A New Bus for London To The Rescue
This afternoon, it was all chaos in Islington. There appeared to have been a serious accident on the Essex Road and all of the buses were diverting by Highbury Corner.
I was trying to get home by getting a bus down St. Paul’s Road, but the normal 30s and 277s couldn’t get past the jams. A couple of 38s went past without stopping, although it wasn’t their normal territory. And then a New Bus for London hove into view!
It stopped and quite a few including myself got aboard.
The conductor was marshalling people on and off and the hop-on/hop-off capability meant that quite a few got to their destination, despite it not being the regular route.
When it did get to its regular route, I got off and walked home.
It was all a superb demonstration of the advantages of doubled-crewed buses with a hop-on/hop-off platform.
Roll on the next six hundred.
The Troubles With HMS Astute
These are reported in several papers like here in the Telegraph.
But then this is always the case with new defence projects. I always remember a non-working radar for the Tornado, that was known as Blue Circle, because it was just a concrete dummy. The story is in the Wikpedia entry for the aircraft.
Because of some delays to the radar, some development aircraft flew with a concrete weight in place of the radar assembly. In a nod to some other radar names of the day (Blue Parrot, Blue Fox) this was nicknamed Blue Circle – cynics suggested that at leastBlue Circle gave more consistent results. Unfortunately, the ‘Blue’ series radars were made by Ferranti – and the AI24 Foxhunter for the Tornado was made by GEC. At least one senior civil servant thought that the AI24 was a Ferranti-made radar as a result… (Ferranti made the antenna mounting assembly as a subcontractor to GEC. At least that bit was delivered on time and to budget, although they later discovered that GEC was blaming them for delays. Cute trick.)
British defence contractors never seem to get it right first time.
On the other hand new products usually don’t work a hundred percent of the time. I’ve seen a New Bus for London, that has broken down and they are rumoured to have the odd air-conditioning problem.
But then you could probably get 5,000 New Buses for London for the price of HMS Astute. And anyway with the bus, there’s usually another along in a few minutes.
Someone Who Doesn’t Like The New Bus for London
Yesterday, I met someone, who doesn’t like the New Bus for London. He was a bus controller at a main station, where there was a bit of chaos because of the diversions due to the Remembrance Day Parade.
He said they were unreliable, with particular problems with the air-conditioning. As they are a new product this is probably to be expected. And I do know that the air conditioning was rather a difficult thing to design and fit.
On the other hand, passengers and staff with direct experience of the New Buses for London, all seem to love them.
The Friendly Bus
New Buses for London get little criticism, except from those on the left, who think Boris should be running a whelk stall.
I travelled to the Angel today and wanted to get a 30, so I could go for breakfast at Carluccio’s. As I was waiting I got talking to a mother, with two young children, who were waiting for a 38. She said that her kids liked the new buses and often waited for one.
Does this mean that these buses are creating a whole new generation of bus travellers, just like the original Routemaster did in the 1960s. Let’s hope so, as we all know what is the greenest way to travel. And in cities like London, buses are often quicker from point to point.
After breakfast, whilst walking to Waitrose, a New Bus passed and I thought I’d go to the bigger shop at the Brunswick Centre. So I jumped on at the lights. After a couple of stops, several of us were sharing bus stories of our childhood with the driver/conductor.
Only New Buses for London get people talking like this.
The Cheeky Conductor
I got a New Bus for London home from the Angel this morning. I’d not seen him before or the route and I suspect, he could have been someone training to do the job.
He was certainly enjoying himself balancing on the platform watching the street.
I used the expression cheeky in the title, as at one set of lights, whilst the bus was stationary and waiting for the green, he dismounted and went and looked in a shop window, before getting back on the bus well before it moved away.
A couple of conductors on New Buses for London have said to me how much they like the job and the interactions with the public. He was only demonstrating this in a direct way.
I Want Several Of These!
I need some grab rails in my shower. Just look at this.
Grab-Rail On A New Bus for London
It is absolutely ideal and the texture is great. Although I might prefer a different colour. I could also use them on the side of this stair-case.
My Staircase
Are they a standard item or are they made specially for the bus?
If they’re the latter, they could be sold as souvenirs in the London Transport Museum.
Looking Backwards
I took this video this morning backwards from a New Bus for London.
On the way home, I got another of the new buses. The driver/conductor said that they are debriefed about road safety and the incidents they see. Now that’s a good idea.
Red Bull Strike At A New Bus for London
Or that’s what it looked like!
Red Bull Strike At A New Bus for London
The bus made a quick turn and got away safety down the Essex Road.
The Definitive View From The New Bus For London
I travelled up to the Angel this morning on a New Bus for London. I sat at the back downstairs looking behind, as depending on what bus fell in behind, I might have made a change.
In the end I had a quick chat with the driver/conductor and he described an incident that could have been serious, due to the ill-thought-out behaviour of a group of pedestrians.
It strikes me that as these buses get more numerous, they might actually improve the safety of pedestrians, if feedback from these all-seeing driver/conductors was fed into the system and this led to better pavements and crossing points in the places, where near misses have been observed.
The Lawyer Likes The New Bus For London
Lawyers get everywhere these days. They’ve even got an article in The Lawyer magazine about the New Bus for London.
The Anonymous Widower 