More bendy bus trouble...

Livingstone and Hendy love them too much, I dont think they will be going.

Its worth noting bendies are involved in twice as many accidents as non-bendies.

That's two bendies (albeit temporarily for the 2nd one) out of action from the 25 within a month. I wonder how the service on the 25 will be affected, given the relatively limited number of bendies available. Dragging a body for a mile? Pretty sick.

(About time for tri-axles instead.)

You couldn't expect the driver not to be held for questioning. When somebody jumps under a train the driver is automatically under consideration for manslaughter charges until the inquest can show otherwise. What witnesses say (i.e. whether the driver and passenger had had words etc) will affect whether being held for questioning turns into arrest as will the driver's behaviour subsequent to the event.

In reply to Alex, I like these buses. There is so much more room on them than on cramped double deckers which have only very limited floor-space. Loads of room for me, loads of room for my stuff, and easy to get on and off.

It's a terrible thing that happened in the latest incident.

One of the problems is the sheer length of the bus. It is very difficult to communicate with the driver in a packed bus if you are at the back.

Do you think passenger emergency alarm handles would be useful (both on the outside and inside of the bus)? They would be very susceptible to misuse and probably wouldn't have made any difference in this incident, but they would at least allow a fast way to signal to the driver to stop immediately. If I saw a cyclist get clipped by the bus and I was at the back, I don't think the driver would hear me shouting to stop if he missed it.

True, but bendy busses haven't existed for 30 years, and there haven't been incidents of people getting dragged under a bus in London for a mile before the driver realized, either... On normal double decker's they wouldn't be useful, I meant on bendy buses in particular... Like an emergency stop signal somebody could press outside the bus, to ring a bell the driver could hear.

I say this based on my friend's experience at King's Cross, where he described somebody became trapped under a bendy bus, and the driver didn't realize the person was caught - he had started to pull off despite people waving their arms and shouting - he just didn't see them until it was too late.

Unless the bus has loads of kids on it.................drivers then (actively) ignore the bell.

a.k.a. A con-duc-tor! ;D

Ah yes, the phantom bell ringers!

It seems to me that this problem (on bendies or otherwise) has been fuelled by allowing kids free travel.

As one who can vote for or against Ken NOW, rather than when those that enjoy the freebies now can vote (several years) I do think he's been shortsighted in doing this.

As a voter and fare-paying passanger I get fed up with bus drivers having to non-stop people waiting in the mornings because the bus is full of non-fare paying, bell abusing kids. How do others feel?

Didn't mean to hijack the thread, but to pull it almost back on topic, it seems that the public at large are now routinely using the rear doors on non-bendies to board the bus and in the rare event that a driver sees this or can be arsed to do anything, confusion is claimed.

If London were to standardise, would we see the end of the bendy or the demise of the decker?

A con-duc-tor!

Wow, I remember them! Weren't they nice people, generally, that helped the driver? They even until a few decades ago used to have to have PSV badges because they were involved in reversing manoeuvres, etc. I seem to recall that they issued tickets, changed blinds, threw malcontents and non-payers off buses and made sure that OAPs got on first.

I also dimly remember that they used to help tourists and those who needed to know when the stop they required was coming up. Con-duc-tors...well, that's nostalgia! You couldn't have them back though...in those days all passengers paid money for their fares or had tickets/passes which they paid for or were entitled to. Including Under-16s. Fancy getting on a bus and actually paying or having a genuine, pass, season or pre-paid card that had some credit on it! Ha!






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It seems Bendies first (is that a pun?) arrived in 1979, and there was a trial of Leyland/DAB buses in Southampton sometime after 1983.

The bendybusses I got on in China had 2 or 3 conductors! The fare was...7 pence!

What a about "Bus Stopping" signs which remain lit for 2 seconds and go out? ;D I've seen it happen twice on the 205 this week...the first time resulted in a very angry row between driver and passenger.

Repetitive bell ringing seems quite popular on the bendybus 25. People seem to just press it instead of checking if the light is on or not.

You've never seen Sheffield traffic!

How much consultation was there before they were introduced? If they'd spoken to people in Southampton and Sheffield they could have aided TfL by telling them what *not* to do - they've made the mistakes before. Such as a driver who tried to take a shortcut, had to turn round a tight bend, which locked the bus up, blocking a junction, the fitter trying to get over from Leadmills got stuck in the resulting traffic...

Generally with bells people in Donny press it once each. Or some just say "Next stop please <insert driver's name>". Some buses have had the cables damaged by vandals, so the bells don't work upstairs. Proves great fun.

ISTR in the days of crewed buses there was a bell code to signal an emergency to the driver... but most drivers these days will have never driven a crewed bus! so wouldn't know it if it was attempted

A light on the dash usually illuminates after a bell is pushed. They can also usually see the stopping sign at the back of the bus through their mirror.

With 'iBus' it sometimes announces that the bus is stopping very irritating!