On Thu, Oct 04, 2007 at 08:21:37PM +0000, Neil Williams wrote:
On Thu, 4 Oct 2007 21:18 +0100 (BST), (Colin
Rosenstiel) wrote:
Another important factor debunking the claim that bendies have greater
capacity. Routemasters have 64 or 72 (RMLs) seats.
If you could call them that, as they were very narrow and to a very
tight pitch.

My impression is that seats on the Bendies are just as narrow, plus there's
the problem that some of them have pointless plastic bits on the edge by
the aisle and so you can't sit two normal people next to each other there,
thus wasting a seat. The two seats in question can, at best, fit one
normal person and a very small person with some degree of comfort.

I'm 6'3" and could sit in *any* seat on a Routemaster with my knees in
front of me. Can't do that in several seats on all the more modern
buses. So either you're wrong about the seat pitch, or the shape of the
RM seat backs is designed to better suit the available space. It's
probably the latter.

--
David Cantrell | Minister for Arbitrary Justice

For every vengeance, there is an equal and opposite revengeance.
-- Cartoon Law X

On Oct 4, 9:28?am, Boltar wrote:
On Oct 3, 7:46 pm, " wrote:

A better question would be - who the hell thought double deckers were
ever a good idea? Apart from taking up less roadspace

And you don't think in a heavily crowded city like London that this
one factor alone makes double-deckers eminently suitable and
sensible??

That would be a fair point except that bendy buses carry a damn site
more people than a double decker.

B2003

Not within the same amount of road space they don't! Which is just my
point!

Marc.

In message . com,
" writes
That would be a fair point except that bendy buses carry a damn site
more people than a double decker.

B2003

Not within the same amount of road space they don't! Which is just my
point!

Am I the only one who is suddenly thinking of a double decker bendy
bus?! [1] I've seen the lorries with the extra trailer extension... :O



[1] With a route-master style external back staircase for those that
like that sort of thing, obviously...

--
Paul G
Typing from Barking

On Fri, 5 Oct 2007, Paul G wrote:

In message . com,
" writes
That would be a fair point except that bendy buses carry a damn site
more people than a double decker.

Not within the same amount of road space they don't! Which is just my
point!

Am I the only one who is suddenly thinking of a double decker bendy
bus?! [1]

Nope! It's been done:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoplan_Jumbocruiser

Here it is on the mean streets of San Andreas:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAk_FgOJ6W4

There are apparently also superbendies, with two joints:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Articul...iculated_buses

tom

--
Finals make a man mean; let's fusc up and write!

On Oct 6, 11:25?am, Tom Anderson wrote:
On Fri, 5 Oct 2007, Paul G wrote:
In message . com,
" writes
That would be a fair point except that bendy buses carry a damn site
more people than a double decker.

Not within the same amount of road space they don't! Which is just my
point!

Am I the only one who is suddenly thinking of a double decker bendy
bus?! [1]

Nope! It's been done:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoplan_Jumbocruiser

Here it is on the mean streets of San Andreas:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAk_FgOJ6W4

There are apparently also superbendies, with two joints:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Articul...iculated_buses


For God's sake don't mention this to Peter Hendy-Bendy, C.B.E. at
T.F.L. - he'll be wanting one that's multi-jointed and actually as
long as Oxford Street: thus killing the fuel cost and staff costs at
one stroke!

Marc.

On Oct 6, 12:46 pm, " wrote:
On Oct 6, 11:25?am, Tom Anderson wrote:



On Fri, 5 Oct 2007, Paul G wrote:
In message . com,
" writes
That would be a fair point except that bendy buses carry a damn site
more people than a double decker.

Not within the same amount of road space they don't! Which is just my
point!

Am I the only one who is suddenly thinking of a double decker bendy
bus?! [1]

Nope! It's been done:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoplan_Jumbocruiser

Here it is on the mean streets of San Andreas:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAk_FgOJ6W4

There are apparently also superbendies, with two joints:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Articul...iculated_buses

For God's sake don't mention this to Peter Hendy-Bendy, C.B.E. at
T.F.L. - he'll be wanting one that's multi-jointed and actually as
long as Oxford Street: thus killing the fuel cost and staff costs at
one stroke!

And then you could just walk through the bus in less time than it
takes a current bus to drive down Oxford Street. Oh hang on ...

In message , Tom
Anderson writes
On Fri, 5 Oct 2007, Paul G wrote:

In message . com,
" writes
That would be a fair point except that bendy buses carry a damn site
more people than a double decker.
Not within the same amount of road space they don't! Which is just

point!

Am I the only one who is suddenly thinking of a double decker bendy
bus?! [1]

Nope! It's been done:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoplan_Jumbocruiser

Here it is on the mean streets of San Andreas:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAk_FgOJ6W4

There are apparently also superbendies, with two joints:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Articul...iculated_buses
Cheers for those links - that's fantastic!! (although the utube videos
really ought to have the pedestrians running for their lives in case the
thing spontaneously combusts - possibly double the bang of the usual
bendy bus fire!)

--
Paul G
Typing from Barking

I've always liked them. Even when they spontaneously combusted.
I don't completely agree with the assumption that they attract fare
evaders, mainly because unlike other buses, you only have to be seen
to pay if you have a Saver ticket or Oyster Prepay. So people like me
who use them regularly never swipe because my Oyster card is loaded
with an Annual travelcard.

I've also been on numerous buses, from 6am in the morning to past 11pm
where ticket inspectors have boarded - and in many cases every single
person on board has had a valid ticket. The occasions where someone
didn't have a ticket where no more than on double deckers. I think
that the free travel for kids is potentially more damaging (and again,
only because of a minority) and I really think it should be limited to
transport to and from school.

The Evening Standard has a well publicised dislike of Bendys, but
reading their articles on them, comparing them to Routemasters and
more traditional buses, (the article on Routemasters was describing a
completely different kind of journey experience!) made me realise that
the writers had never travelled on any of them. Still, lets not let
the facts get in the way of the story.

That said, I would like conductors to be brought back.


On 3 Oct, 19:34, (Neil Williams) wrote:
On Wed, 03 Oct 2007 02:37:16 -0700, MIG
wrote:

I think bendy buses are WRONG in every way, but I have actually met
one person who likes them.

I like them, in the right role. Their role is in a European-style bus
system, whose primary purpose is to move very large numbers of people
to and from the rapid transit rail station nearest to their
destination/origin.

That makes them suitable, IMO, for very busy Central London services
(e.g. Oxford St) and for the Red Arrows, but not really for anything
very long-distance.

As for deckers, there are good ones and bad ones. IMO, the latest
Wright design is good, but most others I've seen are unmitigated crap.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

On Fri, 05 Oct 2007 14:21:56 +0100, David Cantrell
wrote:

I'm 6'3" and could sit in *any* seat on a Routemaster with my knees in
front of me. Can't do that in several seats on all the more modern
buses. So either you're wrong about the seat pitch, or the shape of the
RM seat backs is designed to better suit the available space. It's
probably the latter.

There is a difference in seatback design - bus benches are thinner,
but the angle of the RM seats made it a problem. Whether one fits or
not isn't just to do with the pitch, but also to do with relative
upper/lower leg length and body/leg length. I'm only an inch taller
than you but I couldn't fit any of them.

The normal seats on the bendy are not generous, but there are quite a
number of side-facing and front-facing-back sets that I do fit in!
But then on a bendy I am more likely to choose to stand, as the
standing room is far more effective and unlike on other buses not in
the way of anything.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

In article ,
Colin Rosenstiel wrote:
As a cyclist I hate them. They are too long for the roads.

It's not just cyclists:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7035041.stm reports that
a man was dragged under one for a mile(!).

--
Shenanigans! Shenanigans! Best of 3!
-- Flash