I have never travelled on a bendy bus but watching them go past along a bumpy road I can only imagine how uncomfortable they are for those right at the back being jostled up and down until you're sick!
I was coming home once and had an apparition! I thought I saw a bendy bus on the Isle of Wight!!!! But reality came in and I found out I was not dreaming. I have no idea who ever thought it a good idea, but they were here for a short time. Our local newspaper, The County Press, had a great cartoon drawer. I mentioned this to him and he did a superb cartoon of bendy buses on the Island all tied in knots on our tiny winding roads.
"Bendy buses" identical to these Mercedes Citaros operate perfectly well in Istanbul, Turkey, and despite also built with three doors, fare evasion is NOT an issue ! Says something about some London folk ? 😂😂
If the bendy buses weren't removed altogether but instead relocated to other busy routes while the New Routemasters replaced them, we would be having hybrid and electric bendy buses by now.
The bendy (a.k.a. articulated) buses were not going to work everywhere. We have them here in Westchester County, NY and they have been successful. Some routes in New York City have bendy buses. They probably would have worked in London if they weren't used for routes that go into the central city where the streets are narrow and the turns are sharp.
Withdrawing the bendy buses was the biggest mistake London did. Imagine how much more capacity and how much faster the 18 would be with bendy buses! The multiple doors thing is fine honestly. Sure people might fare evade but tfl can easily get some revenue control officers to stop this issue. In loads of European cities they have a use all doors to board policy to reduce dwell times.
The main problem was that the London streets were too awkward for them. I've seen them get stuck myself and it would cost more to get people to stand in the buses and force people to pay. It was a cool bus, but it just couldn't work. These new-generation double-deckers we're getting do the job well.
@@ricardotella1864 I know loads of European cities with very awkward streets yet bendies do fine there. I think its just the UK's lack of knowledge about bendy buses which make them question them.
@@ricardotella1864 Londons roads are too awkward for double deckers. I can’t believe it-but some of the bridges are too short for them. Overall double deckers were cool buses but they just don’t fit London’s streets
The 'bendy' buses have now been replaced by a fleet of fifteen former Go Ahead London Volvo B9TL/Wright Gemini 2 double-deckers. The final 'bendy' buses ran in service on Monday 31st October 2022 but a final 'farewell' was arranged by the company on Monday 7th November 2022
Bendy buses still run, they even have some new ones at Stansted mostly for long-stay and also to move passengers from remote stands to the terminal building
In all honesty, I can not understand why these buses have had so much trouble in London. I have driven them without any trouble for almost 15 years in and around Utrecht in the Netherlands. There are narrow corners and roads as well, but: when a 12 metre bus fits the 18 metre Mercedes bendy bus can take the same corner, including pretty tight ones. I liked to drive them because they are very comfortable. In Switserland they use them to serve lines on mountain roads, including hairpin bends, so I am not joking.... However, their most serious weak point is an overheated engine: engine fires are not a rare event with Mercedes buses. I like to think "it is part of their identity...". And that is a serious problem in London as traffic often comes into "slow motion mode". I wonder have there been 12 metre non-bended buses from Mercedes in London? And when so, was engine fire also a problem with those?
To be honest though, I'd rather see the rear-axle steering again on articulated buses. The Duvedec's and MB200's did such a great job in navigating even very tight corners just because the rear end basically pushed itself into the corner as well. The modern low-floor buses all lack this (except on the Van Hool double articulated ones of course, but it's a necessity on those) and since their introduction, buses in tight turns now have to wait for eachother to pass, or have to do a more careful approach, where they would be able to pass eachother without a hassle in the past.
Yep. The thing I hate about the most of Citaro's (glad they are gone for over a decade now here in my city in The Netherlands). They just had that tendency to 'resonate' after taking a speed-bump or bridge, which was even felt badly when you were sitting close to the front of the bus. That, besides the annoying and slightly deafening hum from the engine did not make me favour these buses at all. But ah well... the Scania Omnilinks were (and still are) an even bigger disaster. The VDL Ambassadors we had were better, but Arriva had chosen for the worst possible doorsystem (sliding doors) that malfunctioned A LOT... When EBS took over, I was not happy to see they had chosen Scania Omnilinks AGAIN... Thank god those are now also becoming a thing of the past and will probably be gone in a few years to come.
I swore i saw a citaro Gs at city airport in 2017. They definitely wasnt london ones but i think they were some sort of airport shuttle thing like the former luton shuttle buses
Than you also have never been to the Waterland (The Netherlands) area ;) . The buslane from Purmerend to Amsterdam crosses over many small bridges that connect to the North-Holland Canal. The Citaro's Arriva used to have all had the same tendency to kind of resonate after taking such a bridge, leading to an annoyingly violent triple shake, even when sat at the front part of the bus.
Funny old world, Bristol bought some of London's bendy buses when they were deemed as much use as a chocolate fireguard, And guess what they were the same down here, another waste of local public money, god know who's got them now?
Abut 2007 The bending buses were scrapped in glasgow They kept a couple on just breaking down But I think that all going now First ' Stagecoach ' MGILLS 2022 R.I.P I think that was the last date
