Buy Yourself A London Transport Icon

By · May 22, 2009 at 8:50 am · No comments · Latest News · Report an error ·

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Image by Lady Vervaine

Just think, in decades to come we’ll all be waxing lyrical to our kids about the bendy bus. Campaigns to bring the articulated icons back will be launched, and Travis Elborough will write a sequel to his Routemaster paean extolling the virtues of those loveable low-slung street crawlers.

The great bendy rollback begins in just a few weeks, as the 507 and 521 “Red Arrow” routes revert to single-decker mundanity. But what to do with the stock of bendies that will shortly be taking up valuable garage space? Well, the company that leases the fleet to TfL is already making plans: they’ve started advertising the second-hand vehicles in the trade press.

Describing them as “popular with passengers and operators in over a dozen cities” (London presumably not being among that number), the company hopes to get at least £70,000 for each one, which for a fleet of unwieldy, 58-foot vehicles that have seen a heavy seven years of active service, is a pretty silly sum.

We’ve got a much better idea on how they can be re-purposed. Hiring out a stretch limo used to be the perfect start to any hen night or birthday bash, but in these times of credit crunchiness, it seems a bit excessive. If TfL have any sense, they’ll market the superannuated vehicles as the ideal choice for a cheapo chauffeured late-night booze cruise through the capital’s streets.

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  • http://undefined sweek

    They’re not being replaced by double deckers but single deckers, as there are some low bridges along the Red Arrow routes that doubledeckers can’t cope with. Really wondering how they’re going to cope.

  • markle

    I was just about to make the same comment! They’re replacing them with (more) single decker buses, which means that they will actually take up *more* road space, which kind of defeats the whole point of it.

    I challenge anyone to go to the 521 bus stop at Waterloo in the morning peak, watch empty 521s hoover up over a hundred people from the queues snaking back to the station in under a minute, and speed off to be replaced by another, and then tell me that they’re not a good idea.

    I do pity the routes that will be replaced with double-deckers though… they’ll end up getting the same issues as I have on my local 77 / 87, where nobody goes upstairs, crowding the lower deck, meaning people can’t get on even though there’s loads of space upstairs. Very grrsome!

  • http://undefined Travis Elborough

    I assure you, no plans for a sequel exist.
    Regards, Travis Elborough

  • http://undefined DeanN

    Sweek and markle — thanks for pointing out the error, I’ve amended the text.

    I’m in agreement that bendy buses do make sense on some routes — the 149, which trawls a heavily used route between London Bridge and Edmonton, and has few (if any) corners on its journey, is particularly well suited to it. My other local bendy routes, the 73 and 38, on the other hand, are patently not.

    Mr Elborough – that is a shame, but perhaps in a few years there’ll be enough nostalgia to mount some kind of revivalist movement.

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