On Tue, 20 May 2008 19:16:21 -0500, (Mark Brader) wrote:

The "low-floor" buses we're now getting in Toronto are only low-floor
for about 2/3 of the bus, including both doors.

snipped


Are most of the present London buses entirely low-floor, or split in
a similar way, or of some other pattern?

All recent single-deckers, in my experience, have a step part way
along the floor, so, like these Toronto buses, only the front part is
really low-floor. On two-door non-bendies the step is just behind the
exit, which is reasonably intuitive as this is a natural division
within the interior of the bus. But most single-deckers in London
had been like this for many years before the low-floor buses came in
there was a step at each door and a further step towards the back..
Before that, you could go back to the old RF single-deckers, still in
service in the 1970s, which had a high floor along their whole length,
with the engine underneath it.

Some double-deckers have a shallow step just behind the doors. Others
have a flat gangway along the centre of the bus, with raised sections
of floor on either side towards the back. The seats on these raised
sections are higher than those further forward, so they can fit over
the rear wheels.

Martin

On Tue, 20 May 2008, Mark Brader wrote:

Mark Brader:
What I haven't heard about is the status of the
*other* double-deckers, the ones operated only by a driver.

Martin Rich:
As others have already said, one-person double-deckers remain the
commonest type in London.

Thanks to Martin and others who have explained this.

One effect of the insistence on low-floor buses, whcih have really
only been the norm for double-deckers for the last ten years or so...

The "low-floor" buses we're now getting in Toronto are only low-floor
for about 2/3 of the bus, including both doors. To ride in the back
of the bus you have to climb two steps.

Same here. At least, on the 210 i rode yesterday. It's low-floor
throughout, except for the rearmost bay, where there are two rows of seats
facing each other which are up two steps (er, and the top deck). The seats
in front of the high-floor section are also a step up to the side from the
main low floor. Those seats and the rearward-facing seats sit on top of
the wheel arch. I like sitting right at the back, because i can prop my
feet up on the wheel arch (not the seat, of course!).

tom

--
Get a bicycle. You will not regret it. If you live. -- Mark Twain