I've just come back from Genoa where boarding is fast.
Even small buses have 2 or 3 doors and their bendy buses have 4 or 5 doors.
This dramatically reduces the dwell time.

Dave

"Solvitur Ambulans"
Dave Wetzel; Vice-Chair; Transport for London.
Windsor House. 42-50 Victoria Street. London. SW1H 0TL. UK
Tel: 020 7941 4200
Windsor House is close to New Scotland Yard. Buses 11, 24, 148, 211 and
N11 pass the door.
Nearest Tube: St. James's Park Underground station.
Nearest mainline stations: Waterloo and Victoria (Both a short walk or
bus ride).




-----Original Message-----
From: Tony Fowkes [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 01 April 2004 12:12
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: FW: Re: Will articulated buses make congestion worse in
London


Dear All,

Just to add my own anecdotal experience of bendy-buses here in
Leeds.

My experience is that overall journey times have increased noticeably,
possibly for the following reasons:

1. The greater capacity (100+, mostly standing) causes increased total
boarding times at busy times;

2. The unusual design of the buses (ie not always banks of 2 seats
each side but with an open area and a very enclosed area in the
middle) prevents passengers getting off. Whereas on an ordinary bus
passengers will always 'breathe in' or move slightly, on bendy busses
they just can't move out of the way (eg when trying to access the rear
exit from the front of the bus) and just say "no". Conversely, fighting
through the open area is very difficult until the bus stops, so using the
front exit is very slow when the bus is full.

3. Where two stops A & B are laid out with room for a bendy at A and
then (just) room for an ordinary bus at B behind, as is often the case on
my route, the driver of a bendy following an ordinary bus stopping at B
faces a dilemma. Either he waits behind the ordinary bus at B -
incurring delay, or he accesses stop A. That would be ok for another
ordinary bus, but the bendy can only get its front half in, with the rear
half blocking both lanes and the bus at B (potentially for several
minutes). If the bendy arrives first there is no problem, since the bus for
stop B can pull right up behing. When two bendies follow each other
things can get interesting. At a stop where there is room for (just) 2
double-deckers to unload, a second bendy would have to wait with
doors closed. Even if a bendy can get its front door to a safe place,
there is the rear door to consider.

4. The poor maneouverability of the bendies causes them to take some
corners much more slowly than other buses. In Leeds centre, where 90
degree turns follow each other quickly, there is not time to accelerate to
the speed of ordinary buses between corners.

I hope this purely anecdotal, albeit first hand, information will inform
your further consideration of this topic.

Tony



Tony Fowkes
Senior Lecturer in Transport Economics
Institute for Transport Studies
University of Leeds
Leeds LS2 9JT
0113 3435340


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