Flat Floors and Hybrid Buses
Over the last couple of days, I’ve clumsily tripped on the step that exists in the hybrid buses of the 73 and 76 routes. Unlike, their normal drive counterparts, there is an annoying step, as you proceed to the rear.
The New Bus for London, despite being built by the same manufacturer, has no such step.
All Beautiful Things Need Careful TLC to Grow
I took this picture of LT4 yesterday in the Essex Road.
All Beautiful Things Need Careful TLC to Grow
To be fair to Wright Bus, the bus had only been in operation since Monday and there have been no other reports of New Buses for London, breaking down, except for the incident, where it ran out of fuel.
At least if a 38 bus breaks down, there’s always another one a couple of minutes behind. I suspect that this is one of the reasons, the bus is being tried out on this route. It’s also a pretty typical Central London route and it is served by the garage at Hackney, where the buses turn round at Hackney Central.
This all shows me how professionally, the development phase is being handled, by both the manufacturer and Transport for London.
Is This Guy Mad?
I took this picture of a guy skate-boarding along the St. Paul’s Road in front of a 30 bus, from the top deck.
Is This Guy Mad?
You can’t see it in the picture, but he had what looked to be an expensive camera over one shoulder too!
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.
