and when I challenged him
he punched the screen with such force that his hand went straight
through it. This was 1/4" thick glass, remember.

He then got off and walked away like nothing had happened. Never did
find out if he hurt himself..!!

When he sobered up be probably realised he'd broken half his knuckles.

We can but hope..!


--
Ria in Aberdeen

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On Sun, Apr 19, 2020 at 11:46:37PM +0100, MissRiaElaine wrote:
On 19/04/2020 22:27, David Cantrell wrote:
On Sun, Apr 19, 2020 at 04:47:40PM +0100, Richard wrote:
London's move to board by the middle door comes about a month after it
was done in several other European bus networks, I wonder how much
illness and worse could have been avoided if TfL had made this decision
earlier ...
Very little, I would think, given that drivers are separated from
passengers by a plastic screen rather more substantial than the plastic
screens that are popping up in places like pharmacies. This change is
just an attempt to stop the public transport unions behaving like
bell-ends when management have more important things to worry about.
Those plastic screens are less than useless if a yob decides to have a
go at you.

But this isn't about yobs deciding to have a go at you, it's about
accidentally catching a disease from passengers who aren't deliberately
trying to pass it on.

--
David Cantrell | top google result for "topless karaoke murders"

Arbeit macht Alkoholiker

On Sun, Apr 19, 2020 at 10:20:53PM -0000, Recliner wrote:
David Cantrell wrote:
On Sun, Apr 19, 2020 at 04:07:36PM -0000, Recliner wrote:
I don't think there are many would-be paying punters at the moment, so it
hardly matters if their fares are collected or not.
20% of normal numbers, as of a week and a bit ago.
12% on provincial buses, 5% on rail, according to
https://www.cityam.com/coronavirus-r...-restrictions/
And many of those remaining bus passengers will be travelling free anyway.

I'd expect the proportion that are traveling for free to be much
reduced, as that's mostly elderlies and others who are diseased and
hence even more monk-like than the rest of us.

--
David Cantrell | A machine for turning tea into grumpiness

It's my experience that neither users nor customers can articulate
what it is they want, nor can they evaluate it when they see it
-- Alan Cooper