Bye Bye Bendies

I must admit, I wouldn’t want any garage full of articulated buses. I could foresee too many problems in terms of contributing money to roadside infrastructure improvements, changing garage layouts & pits, insurance claims and in fares evasion. Then again, I don’t operate in London and I haven’t the benefit of Oysters or TfL-stye investment.

TfL has announced the beginning of the end of London’s maligned artics. Three routes will revert to conventionals in 2009, two of which are thronged Red Arrows.

We won’t see the streets lined with camera-wielding enthusiasts like we did upon the withdrawal of the Routemasters. But I suspect ordinary passengers will lament the passing of the artics. Standing may have been uncomfortable but at least they all got to work on time. Meanwhile, journey and boarding times will deteriorate but TfL has a plan to tackle this: replace every two artics with three conventional buses.

In the absence of any published information from TfL to the contrary, London Travelwatch continues to state that artic replacement is retrograde in terms of accessibility, capacity, congestion and value for money. Should they add emissions?

There are hidden costs associated with artics, like those now potentially wasted infrastructure improvements at stops, and garage conversions. If the Citaros remain unsold, there’s a cost of undisposed of capital assets. We’ve asked before what will happen to these relatively new artics. One answer came back, ‘we’d like them in Manchester’. Perhaps the failure of the TIF bid will mean Manchester looking for a cheaper alternative than the £3bil-worth of investment now foregone.