Most Hated

As the latest headlines screaming from the 7 June edition again confirm, the London Evening Standard’s never been a fan of articulated buses. To be honest, very few people in London are. Certainly not cyclists (in spite of some atrocious two-wheeled road manners and selective colour-blindness at red signals). Citing blocked junctions, few motorists like 'em (bendy buses, that is, though few like cyclists, either). Pedestrians complain of blocked crossings. And then there are accusations of fare dodging – that the taxpayer is picking up the tab for mass-evasion.

So unpopular are they, should artics be allowed to retire to an early bath? What are the options for life without bendies?

Routemasters though well loved cannot cope with disabled people, buggies and those with luggage or shopping. Modern double decks are a valued design but suffers from a modern tendency towards anti-social behaviour and a DDA-inspired lack of ground floor seating capacity, forcing those less able to climb stairs. Single decks can't take the loadings. Neither conventional single nor double decks can soak up the growing number of passengers at London’s central bus stops as fast as artics. Increasing the number of conventional single decks to replace Citaros would be just as unpopular in central London, using both more resources and even more road-space in the process.

When viewed dispassionately, the articulated bendy bus does therefore have some points in its favour. Accessible seats for an ageing population, easy loading for increased passengers, fewer overall buses required thus actually decongesting the streets, and potentially less anti-social behaviour to everyone’s benefit.

And then there’s manoeuvrability. The largest conventional single decks are actually less manoeuvrable than artics, their longer wheelbases more prone to kerbing. I’ve never driven an artic but my own central London observations suggest that they are better at negotiating tight junctions even than shorter wheelbase double decks. In some cases, notably far better.

We gave a general defence of the bendy a year ago with various facts and figures. Needless to say, not everyone agreed! It’s a point-of-view thing.

There’s one thing, though, on which almost everyone can agree. Bendy buses hardly inspire like the Routemaster once did.