On 20 Sep, 20:17, Mizter T wrote:
On 16 Sep, 21:51, wrote:

Although I haven't ridden on one, I understand that the new SO class
buses introduced on route 148 (Shepherds Bush to Camberwell Green) by
Transdev have leather seats. Is this for evaluation or policy for all
new buses operated by Transdev in London?


I have ridden on one of these 148s that had leather seats today,
though I don't have any amazing revelation to recount to you about the
experience!

The seat was comfortable, but I'm not sure they were any more or less
so than a moquette fitted seat of the same design (though the design
of those seats is far better than some others, but I digress).

I suspect that the real test is what they're like in hot weather - as
leather can get a bit sticky, whilst I guess moquette is a somewhat
more breathable material. Of course we didn't have a roaring heat-wave
this summer just gone, but it looks like they're going to be a regular
meteorological fixture of the future so perhaps this'll be a more
critical issue when it comes to assessing the worthiness of leather
seats.

Regarding wear and tear - these were new seats on a new bus, so
nothing adverse was to be seen in this department.

I think I'd probably be right in suggesting that it's unlikely this is
real leather, but to be honest I didn't actually think about that
whilst on-board so I couldn't say for sure. Apart from any other
considerations, such as cost, real leather would likely attract
adverse comment from some vegans.


Surely the whole point of the introduction of leather seats is that it
is real leather. If not, we are back to the seventies and the
interior of (NBC pre-1979) Leyland Nationals and the like.

I also had a ride on one of these this week - the interior is bright
and the seat design is OK. The covering isn't particularly soft or
luxurious, certainly nothing special. If someone wants to develop
comfortable travel, I'd rather have a deeper cushion than a different
seat covering.

As you say, one of the problems is the stickyness of vinyl/leather
seats in hot-weather (this is where my dislike of this comes from) -
in a car, I'm guessing most cars with leather seats would also have
air conditioning these days. Although these SO class vehicles have
extra air inlets upstairs over the front two windows, we are yet to
see how they will be in hot weather. The other problem, of course, is
that there is less friction so passengers could slip off seats in the
event of a sharp movement.

Still don't see the point.

Jonathan