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.
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.
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.
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?
Minding the Gap on the Victoria Line
The Victoria line is unusual in London’s Underground lines in that many of the stations are hump-backed. This means that the slope up into the station, slows the train and the descent out of the station, speeds it up. I took some pictures as I rode the line this morning.
Note the variable step-up into the trains,which is also partly explained by the humped-backing of the platform, which was done a couple of years ago,to ease entry for wheelchair users and buggy pushers. All stations except Pimlico have these humps and they are at the middle of the station.
As to the hump-backed designs of the stations, this saves energy. In fact 5%, according to Wikipedia, which also says it makes the trains 9% faster. So why isn’t this simple idea used on other lines?
The Waitrose Self-Service Tills
I have used self-service tills in Marks & Spencer, B & Q and I think Sainsburys for some time and it has only been in the last month or so, that they’ve installed them in my closest branch of Waitrose at Upper Street.
At this point, I should say I’ve had a stroke and although unrelated, my left hand is not the best, as my arm was broken fifty years ago, by the school bully.
Consequently, I find Waitrose’s system of bags on the self-service tills to be totally unacceptable, as it is impossible to put goods into the bags with one hand. The Marks system is very much superior and I have no problem. The bags Waitrose use seem to be much more difficult to separate than those of other shops. But it has always been thus!
Thinking about it, the Marks system is much more right-handed than the Waitrose one, although both feed goods from left to right.
I now find, I’m shopping much more in Marks on a daily basis, because I prefer to use a self-service machine, so that I’m on my way quickly. As sometimes at Upper Street, the self-service tills are completely free with long queues at the manned check-outs, others might think as I do about the new tills.
I could shop at another branch and frequently do, if I travel across London, but Upper Street, is the only branch that does Home Delivery for me and it is the only branch on a single bus ride from my house.
From Ballymena With Love
According to this article in the Ballymena Times, the New Bus for London will feature in the new James Bond film, Skyfall.
The bus is set to feature in an action scene set in Trafalgar Square involving the 007 spy, played by Daniel Craig.
Surely, the designer of the bus, didn’t envisage it to be James Bond’s latest transport.
It does however mean that there is a lot of scope for film and book titles.
On the Hackney Express is the obvious one, as the buses at present go to Hackney Central on route 38.
The New Bus for London and the Standard Wright Bus Compared
I travelled today from Victoria to Piccadilly on a New Bus for London or NBfL and then an hour or so later, I went from Bank to my home on a 2009-vintage standard Wright Bus or SWB.
So how do they compare and are there any features of the new bus could be fitted in the next generation of buses?
- The sculptured seats of the NBfL are a lot more comfortable and after a quick look under the seats of both buses, it would appear that something similar could be fitted to the SWB. I suspect though that they are a bit more expensive.
- The stairs seem to the top deck easier on the NBfL than the SWB and because there are two sets it gives you a choice when you get on and off. Remember that the two staircases on the NBfL are used to hide the engine and the batteries. Hybrid bus designers will get more and more ingenious about where they hide the drive train, which will reduce weight and make the buses more fuel efficient.
- The ride is much better in the NBfL in my opinion as I said here and lessons learned in the design, might well be able to be employed to improve the ride of the SWB.
- Everybody seems to like the conductor or are they now a Bus Captain? I’ll always remember the look on the faces of an elderly couple as they got on a NBfL at the rear in the Balls Pond Road.
- I think too, that the Bus Captains enjoy their new role. But then responsibility is always a great motivator to everybody.
- I also like the colours of the NBfL better, as they are calming and seem to bring out the best in everybody. You can definitely have too much yellow.
But I suppose the biggest difference, is that a NBfL has a presence, that makes it stand out from the crowd. I thought today with its curved front and the TfL roundel on the front, that it reminded me of the trolleybuses of my childhood. The SWB may be a nice bus, but they don’t stand out.
The only definite thing we can say, is that in ten years time, buses will be more stylish, passenger and crew-friendly and of course more fuel-efficent and quieter than they are today. Let’s hope that those buses are still designed and made in the UK.
No Wonder Research in Motion is Doing Badly
Research in Mition, the maker of Blackberry phones is not doing well according to this on the BBC. Unless of course, you consider a $125million loss to be doing well.
But after trying one of their products for free, which O2 were kind enough to give me I can understand why sales are falling.
For a start the keyboard has been designed by someone, who gives the impression he’s never done any substantial typing on a proper computer. Good design always builds on what your customers expect. As an example, supposing a car manufacturer proved that left-hand-drive cars were safer and then said it wouldn’t make right hand drive ones for the UK. Would they sell any?
As an example here, I wanted to enter the @ sign, which is above the P. Which in itself, is a pretty strange place to put it! But then with a small keyboard that might have been the only place they have left.
So you’d think that you would use Shift followed by P to enter it! But no, it’s Alt followed by P. If that is logical to someone with forty-plus years experience of a computer and sixty years of typing starting on a sit-up-and-beg Imperial, then I’m a Chinaman. (By the way, is it allowed to use that phrase today from the past. It is only descriptive and I could have used the alternative form of Dutchman!)
If I taken the trouble to check that the keyboard was so strange, I wouldn’t have had one. No wonder they aren’t selling to well. Perhaps this keyboard means that new users aren’t impressed. I’m not!
In the day I used it, I never managed to send a text message, although I did receive a few and read them. On my Nokia 6310i, I just hit one button, choose Reply and I’m replying.
Others may like their Blackberries, but it is definitely not for me, so I’ll stick with the Nokia 6310i.
I know that doesn’t take pictures, but I have a little and battered Nikon Coolpix in my pocket to do that and also act as a visual aide-memoire.
The Anonymous Widower 