New Routemaster alert!

[Nigello]

The 148 is now running the new buses. Its route ends at Camberwell Green, so it won't be coming to SE22, but still.

On the topic, does anyone else see that a fair number of these new buses have their back doors shut, thereby negating their raison d'?tre? It bugs me that the money spent (a lot) on this new bus is being wasted somewhat this way.

[lane lover]

Not really. It's a bus, so if it gets me from A to B then that's fine. I expect other new buses cost around the same.

I imagine the doors are kept closed for health and safety reasons.

[Nigello]

H and S - that old chestnut - why should the doors be shut if it was always going to be a worry that there might be a danger. It's such a waste of money - our money. They look good and are pretty nice inside but why not just provide us with newer buses of the traditional design (like the 176, 40 etc) and save a fair bit of dosh?

[PeckhamRose]

They close the doors when it is windy or raining, apparently. Unlike the busses they replace you can get on at the front as well. What's the problem?

[Nigello]

It was much-vaunted as an upgraded replacement for a popular, common-sensical Routemaster. It cost a packet to design and make, yet its main selling point is being regularly negated for spurious reasons. (The old bus managed very well with a bit of wind and rain and the non-mollycoddled old-school Londoner was trusted with making decisions about when to get on and off.) That, to me, is a waste of money, but perhaps you have it to burn (and like being kept all safe and nice by risk-obsessed bureaucrats).

[PeckhamRose]

Not me, I'm a motorcyclist

[miket53]

I thought they had the back doors open when they had a two person crew (ie had a conductor). When they operate with just a driver the back doors are closed to stop people getting on without paying.

[Michael Palaeologus]

The bus operators use this bus to keep Boris happy, but don't want to spend money on the Conductor, so the back doors stay firmly shut.

Boris, having the butterfly interest of a true politician, sees the buses on the road and doesn't ask any further questions.

[PeckhamRose]

And I'd rather be stuck behind one of these on the roads than the diesel old versions.

[tfwsoll]

I loved the design of the old Routemaster but they were impossible for anyone with limited mobility and for people with prams/buggies. They were freezing in the winter and boiling in the summer.

As for keeping the back door closed on the Boris buses to stop people getting on without paying, they can do that by getting on through the middle doors!

[Michael Palaeologus]

A bus that has no access for prams and buggies???

Oh God, Please, bring them back!! Bring them back!!!

[Lowlander]

PeckhamRose Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> And I'd rather be stuck behind one of these on the

> roads than the diesel old versions.

Those old diesels (assuming you mean the old routemasters) were actually more environmentally friendly than the new buses, having been fitted in the early 2000s with modern, fully EURO compliant engines. They were also lighter and more fuel efficient - and cheaper to run - than their replacements.

[computedshorty]

Bring back the Trams