More bendy bus trouble...

adw said:

You are quite a lot taller than average though, happybunny!

True... but there are taller people out there than me

aspect said:

Bus will have only travelled 2 stops when he got off then !

Given the number of substantial turns and bends the bus will have negotiated between these stops it's a surprise that he was dragged that far !

I'm a touch surprised if the bus driver was arrested, difficult to see how he would know what had occured ! One assumes no one else on this busy route inside the bus knew either !

True my good man, True.

I still cant fathom the fact that driver didnt know he hit someone. Going over pot-holes or plastic bottles makes a loud enough bang and its not as if the driver has limited view out the screen.

[Chris M]

If you thought bendy-busses in London were bad, take a look at this one in a tunnel in Russia:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=G283c3DAC3c

[Dmitri]

awkward42 said:

take a look at this one in a tunnel in Russia

It was an 'Ikarus-435' bus on the dead run (there are no bus routes through the Lefortovo tunnel). That time, both hydraulic cylinders controlling trailer movement failed. The bus got insignificant damage.

railtechnician said:

I used to live in Edmonton and work in Acton so I both saw and used bendies on the 73,149 and 207 routes. Quite honestly I just don't think bendies are suited to most of London and without the congestion charge, bus lanes and other anti-motorist devices in place the bendies would be the cause of even greater congestion.

Living in exactly the same area and using those very same routes, I can say the 149 is significantly worse than the 73 as far as reliability and security are concerned. In the early mornings and morning peaks when I sometimes use the 149, it is fine however during shopping hours, the service is atrocious with about one in five buses going all the way to Edmonton Green, and the others terminating short at Snells Park or Tottenham Swan. This doesn't seem to be as much of a problem with the other routes along this corridor (259, 279 and 349 which are all double deckers), so why this route?

As for the 207 the quicker it is replaced with trams to Shepherd's Bush the better, the corridor from Hayes is an absolute nightmare at times especially with the North Circular intersection.

The section between Acton Central and Acton Tram Depot, as well as Southall Broadway are horrendous too. However, at least this road has other buses like the 427 and 607 as alternatives to the bendies.

Now that the 607 has an all-day service, I don't understand why it doesn't have a Sunday service. Before, buses on the 207 used to go from Uxbridge to Shepherds Bush on Sundays and evenings, but once those journeys were cut, there was nothing to replace them!

I think it is because very few people travel all the way from Shepherds Bush to Uxbridge. I agree the Southall area and Acton High St area are quite bad traffic-wise.. however I haven't noticed it get any worse since the 207 route was changed. In fact I think it is better as the buses are more frequent.

happybunny said:

I think it is because very few people travel all the way from Shepherds Bush to Uxbridge. I agree the Southall area and Acton High St area are quite bad traffic-wise.. however I haven't noticed it get any worse since the 207 route was changed. In fact I think it is better as the buses are more frequent.

The frequency was actually reduced when the 207 was converted from double decker to bendy. It was every 4-6 minutes when double-decker but it now is every 7-8 minutes.

Route 427 was unchanged, while the 607 has recently had its operating hours extended by 60 minutes.

[Dstock7080]

follow-up to a previous reference:
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7230659.stm