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The last bendy-buses.

March51
March51 Posts: 3,256
edited December 2011 in Not Sports Related
This much loved(!!) London icon will not be seen again on the streets of the capital after midnight tonight, so get those anoraks on chaps and get over to the White City area to see the last ones making their final appearance. Will anyone regret their passing?
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Comments

  • EastStand
    EastStand Posts: 4,111
    Me! I loved being able to get to New Cross for free.
  • BDL
    BDL Posts: 6,024
    Me, easier to get on and off.
  • numberten
    numberten Posts: 71
    I will miss them. They weren't perfect, but I thought overall they were good, and some of the routes will now be impossible to get on as normal double deckers.

    - So much quicker for people to get on and off.
    - Easier for wheelchairs & buggies
    - Number of cyclists killed by bendy buses: 0

    I'm honestly quite pissed off about it, I know it's only a bus, but still. They're only being scrapped because it was a Boris election pledge. I actually had to get on the routemaster number 15 the other day, and I can tell you now that all misty-eyed nostalgia went immediately out the window, it was a thoroughly unpleasant experience.

    RIP Bendy
  • Lincsaddick
    Lincsaddick Posts: 32,472

    exactly .. why have they been discontinued .. are they dangerous ?

     

  • IdleHans
    IdleHans Posts: 11,086
    bloody awful suspension - used to go from Padington to Victoria on the 436, and they'd shake the teeth right out of your head. Double deckers much better on the same roads.
  • kentaddick
    kentaddick Posts: 18,729

    exactly .. why have they been discontinued .. are they dangerous ?

     

    everyone was getting on at the back and not beeping in their oyster, so having a free journey basically. My mate used to live between manor house tube and wood green and get the 29 (i think it is?) and never paid in the entire year he lived there.
  • Lincsaddick
    Lincsaddick Posts: 32,472
    I see .. thanks
  • se9addick
    se9addick Posts: 32,167
    Does that mean no more free transport around the west end ?
  • leftbehind
    leftbehind Posts: 8,581
    never been on one
  • Stig
    Stig Posts: 29,278
    Routemasters are better than Bendies, but only if h&s goes out of the window.  They should stop the conductor from policing the back and let people ride on the tail - those were the days.

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  • Oggy Red
    Oggy Red Posts: 44,987
    This is the sort of thread that makes Charlton Life what it is ......erm.

    Well done, March51

    ;o)
  • delroofer
    delroofer Posts: 857

    Not sorry to see them go.

    Many's the time I have sat in my car at traffic lights or hatched junctions, only to see these buses ignore all regulations and cause gridlock by preventing the rest of traffic moving around them.

  • soapy_jones
    soapy_jones Posts: 21,443
    If any of you feel nostalgic for these buses... put Belvedere bus garage into the sat nav and take a gander, they are all parked up there waiting to be disposed of, or not
  • Oggy Red
    Oggy Red Posts: 44,987
    "Disposed of" ........ you mean they're up for sale?

    You could buy one, drive it round town for a lark.
    Imagine the faces of people waiting in the rain at a bus stop as you drove past, empty.



    PS: think I'm bored tonight ;o)


  • EastTerrace
    EastTerrace Posts: 3,968
    Too dangerous for other road users, too large for London's streets, too free (my mate called it the freebus) and too European (and I'm not a Tory). Looked alright though.



  • SE10Addick
    SE10Addick Posts: 2,972
    The wheels on the bus go round and round...

    ;)
  • cafc-4-life
    cafc-4-life Posts: 1,324
    They was dangerous for motorcyclists and cyclists on the road. That was one of the reasons. Can easily knock them over.
  • Salad
    Salad Posts: 10,189
    what's happening with them - wonder why they can't be used for their budgeted lifespan ?
  • MuttleyCAFC
    MuttleyCAFC Posts: 47,819
    Well it was his election pledge and people voted for him so had to be done. There were some routes they were unsuitable for but others where they were best suited. They also had bigger capacity which has now been lost. Shame really. Shows the folly of having a likable oaf in charge of London.
  • Stu_of_Kunming
    Stu_of_Kunming Posts: 17,151
    Well it was his election pledge and people voted for him so had to be done. There were some routes they were unsuitable for but others where they were best suited. They also had bigger capacity which has now been lost. Shame really. Shows the folly of having a likable oaf in charge of London.
    People moan when politicians don't stick to their election pledges, now you want to moan because Boris IS sticking to his.

    Can't win.
    what's happening with them - wonder why they can't be used for their budgeted lifespan ?
    I imagine a large amount of people seeing them as a 'free journey' might have something to do with it!!

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  • Rothko
    Rothko Posts: 18,859
    They was dangerous for motorcyclists and cyclists on the road. That was one of the reasons. Can easily knock them over.
    Not a single cyclist was injured by a bendy bus, compared to 9 cyclists killed this year in accidents with HGV's
  • swords_alive
    swords_alive Posts: 4,402
    edited December 2011
    Very backward move by the mayor, which i fancy was done for dubious sentimental reasons.

    Too many people get misty eyed for the Routemaster which was unsafe, with people falling off the back.One slip and you could land in trafiic, as happened to a drunk in Catford that i witnessed. An improved version of the bendy bus would have been the preferable option; maybe more narrow, or as Muttley says, only run on certain trunk routes.

    Some media reporting sales of the decommissioned busses to Malta, which will be interesting addition to an ageing fleet. Historians and enthusiasts alike may be interested in http://www.maltabybus.com/
  • Goonerhater
    Goonerhater Posts: 12,677
    Great work Boris. 90% on the bendies  never paid. Nitemare in traffic.


    wow not a single cyclist injured by a bendy bus --- not a one.
  • RugbyAddick
    RugbyAddick Posts: 2,088
    Bendy buses have cut me up on so many occasions. I liked riding them but never liked riding around them!! IF you catch my drift.
  • Salad
    Salad Posts: 10,189
    it's fair enough to decide they are not the future what I am not sure about is the cost of decomissioning them ahead of schedule
  • March51
    March51 Posts: 3,256
    edited December 2011
    Yes, presumably they're leased and they'll have to be paid for until the leases expire or they can be off-loaded to another company. Impossible to export them except to right hand drive countries such as Malta and it would cost a few bob to convert them to LHD which is probably impossible to do anyway.
  • tangoflash
    tangoflash Posts: 10,794
    As a former bus driver I had a drive in one once. No different to a regular bus really. The problem is not the buses but the congestion in London making them inpratical for the capital...........................
  • Rizzo
    Rizzo Posts: 6,457
    They were a ridiculous idea from the start. Congestion a major problem? Let's make buses that take up twice as much roadspace and can't handle busy junctions. Great thinking!!
  • Saga Lout
    Saga Lout Posts: 6,845
    Never thought they were right for London, so I'm glad to see the back of them. However, the money wasted by Boris having a new bus designed was simply ridiculous.

    Can't believe the stat that no cyclists was injured or killed by them - they looked like an accident waiting to happen to me.
  • Lincsaddick
    Lincsaddick Posts: 32,472
    we could buy one and park it across the goal for the rest of the season .. perhaps no-one'll notice

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