Bus Conductors on West Midlands Buses

[Stuharris 6360]

At a cost of over £345.000 per unit i doubt any operator would consider it a viable option. Having travelled on a numbet of them my opinion is they are nothing special. The lower deck is ok but upstairs is far low and clostraphobic. (yes i know spelt incorrectly). Perhapes with Wrights being so busy building these lame ducks the abvantage as been given to ADL for other orders.

It`s actually £354,000 per unit, which is a disgrace considering that two staff are needed if the rear door is to be open.

I watched the programme on BBC2 on Tuesday night, where they showed these buses running on route 38, what they failed to say is that since the filming, TFL have removed the financing for the 2nd man (conductor) and the buses are now running conventionally with the rear door closed.

Another white elephant....

Why not just buy standard Hybrid double deckers @ approx £300k each and save Tfl around £54k per bus

They are total white elephants, Boris Johnson should be ashamed of himself.

Latest i hear is massive complaints because there are no windows upstairs and the air conditioning isn't working correctly.

[PM]

At a cost of over £345.000 per unit i doubt any operator would consider it a viable option. Having travelled on a numbet of them my opinion is they are nothing special. The lower deck is ok but upstairs is far low and clostraphobic. (yes i know spelt incorrectly). Perhapes with Wrights being so busy building these lame ducks the abvantage as been given to ADL for other orders.

It`s actually £354,000 per unit, which is a disgrace considering that two staff are needed if the rear door is to be open.

I watched the programme on BBC2 on Tuesday night, where they showed these buses running on route 38, what they failed to say is that since the filming, TFL have removed the financing for the 2nd man (conductor) and the buses are now running conventionally with the rear door closed.

Another white elephant....

Why not just buy standard Hybrid double deckers @ approx £300k each and save Tfl around £54k per bus

They are total white elephants, Boris Johnson should be ashamed of himself.

Latest i hear is massive complaints because there are no windows upstairs and the air conditioning isn't working correctly.

I disagree. These buses will save money as they are bought by TfL themselves then allocated out to a company, meaning they have full lives in london until fully depreciated, meaning when offering tenders, operators dont factor in having vehicles to buy and the fact that they might not be able to sell them once they have finished their contracts. This means cheaper contracts and  an iconic, recognisable bus that tourists will love-everyone wins!!

[Stuharris 6360]

At a cost of over £345.000 per unit i doubt any operator would consider it a viable option. Having travelled on a numbet of them my opinion is they are nothing special. The lower deck is ok but upstairs is far low and clostraphobic. (yes i know spelt incorrectly). Perhapes with Wrights being so busy building these lame ducks the abvantage as been given to ADL for other orders.

It`s actually £354,000 per unit, which is a disgrace considering that two staff are needed if the rear door is to be open.

I watched the programme on BBC2 on Tuesday night, where they showed these buses running on route 38, what they failed to say is that since the filming, TFL have removed the financing for the 2nd man (conductor) and the buses are now running conventionally with the rear door closed.

Another white elephant....

Why not just buy standard Hybrid double deckers @ approx £300k each and save Tfl around £54k per bus

They are total white elephants, Boris Johnson should be ashamed of himself.

Latest i hear is massive complaints because there are no windows upstairs and the air conditioning isn't working correctly.

I disagree. These buses will save money as they are bought by TfL themselves then allocated out to a company, meaning they have full lives in london until fully depreciated, meaning when offering tenders, operators dont factor in having vehicles to buy and the fact that they might not be able to sell them once they have finished their contracts. This means cheaper contracts and  an iconic, recognisable bus that tourists will love-everyone wins!!

I wish i could like these buses, but i fear that they are a big mistake.

Route 24 which was the first route to be totally converted to these buses a fortnight ago is mid contract. Metroline had only recently bought new buses for this route and they had only been in service since last June.