A Design Crime – A Badly-Designed Handrail
I noticed this hand rail on a new Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 double-deck bus.
A Badly-Designed Handrail
The supports for the handrail mean that you can’t slide your hand up the rail, as you climb the stairs. The supports too are square, with unnecessary sharp corners.
When you have a hand with limits to what it can do, you want the rail to be as smooth as possible. This is only one example of several that I’ve encountered on London’s transport system. Some of the worst examples are on steps into the Underground.
A Pair of Wongas
Wonga is now targetting the business market.
A Pair of Wongas
Did they give the drivers a bonus to be in convoy?
The Development of the New Bus for London
I went to a lecture last night at the Institute of Mechanical Engineers about the New Bus for London. A very good lecture, given by David Barnett, the Development Engineering Manager of The Wright Group, who build the bus.
His talk should be recorded and shown to all students, who might think they would benefit from going to University to do engineering, as it showed how innovative thinking can transform a product as everyday as a bus.
I think the lecture, also confirmed my view, that the buses we ride in ten years from now, will be even better. The current New Bus for London is just the start of the development of buses that will transform the way we get around.
I think it is worth emphasising that buses, trams and trains are only part of a transport system. They need to be backed up by all kinds of information technology from simple maps to web pages and mobile phone apps, so that passengers find their way around with ease.
New Bus for London Number 4 Checks In!
And now there are four!
I saw LT4 on the way to take the Staffy picture this morning.
Bus Adverts Must Work!
Or at least they must have done for Wonga after their series of adverts a couple of months ago. As they are now using a whole new set of adverts for their Wonga for Business product.
A Wonga for Business Advert
The adverts are everywhere on a bus route near you.
On the other hand, they have been criticised by the OFT according to this report.
Gibbon Time Revisited
I have been looking at other buses to see which is the best to swing along on the upper deck. I found the New Bus for London good and reported it here.
So I looked at the handholds on the buses that are most common in London.
This is the standard Wrightbus Gemini 2, which is probably the most numerous type of London bus.
Top Deck of Wright Gemini 2
The handholds are rather vertical and the spacing wasn’t natural for a good swing. Note that there are more on one side.
This is the same picture of a Scania OmniCity.
Top Deck of Scania OmniCity
Here they are more offset and better spaced.
The other common bus, that I use is the Alexander Dennis Enviro 400.
Top Deck of Alexander Dennis Enviro 400
Not bad and better spaced, but not up to the New Bus for London.
Top Deck of New Bus for London
Note too how on the New Bus for London, the colours are more subdued. The surface is also textured to give a better grip. I haven’t taken a tape measure to it, but I have a feeling that the aisle is wider on a New Bus for London. It’s certainly easier to walk along the bus to the stairs to get out, but this is probably down to the gibbon effect.
The stairs on all buses are pretty easy to negotiate even with my gammy left hand. All staircases seem to have rails on both sides, with a double rail on the left hand side going down.
Top Cat Returns
It would appear that the latest film is a remake of the kids’ cartoon, Top Cat. It’s so old, I used to watch it as a child. Although, they had to call it Boss Cat to avoid conflict with a tinned cat food of the same name.
Top Cat Returns
Judging by the number of buses, they’re advertising it on, it isn’t going to do very well.
The More I Travel on the New Bus for London, the More I Learn
The New Bus for London reveals another facet of its design every time I travel on one. Today for instance, I noticed that the upper-deck handholds were spaced for ease of walking and of course safety.
I also had a chat with a guy travelling alone in a wheel-chair.
He liked the bus, as he had more space and it was easier to turn his chair and get it in position for travel and for alighting.
Both these small points for me, but important for others, show how the designers of the bus, seem to have taken a fresh look at everything. Or at least chosen the best practice from past designs.
London’s First New Conductress
As my cooker has now gone, all I have to cook food is a microwave. So tonight, I took a 38 bus up to Upper Street to go to Carluccio’s.
I got a New Bus for London from the Balls Pond Road on my outward journey and by chance the same bus on the return. It was the first time, that the conductor on the bus, hadn’t been a man.
London’s First New Conductress
Note that she has taken up the surf position, that all London conductors, male or female, used to use on Routemasters and their predecessors, like the RTs, on which I used to go to school.
It’s Gibbon Time
I took a New Bus for London up to Piccadilly Circus this afternoon and it was surprisingly busy for a Sunday afternoon.
A Busy New Bus for London
When I got off, I used the rear staircase and I found that the vertical hand holds were alternated for my left and right hands. So I swung down the bus like a gibbon. I’m not sure, whether all buses are like that on the top deck. But if they are not, they should be! The slightly rough texture of the hand holds also gives a good grip for my gammy left hand.
Incidentally, note in the picture, how the handholds slant outwards. Does this effectively make the gangway wider? Or just appear so? I must take my tape measure with me to check!
After all, when you are rehabilitating from a stroke, like I am, isn’t it a bit cheaper to get free exercise in everything you do?
The Anonymous Widower 