Boltar wrote:

MIG wrote:

Jim wrote:
Double-deck trains and bendy buses: two solutions looking for a problem.

I actually quite like the bendy buses. They're very quick to board and
get off.
No crowding around the single narrow doorway with people half falling
down the stairs like you get on a double decker.

Bendys would be very useful on the 337. It often happens that the bus
(double deck) is "full" so the driver will not let anyone on, depsite
there being only a handful of people upstairs. This bus is used for
short journeys (it follows the route from Richmond to Clapham Junction
pretty much the same as the trains) and most people using it are old or
lazy so block the bottom of the stairs. Most of the traffic lights are
simple ped crossings rather than junctions so there should be no need
for the driver to enter the crossing until the exit is clear. Seems
like a perfect route.

The 430 on the other hand: same staircase crowding problem, quite a lot
of fat passengers and pensioners who dislike/can't climb the stairs,
but a high chance for disrupting pedestrians on Putney High Street.
Probably best to not be a bendy

Related point: Why do elderly people like to be first on the bus, but
stand downstairs in the way of the queue behind them?

In message .com,
Chris! writes

Bendys would be very useful on the 337. It often happens that the bus
(double deck) is "full" so the driver will not let anyone on, depsite
there being only a handful of people upstairs.

Although most of the route would be suitable for bendies, I suspect that
Richmond town centre poses insuperable problems, given the narrow
streets and tight corners. Ordinary buses can only just make the very
tight bend into Eton Street, and entering and leaving the bus station
also involves tight turns on narrow streets.

I think the real problem with the 337 (which runs just past the end of
my road) is uneven service intervals, often caused by jams on the South
Circular and resulting short journeys, plus lack of provision for the
considerable school traffic in the mornings and mid-afternoons. For much
of the day the loading is quite light if service intervals are
maintained.
--
Paul Terry

On Sat, 4 Mar 2006 Paul Terry wrote:

Bendys would be very useful on the 337. It often happens that the bus
(double deck) is "full" so the driver will not let anyone on, depsite
there being only a handful of people upstairs.

Although most of the route would be suitable for bendies, I suspect that
Richmond town centre poses insuperable problems, given the narrow
streets and tight corners. Ordinary buses can only just make the very
tight bend into Eton Street, and entering and leaving the bus station
also involves tight turns on narrow streets.

Maybe they could do what they did with the 207, split the route with a
lot of overlap. The bendys couldn't get into Uxbridge, so now the bendy
207s run from Shepherd's Bush to the Hayes Roundabout, while a new route
427 runs from Acton to Uxbridge.
--
Thoss

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