Bendy Busses

While we are on the subject of busses...

Although I'm not that much of a nostaliaist for the Routemaster (yes, they are lovely works of design and engineering, but they are bloody noisy and often badly maintained and dirty) I simply must reiterate my utter loathing for the Bendy Busses with which they are being replaced.

Take a long, wiggly bus, designed to function best on the wide, spacious and straight boulevards of European cities, and plonk it down in the narrow and twisting medieval lanes of London. Yes, THAT is a brilliant idea.

For a start, they're just too bloody long! Two to three times the length of a routemaster. If one stops at your bus stop, god forbid you should want to get on a bus behind it, as there's just not the room. I've seen 3 or 4 double decker busses crowd and twist into the space that just one bendybeast takes up.

They take up multiple lanes of traffic when they turn, so woebetide you if you get stuck behind or beside one as it turns. I've seen one 18 take up the entire four lanes of traffic coming out of Euston Station. They're dangerous, they trap bicyclists and small vehicles in their coils like a vicious snake. And on narrow streets with sharp corners... what pedestrian hasn't laughed with sheer schadenfreude to see the lumbering reptilian 73 stuck and pinned at the corner of Stoke Newington Church street.

That's not even getting into how uncomfortable to ride they are, how they never have enough seats, and the few seats they do have are often blocked behind stupidly placed poles. Standing up for ten minutes on a bendy bus that pitches and rolls like a ship is one matter, but for an hour's commute? Intolerable! Not to mention that terrible habit their engines have of exploding!

The only good thing about the bendy busses is that they are, functionally, free. But given the choice, thank you, I will happily pay my £1.20 to ride on a REAL London bus. One with TWO floors on it. Now if only I don't get stabbed up there...