In article , David
Boothroyd writes
The northbound 436 regularly rounds a rather narrow bend at Vauxhall
which is about 110?.

When the 207 went bendy, it had to be terminated at the Hayes bypass
because it couldn't get into Uxbridge.
--
Thoss

"thoss" wrote in message
...
In article , David
Boothroyd writes
The northbound 436 regularly rounds a rather narrow bend at Vauxhall
which is about 110?.

When the 207 went bendy, it had to be terminated at the Hayes bypass
because it couldn't get into Uxbridge.
--
Thoss

That and the fact that passenger numbers wouldn't justify their use on the
western section of the route

In message , Paul Corfield
writes
On Sat, 22 Oct 2005 14:22:28 +0100, Dave Arquati wrote:

Is it bendy enough to make the left turn from New Oxford Street into
Charing Cross Road, and the turns between Charing Cross Road and
Shaftesbury Avenue? Oh, and the left turn into Piccadilly too?

I have seen a route 25 bendy turn round under Centre point so it managed
the first of your turns.
And I would have thought that the Charing + Road / Shaftesbury Avenue
one would have been the easier of the two.

--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

On Sun, 23 Oct 2005 20:28:11 +0100, Ian Jelf
wrote:

In message , Paul Corfield
writes
On Sat, 22 Oct 2005 14:22:28 +0100, Dave Arquati wrote:

Is it bendy enough to make the left turn from New Oxford Street into
Charing Cross Road, and the turns between Charing Cross Road and
Shaftesbury Avenue? Oh, and the left turn into Piccadilly too?

I have seen a route 25 bendy turn round under Centre point so it managed
the first of your turns.
And I would have thought that the Charing + Road / Shaftesbury Avenue
one would have been the easier of the two.

It's tighter than it looks but the real issue is that both roads heading
in either direction can be full of traffic thus stopping a bus making
the manoeuvre properly, leaving them blocking the junction. It's bad
enough with RMs, worse with LFDDs and I dread to think what will happen
next week with bendies.

The other issue at this junction is that it is a struggle for southbound
24, 29 and 176s to squeeze past anything turning right into Shaftesbury
Av at Cambridge Circus. With a 18m bendy bus slightly out of place
nothing will move for ages. You can wait a fair few minutes at Leicester
Square waiting for a s/b bus to get past Cambridge Circus given the
ludicrously short phasing for buses.

This will get much worse, in my view, with bendies on the 38 and as for
when the 29 goes over - I think I shall abandon using the 24 as I can
see 29s taking over 15 minutes to get through the multiple sets of
lights near Trafalgar Square. It will certainly be possible for a bendy
bus to straddle at least one junction and two sets of lights just before
St Martins in the Fields.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

In article ,
(Paul Corfield) wrote:

On Sun, 23 Oct 2005 20:28:11 +0100, Ian Jelf

wrote:

In message , Paul
Corfield
On Sat, 22 Oct 2005 14:22:28 +0100, Dave Arquati
wrote:

Is it bendy enough to make the left turn from New Oxford Street
into Charing Cross Road, and the turns between Charing Cross Road and
Shaftesbury Avenue? Oh, and the left turn into Piccadilly too?

I have seen a route 25 bendy turn round under Centre point so it
managed the first of your turns.
And I would have thought that the Charing + Road / Shaftesbury
Avenue one would have been the easier of the two.

It's tighter than it looks but the real issue is that both roads
heading in either direction can be full of traffic thus stopping a bus
making the manoeuvre properly, leaving them blocking the junction.
It's bad enough with RMs, worse with LFDDs and I dread to think what
will happen next week with bendies.

The other issue at this junction is that it is a struggle for
southbound 24, 29 and 176s to squeeze past anything turning right into
Shaftesbury Av at Cambridge Circus. With a 18m bendy bus slightly out
of place nothing will move for ages. You can wait a fair few minutes at
Leicester Square waiting for a s/b bus to get past Cambridge Circus
given the ludicrously short phasing for buses.

This will get much worse, in my view, with bendies on the 38 and as
for when the 29 goes over - I think I shall abandon using the 24 as I
can see 29s taking over 15 minutes to get through the multiple sets of
lights near Trafalgar Square. It will certainly be possible for a
bendy bus to straddle at least one junction and two sets of lights just
before St Martins in the Fields.

Oh triffic! I cycle through those junctions and getting buses not to
obstruct the cycle lanes is hard enough now.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

"Dave Arquati" wrote in message
...
Is it bendy enough to make the left turn from New Oxford Street into
Charing Cross Road, and the turns between Charing Cross Road and
Shaftesbury Avenue? Oh, and the left turn into Piccadilly too?

I ask as the 38 converts to bendy operation soon, and I'll be interested
to see how easily (or not) they can make those movements...

Could be completely unrelated, but making an assumption from the appearance
of the dented panels on the rear section of BV05 VFH that I saw a couple of
days ago by Centrepoint, I'd say possibly not that well...

"Dave Arquati" wrote in message
...
Is it bendy enough to make the left turn from New Oxford Street into
Charing Cross Road, and the turns between Charing Cross Road and
Shaftesbury Avenue? Oh, and the left turn into Piccadilly too?

I ask as the 38 converts to bendy operation soon, and I'll be interested
to see how easily (or not) they can make those movements...


--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

A bit off topic but would a standard length double decker bus with 3 sets of
doors and 2 staircases be a good idea? Better than a bendibus? I was
following one in my coach and noticed they are sooooo slow around 90 degree
corners. Coventional vehicles are much faster and dont take the whole road.

On Tue, 1 Nov 2005 11:28:01 -0000, "David B"
wrote:


"Dave Arquati" wrote in message
...
Is it bendy enough to make the left turn from New Oxford Street into
Charing Cross Road, and the turns between Charing Cross Road and
Shaftesbury Avenue? Oh, and the left turn into Piccadilly too?

I ask as the 38 converts to bendy operation soon, and I'll be interested
to see how easily (or not) they can make those movements...

A bit off topic but would a standard length double decker bus with 3 sets of
doors and 2 staircases be a good idea? Better than a bendibus? I was
following one in my coach and noticed they are sooooo slow around 90 degree
corners. Coventional vehicles are much faster and dont take the whole road.

Ah you seem to be referring to a Berlin design of double decker. I have
not used the brand new Neomans yet but I did not notice that the Berlin
deckers were that much faster with two staircases and three doors. It is
interesting to note that Berlin has restricted the old open boarding
concept although many people still board via the front and centre doors.

The new Neoman DD buses may be worse than a bendy bus simply because
their overall length is longer that the front section of a bendy. If you
think a 38 struggles on some turns then I can't see a 12 or 13.73m
double deck doing much better.

http://www.man-mn.de/en/Coaches/News...d=46804&print=

The speed of movement of bendy buses is highly dependent on the skill of
the driver. When a route is newly converted you will see a lot of
hesitation as familiarity with the vehicles is low. However I have been
in some well driven bendy buses on the 73 and they can be fairly hustled
along and around the route with no discomfort and full safety. There are
some very tight turns on the 73 and to experience an 18m bus piloted
skillfully is impressive.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

In message , Paul Corfield
writes
However I have been in some well driven bendy buses on the 73 and they
can be fairly hustled along and around the route with no discomfort and
full safety. There are some very tight turns on the 73 and to
experience an 18m bus piloted skillfully is impressive.
And if the drivers are rewarded with a good pay grade I'm sure they'll
do even better.
--
Clive

"Paul Corfield" wrote in message
The speed of movement of bendy buses is highly dependent on the skill of
the driver. When a route is newly converted you will see a lot of
hesitation as familiarity with the vehicles is low. However I have been
in some well driven bendy buses on the 73 and they can be fairly hustled
along and around the route with no discomfort and full safety. There are
some very tight turns on the 73 and to experience an 18m bus piloted
skillfully is impressive.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

I will have a look at the Neomans later. I haven't driven an artic, but I
understand that compared with a normal bus, they are limited round very
tight corners. The Volvo type of artic only allows limited engine power to
be developed while turning sharply to avoid any possible jack knifing. The
436 I followed from New Cross was running light to Lewisham. It was quite
quick in a straight line, but when going round corners, it really slowed up,
where a B7TL would be spun round!