Rave's new Aston Martin designed ride

[0iD]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7790082.stm

Cool eh

[kalniel]

So is that electric, or fuel cell?

[Rave]

Bah. Give me a nice Enviro 400 any day, rather than some twee retro wannabe.

There was a reason Routemasters got taken out of use- they weren't as good as modern buses. Just because something was ahead of its time and a design classic doesn't mean that it can never be bettered.

[Zak33]

bah. Give me a nice enviro 400 any day, rather than some twee retro wannabe.

There was a reason routemasters got taken out of use- they weren't as good as modern buses. Just because something was ahead of its time and a design classic doesn't mean that it can never be bettered.

i think its time for a full road test review from our resident bus driver please

[Rave]

I'm a controller now, so I rarely get to drive buses (though I did drive one a few miles yesterday).

The basic problem with Routemasters is that having a conductor vastly increases staffing costs. One person operated (OPO) buses are just far more efficient to run, especially in London now that most people have an oyster card or bus pass (thus you hardly need to sell tickets on board)

[magneticman]

looks sexy

[[GSV]Myocardial]

I'm a controller now, so I rarely get to drive buses (though I did drive one a few miles yesterday).

The basic problem with Routemasters is that having a conductor vastly increases staffing costs. One person operated (OPO) buses are just far more efficient to run, especially in London now that most people have an oyster card or bus pass (thus you hardly need to sell tickets on board)

The problem with that philosophy is that money isn't the only factor that affects the saleability or suitability of a product, but as the accountants have taken over most of our lives, it seems to be the only justification for not doing things these days. People are rather sick of being told that employing a few extra people is bad, especially in the current climate with massive job losses happening.

The other big factor is the faceless nature of the London transport system. It's like having bobby's on the beat, in this day of camera's it's perceived that we're less safe than we were when they were walking the streets. Seems a pretty simple solution to make people feel safer, ie spend a little more on man power and have a human presence on buses??

The big problem with the transport companies is that they only have profits, shareholder value and directors pay in mind, NOT passenger wellbeing and the interests of the wider public. Time that Britain became more people focused and stopped the steamroller that is maintenance of dividends and lining the pockets of fat cats.

[Splash]

Yeah, i think its cool for me. but the pic is interesting i like it very much. silkroad gold how about this game gold?? is that cheap for me or not??? thanks for your help . this game is free for players so you can download it and play it.

Erm... yeah.


Anyhoo - back on topic. In York we've had these horrible things for the past couple of years. They were launched as the future of buses, with a kiosk inside for people to buy tickets and scan prepaid tickets on, but the kiosks were terrible and pretty much all broke in weeks. After a while they decided to ditch the kiosks and just have a conductor on board: that way people aren't queuing while someone spends 5 minutes trying to find coins that the machine will accept, holding the bus up at every stop.

[PeterStoba]

I seen a few of them in York when I was at the theatre, strange things

[tigerboyce]

That's my flatmate's model, he didn't render it though (the render is pretty bad...)

He's really happy to see his work exposed though!

[Rave]

The problem with that philosophy is that money isn't the only factor that affects the saleability or suitability of a product, but as the accountants have taken over most of our lives, it seems to be the only justification for not doing things these days. People are rather sick of being told that employing a few extra people is bad, especially in the current climate with massive job losses happening.

Right, so what we need is more public employees* paid for out of higher bus fares/higher taxes?

Personally, I don't see it. I think in a recession we should be trying to lower bus fares and taxes.

*(albeit indirectly employed by bus companies via the tendering system).

The other big factor is the faceless nature of the London transport system. It's like having bobby's on the beat, in this day of camera's it's perceived that we're less safe than we were when they were walking the streets. Seems a pretty simple solution to make people feel safer, ie spend a little more on man power and have a human presence on buses??

Yeah but it's not 'a little more', it's probably at least an extra 25% overall cost to employ a conductor as well as a driver. Ask people whether they'd be prepared to pay an extra 25% on every fare to feel safer and I suspect you'd not get a favourable result.

The big problem with the transport companies is that they only have profits, shareholder value and directors pay in mind, NOT passenger wellbeing and the interests of the wider public. Time that Britain became more people focused and stopped the steamroller that is maintenance of dividends and lining the pockets of fat cats.

Yes, the big problem with the transport companies is that they operate within the capitalist model. Personally I'm all in favour of renationalising all the transport companies, if you are too I suggest you vote for a party that supports such a course of action next time round.

Or if that's not possible, start one.

[[GSV]Myocardial]

Right, so what we need is more public employees* paid for out of higher bus fares/higher taxes?

Personally, I don't see it. I think in a recession we should be trying to lower bus fares and taxes.

*(albeit indirectly employed by bus companies via the tendering system).

More people employeed at the correct end of the financial scale seems far more sensible than employing a few more middle management to tell us how we're managing the bad times incorrectly and how we should restructure the workforce to streamline the service (leading to more workforce layoffs) and a few less top management who walk away in a crisis of their own making with fat payouts seems appropriate in financially hard times. Lowering fares/taxes isn't going to solve the basic problem that we have with overtrading by banks and over borrowing by individuals.

Yeah but it's not 'a little more', it's probably at least an extra 25% overall cost to employ a conductor as well as a driver. Ask people whether they'd be prepared to pay an extra 25% on every fare to feel safer and I suspect you'd not get a favourable result.

And with the Olympics coming to Britain very soon a friendlier and more easily useable bus system would aid in making sure people get to the correct place in an organised manner, we're all paying more for public transport to be brought up to speed already to make sure that people can move about in 2012.

Yes, the big problem with the transport companies is that they operate within the capitalist model. Personally I'm all in favour of renationalising all the transport companies, if you are too I suggest you vote for a party that supports such a course of action next time round.

Who to vote for then (other than below) as they all have similarly disasterous plans that are so short sighted and the lack of responsibility for their own actions if they don't pan out is the same amoungst all the parties. I'm all for renationalisation of the transport, mail, energy and other utilities but with the muppets that try to tell us how to live our lives rather than govern the country I doubt it would be any better than it is now.

Or if that's not possible, start one.

With the PC attitude that people seem to have adopted and the general lack of care by the sensible middle Britons, I doubt I'd get very far and I haven't got the cash or free time to devote to arguing with a bunch of deceitful lawyers and barristers that pervade our government, where common sense and

Back on track to the design in question, why throw out a proven design steeped in history rather than updating and modernising. The current bendy monstrosity, that imho and many others is unsightly, causes more problems due to it's length (we haven't got the wide roads that America has in many of their large cities). A shorter tall bus such as the design of the Routemaster makes far more sense from my travels around London in particular and with a modern propulsion system (such as electricity gained through the burning of Londons waste materials) and better more efficient running gear I'm sure that it could be made more environmentally friendly. Another point on the length of the bendy bus is that I thought the objective of congestion charging was to reduce the number of cars on the road, seems a little contradictory to then release a bus that takes up twice the space for the same number of passengers.

[radar]

That a cool looking modern version of the London buses. I'd like to see it on the road!