London Q? Bendy Buses Status?
 

As an aficionado of London transports i though the 'bendy-bus' (where two buses are connected and bend in the middle when turning, etc.) was already on its way to the scrap heap of history - but now in the new Time Out London Poll that arrove yesterday i'm confused:

Londoners' POLL

Boris wants to ban bendy buses because Londoners hate them.
Are bendies

A Brilliant?
B Bearable?
C Beyond redemption?

Well i have read for a few years how Londonders hate them - i think because of the way they turn or bend when turning and are a hazard.

But i thought the decision had already been made to scrap them before Boris even became mayor

Can it be possible the bendies will survive - say if they are simply non-replaceable right now?

Update? thanks

Note - i see them all over Europe and seems cause no problems elsewhere - so why is Londoners so against them?

No idea why Londoners hate them so. As you say they are all over Europe. They used to have them in Oxford in the late 70's, early 80's. The park and rude buses there were always bendy buses - my kids used to love them!

They are not popular with cyclists, particularly in narrow streets where the swivelling bendy end either swings round rather fiercely, or the bus stops as it inches its way round a corner and blocks traffic in both directions.

Boris is a cyclist. He is a politician. He is known for being a cyclist and for grabbing headlines, not always intentionally. So to announce he would get rid of bendy buses and reinvent the Routemaster was an attention-grabbing ploy for the cycling and nostalgia voters.

In reality, of course, there isn't the money to waste on swapping the bendy buses for other types so soon after buying them.

The "new Routemaster" is a pretty meaningless concept, even if it ever happens, because there will never be another open platform bus (which is what most people liked about the Routemaster). The other great claim to fame of the original Routemaster was not only that it was designed for London, it was designed in-house for a single in-house servicing and maintenance process. Not much in the way of free competition and other such Tory shibboleths in there.

P.S. Pal, surely you're not saying you assume a politician's pre-election promise is going to be delivered on within the year (or ever?)

Utrecht has double bendy buses (ie they have to articulated sections), and a high population of cyclists. Never been a problem that I know of.
I remember Boris raving on about hundreds of cyclists being killed by bendy buses - but the figures proved otherwise, something he conveniently chose to ignore.