gingerheid
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It looks nice. But I still think it's a waste of money, and not necessarily more suitable than cheaper commercially available buses.
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Behold the Borismaster
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I think the real question is whether London requires a different approach to other cities. Although I don;t live in London I have traveleld a fair bit on various bus routes there over the last five years, most often the 7 from Paddington. It seems to me that, in the centre of London, I've noticed the following
1. Downstairs on double deckers cna be wedged, whilst there are perfectly good seats upstairs.
2. It can take a long time for people to get on and off from upstairs.
These two issues are linked in my opinion. People are afraid to go upstairs as it may take so long to get back down they miss their stop. If they ar enot going far, they prefer to stand near the doors. Two staircases may be an innovative approach to solving this difficulty.
ChrisCooper
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It doesn't look too bad, fairly conventional really (yes, it does have a lot of Alexander A type about it). At least unlike most of the designs it will be suitable for OPO, so has a fair chance of selling elsewhere in the country. I think that will be a big part of it's sucess, it's ability to sell outside of London. Hopefully the livery is provisional, that black bit at the front spoils it. I suppose it's going to get a hard time with the anti-Borris, anti-bus and what is probably best described as anti-British (as in anything designed for this country=bad, anything off the shelf from europe=good) crowds, yet might turn out to be half decent. We shall have to wait and see.
Dennis
Established Member
Not as innovative as you might think - back in the mid eighties Alexander produced a dual staircase, dual doored Ailsa V3 to solve the same problems (http://www.countrybus.org/Ailsa/V.htm)
ChrisCooper- the idea of it being sold outside of London is really rather part of the problem- as i understand it, thanks the the development being funded by TfL (ie London council tax payers) rather than more conventionally development being paid for in house, London has a certain level of design exclusivity rights. I've no idea how much the design would have to be altered for an "outside London" version, but it probably isn't worth Wright Bus making the changes when they have other designs anyway.
Thanks Dennis, don;t remember ever seeing that before!
DJ_K666
Member
Trouble with the bendies is they kept breaking down and catching fire. that's been remedied and now we have four of the damn things as a result.
I have to say, thanks to Boris I had the chance to drive one but turned it down because of the proposed split shifts.
SouthEastern-465
Established Member
Is it me or it sort of looks like an ALX400?
Ivo
Established Member
Out here we have two different sets of Volvo B7L bendys using Wright bodies. They are prone to breaking down as well; the minimum PVR (Peak Vehicle Rate) is at least 9 and almost certainly higher because they have to keep retreating to the Depot for refuelling during the day. There are exactly 9 newer ones, and 3 older ones from Leeds (I believe). Three of the newer ones have new registration plates, though; I've heard conflicting stories about why (including, among others, them moving to Glasgow). But the route they use is notorious. If anyone ever comes to Bath and has a couple of hours to spare, I recommend doing a complete return journey on the Bright Orange Bus [418] and seeing for yourself. Long, steep hills, tight turns (including a nasty one on Avon Street), low bridges (forbidding double deck buses), a flat out sprint on the dual-carriageway A4 and then a lovely 4-metre wide section complete with cattle grids, speed humps, and tight turns with a downward slope to one side. The suspension is very hard, especially on the older ones, and has surely been damaged quite severely before now on several vehicles. They are very prone to breaking down (sometimes leaving the indicator on prevents the starter motor from working properly) and are seemingly not looked after properly. And then throw in the fact that they run University buses at 3am with hangover-bound students and drivers who drive at 30+ across the cattle grids and speed humps (in a 15 zone).
I will not be surprised if they are scrapheap-bound before I leave Uni.
90019
Established Member
The problem with the newer B7s and B9s is that they have too many ECUs to go wrong.
starrymarkb
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I think you'll find it was only London's Citaros that had a problem with fires, which leads to the question what did London spec differently to everyone else (TfL do like to spec differently to everyone else)
Plus the OM547 engine had a pretty good reputation in the Axor (didn't see any in Citaros - rigids use the OM906 engine and Eden didn't get their Artics untill after I left MB)
Bloody hell, haven't seen a Busways bus in a while.
Tom B
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I suppose the fact it is stupidly specialised to TfL's whims will mean that it can't be used elsewhere in the country (who needs or wants a bus with three doors and two staircases with a ridiculously low seating capacity?).
DJ_K666
Member
Now here is REAL bus. As I remember them from when I was a kid.
90019
Established Member
DJ_K666
Member
Heh we'll just have to agree to disagree there.
A popular joke at our garage: How do you break a Trident? Drive it
A popular joke at our garage: How do you break a Trident? Drive it
Ivo
Established Member
I've got a better idea. Send them to Short Street, Southend. They'll be subject to an arson attack , and then be sent elsewhere for the same to happen again. All within the first five years of life.
Now here is REAL bus. As I remember them from when I was a kid.
Now that brings back (happy) memories, bloody excellent machines.
I can see it now: dressed like an Arab guy, he'll leap like a leopard or a lynx, dart in with a titanic lance and eclipse the Trident in olympian fashion - but then what will be the dominator?
(I can come up with worse than that as well!)
Nah, that's not a real bus, this is;
We've got three of those that have ended up in Liverpool - they're so sh*te no-one else wanted them. And they really are sh*te!
90019
Established Member
Don't you just love innovative design...
(from the 1970s)
that was my first thought, very similar to the body shape of atlanteans that used to be operated by strathclyde buses in Glasgow (and elsewhere) is it an Alexanders 'A' type body, that's been passed off as a routemaster?
What intrigues me is that the Wright visuals bear no resemblance to the Aston-Martin design selected from the competition.
Whilst I actually proposed the B55 Ailsa V3, I suggest anyone who spent real money developing a bid for the competition may stand a chance to recover their costs. This would particularly apply to any design close to that shown especially if you have patented details.
Talk to your lawyers guys!
WatcherZero
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Because the Aston design would reportedly of cost £1m a bus so they had to heavily change it to make it economical. This new design in full prduction will reportedly cost £300k or between 50-80k more expensive than an off the shelf double decker. Going to be a booming second hand market for the bendys up North. only 10 years old and with the number being dumped into the market probably very cheap too.
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