Not only is there a whole new section of the TfL site devoted to it
(http://tinyurl.com/5euecn), they've even produced detailed
specifications for the 'serious' competition in proper house style.
These look very businesslike and impressive, with the occasional bit
of humour (Articulated design: No. Doors/Apertures: 1 open platform at
nearside). It's at http://tinyurl.com/6gnvpt if anyone's interested.

However, if the bendies do go at contract re-award it means the 436 and
453 will still be bendy under the current contracts in 2013, having only
just been awarded this year.

The Autocar proposal was about the same size as a normal double-decker
but with a longer wheelbase, which presumably means it's actually *less*
maneouvrable.  I'm not sure how serious it was meant to be, and in any
case it was hideous.

I still think it's a total waste of everyone's time though - far more
important things to do; where's ELLX Phase 2 then?

Quite why on earth the sensible use of bendy buses on routes like the
18, 25, 29, 149 and 207 should be stopped when they do a far better job
that the previous double decks in terms of getting people on and off
fast and then getting on their way I don't know. People have short
memories of how bad the former double deck routes were in terms of dwell
times, bunching and curtailments.  

All we'll get are high density single decks on the former Red Arrows
with virtually no seats in them - think back to the old Nationals.
People will have worse crush conditions and fewer seats - think of the
typical single deck in a city like Rome which has 3 door rigid Citaros
with very few seats in them.

I think we'll just get conventional double decks on everything else
because TfL's budget constraints will mean that it will not be able to
afford to fund much higher numbers of untried custom vehicles on former
bendy routes. I could tolerate something like 12m tri-axles or something
swish like the Berlin Lion City big double decks but I don't think they
would fit on some of the routes like the 38 and 73.  Worse still given
people's great reluctance to go upstairs on double decks these days I
can see any replacement design being less effective because it'll be
crammed full downstairs with seats available upstairs but people will
have to wait longer as drivers will simply be unable to get people
through the lower deck crush.

I can't see operators wishing to buy a completely untried design for a 5
or possible 7 year term.  This is just a repeat of the old LT bus design
experiments that have gone wrong time after time after time.

--
Paul C

Single-entry buses of any kind are not a good way of shifting crowds.

Neil

--
Paul C

U

This requirement also results in people having to squeeze through the
most narrow part of the bus and conflict with people coming down the
stairs.

The best part of the story was that one minicab driver was seen
blatantly picking up illegally and when challenged by the lady in the
taxi gave her a load of verbal abuse including several swear words!

Boris has promised to double the number of officers employed on specific
enforcement from 34 to 68. I doubt if that will be enough but it is a
start.

Neil