Bendy buses

[Trnsprt4Sctlnd]

Does make me laugh when people say ‘the roads in the UK are too narrow for bendy buses’ which is utter nonsense. If a standard rigid bus can fit down a road, so can a bendy. There’s plenty of medieval era towns and cities in Europe, Germany in particular, where bendies operate with no issues at all.

Even at this there are 21m Citaro CapaCity Quad-Axle buses used in Germany with large 10.7ltr/360hp engines, Im guessing there not great on fuel.

That would seem right. Bendy buses weigh the same, if not more than double deckers unladen but can carry a lot more people. They also tend to have more powerful engines.

A Bendy Bus unladen weight is more than a standard 4x2 chassis double decker bus, there more in line with being the same weight as an Enviro 500 or Volvo B8L, some 2-3 tons heavier.

 

[LT02 NVV]

First Glasgow’s 9 was what I called “The Bendy Route” from 2007-2012, mainly because the route had loads of Wright Eclipse Fusion & Wright Fusion bendy buses (with some High-Floor Deckers, older Single-Deckers, and other Eclipse Buses to fill some gaps).

From what I remember, most of the Wright Fusion Type Buses in Glasgow were either scrapped or sent to First Aberdeen.

 

[Jordan Adam]

First Glasgow’s 9 was what I called “The Bendy Route” from 2007-2012, mainly because the route had loads of Wright Eclipse Fusion & Wright Fusion bendy buses (with some High-Floor Deckers, older Single-Deckers, and other Eclipse Buses to fill some gaps).

From what I remember, most of the Wright Fusion Type Buses in Glasgow were either scrapped or sent to First Aberdeen.

Aberdeen took 10 in total. 10136/38/41/44/48/83 in 2011 followed by 10044/45/108/110 in late 2013/early 2014.

 

[railwaytrack]

Go Ahead Brighton & Hove have confirmed that they are getting rid of all of their bendy buses this summer and replacing them with second hand ex Go Ahead London double decker buses. So soon that will be another city with no more bendy buses left. It is quite a shame as they were well suited to the university routes as well as the football park and ride shuttles that they regularly get used on.

Source: Posts from Twitter:

https://twitter.com/DavidBr47355622/status/1498682263734734852?t=zRnRW_1a2NabMOJpg19RHA&s=19

@BrightonHoveBus A couple of your drivers i have spoken to recently have said you are withdrawing your bendy buses this summer. Is this true? If so what will replace them? More new bendy buses? Or just some standard double deckers?

https://twitter.com/BrightonHoveBus/status/1498684079423766531?t=VxZpTJmrt8CVmcum3w83jw&s=19

Hi David. Yes, the company is currently looking at options to remove articulated buses from the fleet and the possibility of replacing them with double deck vehicles from our sister company in London. I'm afraid there is not yet an exact date for this. ^YW

https://twitter.com/Gengarnesis/status/1499018502308519936?t=nm6B-2D1LdRQG-WHI0i_zQ&s=19

Why is this being done? Unless there is something mechanically wrong with all of them then why is your company replacing them, probably at a great cost (which could be passed onto customers with fare rises)?

https://twitter.com/BrightonHoveBus/status/1499019131848380423?t=ueSs-Z4iztyr6Rh70TS0qQ&s=19

The information we received is that our current fleet is ageing and it is no longer possible to buy certain parts as they are no longer manufactured - gear boxes being a notable item. This is increasing costs of maintenance and impacting our ability

https://twitter.com/BrightonHoveBus/status/1499019236676624396?t=75qmv-8fS42w2ENWQdlzzw&s=19

to keep the buses reliable and roadworthy. Additionally, these vehicles do not meet the latest emissions standards and whilst we have explored options to have these upgraded, it is costly and not practically possible to achieve. ^YW

https://twitter.com/DavidBr47355622/status/1499024848328265733?t=M9a21XB1e_UZBezMzP7BeA&s=19

Thank you for your reply. What a shame. These are some of the last bendy buses left in the UK. They are such great buses. They are so spacious and accessible being entirely single deck and low floor. Can i ask why are you not considering replacing them with brand new bendy buses?

https://twitter.com/BrightonHoveBus/status/1499025407257030658?t=_Z9msrpDvQ2KmadeoxIkYg&s=19

@Gengarnesis The double deck vehicles from our sister company in London have already been upgraded to Euro 6 emissions standards (and can be used in the low emissions zone) and will provide us with a lot more flexibility in the wider fleet. But also, given that

https://twitter.com/BrightonHoveBus/status/1499025543781621760?t=6dpaoBAU67JUi_IM2z6Amg&s=19

@Gengarnesis student numbers are currently severely below pre-pandemic levels, it also provides us the right opportunity to replace the articulated buses to match the demand currently being experienced. Whilst we are hopeful student numbers will recover in the

https://twitter.com/BrightonHoveBus/status/1499025617920139272?t=btMZTwVLZLAe_n2xdGMrlw&s=19

@Gengarnesis future, once a double deck fleet is in operation, we will review any longer-term capacity issues at this time, but are confident capacity can be managed. ^YW

https://twitter.com/DavidBr47355622/status/1499027168701124611?t=_yCzLHTEYIq78bj98TbrOg&s=19

Thank you. Yes i have certainly noticed the 25 and 25X are a lot quieter than it was before the corona virus. I suppose a lot of students are doing online. So what exactly are the buses that you are getting from Go Ahead London to replace them? What is the make and model of them?

https://twitter.com/BrightonHoveBus/status/1499046008109547525?t=okwEJCZJ3l0-unBzEZy44Q&s=19

I have been advised that discussions are ongoing at this stage. ^YW

@BrightonHoveBus official company Twitter account.

This also means that Go Ahead Brighton & Hove will be the only major company and by far the largest company in the UK to be 100% double decker and have zero single decker buses in their fleet once the bendy buses are withdrawn. The last non bendy bus single deckers went about five years ago.

So after that it seems the only bendy buses left will be:

Normal Routes:
• First Aberdeen (Mercedes)
• First York (Mercedes)
• Translink (Van Hool)

Airport Airside Use:
• Edinburgh (Mercedes)
• Leeds Bradford (Mercedes)
• London Gatwick (Mercedes)
• London Luton (Mercedes)
• London Stansted (Mercedes)

Airport Landside Use:
• Bristol (Mercedes)
• Dublin - Dublin Coach (Mercedes)
• Dublin - First Aircoach (Mercedes)
• London Gatwick (Mercedes)
• London Heathrow (Scania)
• London Luton (Volvo)
• London Stansted (Mercedes)

Other Types Of Use:
• Connexxions Buses (Scania)
• Peoples Bus (Mercedes)
• Portsmouth City Coaches (Scania)

Let me know if there are any other ones that i have missed off of the list.

 

[Jordan Adam]

J&V Coaches on Orkney operate four Mercedes O530G Citaros and one Scania L94UA Wright Solar Fusion on Cruise Ship shuttles.

 

[railwaytrack]

J&V Coaches on Orkney operate four Mercedes O530G Citaros and one Scania L94UA Wright Solar Fusion on Cruise Ship shuttles.

Interesting. I was not aware of those. Orkney is certainly a very surprising place to find bendy buses. They must get large cruise ships with lots of passengers to need five of them.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Hi All,

Don't know if anyone here has heard the sad news (to me), that the bendy buses in Cardiff are stopping on the 29th january.

I just wondered why they were being replaced, is it down to old age?

I also would like to know if there are any artic buses running in Bristol still?

Tom

I never knew that. That's a shame as while I'm no bus enthusiast, a bendy one is a bit of a novelty. They were running right past my student accommodation every day; I could easily have stolen a ride.

 

[EnviroExplorer]

Go Ahead Brighton & Hove have confirmed that they are getting rid of all of their bendy buses this summer and replacing them with second hand ex Go Ahead London double decker buses. So soon that will be another city with no more bendy buses left. It is quite a shame as they were well suited to the university routes as well as the football park and ride shuttles that they regularly get used on.

This also means that Go Ahead Brighton & Hove will be the only major company and by far the largest company in the UK to be 100% double decker and have zero single decker buses in their fleet once the bendy buses are withdrawn. The last non bendy bus single deckers went about five years ago.

So after that it seems the only bendy buses left will be:

Normal Routes:
• First Aberdeen (Mercedes)
• First York (Mercedes)
• Translink (Van Hool)

Airport Airside Use:
• Edinburgh (Mercedes)
• Leeds Bradford (Mercedes)
• London Gatwick (Mercedes)
• London Luton (Mercedes)
• London Stansted (Mercedes)

Airport Landside Use:
• Bristol (Mercedes)
• Dublin - Dublin Coach (Mercedes)
• Dublin - First Aircoach (Mercedes)
• London Gatwick (Mercedes)
• London Heathrow (Scania)
• London Luton (Volvo)
• London Stansted (Mercedes)

Other Types Of Use:
• Connexxions Buses (Scania)
• Peoples Bus (Mercedes)
• Portsmouth City Coaches (Scania)

Let me know if there are any other ones that i have missed off of the list.

Having just checked the faint memory I had from seeing a photo, the National Trust at Waddesdon Manor have a pair of Citaro bendys for car park shuttles. Specifically they are LK53FBU & LX04LCE, no photos of them since 2019 though likely for the obvious reason.

A slightly more unusual use for another pair of Citaro bendys is driving experience of them with Expeditional at North Weald Airfield. BX04MYY is heavily featured on their website though BX04NDY appears to be there too. Their website is linked below

Bus Driving Experience: Vintage & Modern Buses — Expeditional: Vintage Event Buses & Experiences

Book direct with the worlds only operator of a London Bus driving experience in the famous Routemaster Bus. A unique, once in a lifetime opportunity to drive an iconic Routemaster, modern type double deck bus and the infamous Bendy Bus.

www.expeditional.co.uk

 

[cnjb8]

When I was at East Midlands Airport in 2017, there were three EasyJet branded Citaro artics. They didn’t have any registration plates as they were parked on the runway next to the terminal. I assume ex-London because they had three doors

 

[Robertj21a]

Didn't Arriva have 2 at East Midlands airport?

 

[hst43102]

Didn't Arriva have 2 at East Midlands airport?

Scrapped earlier this year.

 

[Jordan Adam]

Since it broadly relates to this topic:

Battery-electric articulated option in Kent Fastrack tender​

Battery-electric articulated buses could be purchased for part of the Fastrack bus rapid transit (BRT) network in Kent as part of work that Kent County Council (KCC) hopes will position it as “the world’s best BRT.”

The articulated option is revealed in an invitation to tender issued to vehicle suppliers for the conversion of Fastrack to zero-emission. While KCC’s primary call is for up to 28 standard length vehicles for the Thameside operation, the document outlines an alternative proposal for articulated models, which would be slightly fewer in number.

Dual-door configuration is manded for the Thameside buses, with minimum capacities of 80 for standard buses and 125 for articulated vehicles. Also part of the tender is a second lot of five battery-electric buses for a pending Fastrak route in Dover. They must be no longer than 10.8m and can be single- or dual-door. All vehicles procured must have pantograph-based opportunity charging capacity of up to 450kW.

Conversion of Fastrack to battery-electric operation is being part-funded by the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas scheme, through which Kent County Council has been allocated £9.5m via the fast-track mechanism.

Double-deckers do not form part of the tender, with KCC having previously outlined its belief that the rapid boarding and alighting of users is best served by multi-door single-deckers. It requires a 15-year life from the Fastrack battery-electric vehicles, and for bidders to detail repair and maintenance packages of five, seven and 15 years in duration.

In addition to supplying buses, the winning bidder will have a place on the Fastrack’s Unified Management of Electrification board, or FUMEs. Also present on FUMEs will be KCC, the bus operator(s) involved, energy companies and suppliers of charging equipment.

“The functions of the board are to collectively resolve issues [and] collate and openly share data with both the Department for Transport and other interested parties,” the tender states. “Their expectation is that FUMEs will also play a role in unlocking further opportunities in the electrification of bus services within Kent.”

Vehicles supplied under the tender must have advanced emergency braking, intelligent speed assist, rear-view cameras, blind spot warnings and pedal application error mitigation among other safety measures. KCC says it has leaned heavily on Transport for London’s Bus Safety Standard in developing the Fastrack buses’ specification. However, no coin tray forms part of KCC’s requirements as it expects Fastrack to go cashless.

The winning supplier is expected to be notified before the end of March, with delivery to be no later than 26 March 2023.

 

[railwaytrack]

Having just checked the faint memory I had from seeing a photo, the National Trust at Waddesdon Manor have a pair of Citaro bendys for car park shuttles. Specifically they are LK53FBU & LX04LCE, no photos of them since 2019 though likely for the obvious reason.

A slightly more unusual use for another pair of Citaro bendys is driving experience of them with Expeditional at North Weald Airfield. BX04MYY is heavily featured on their website though BX04NDY appears to be there too. Their website is linked below

Bus Driving Experience: Vintage & Modern Buses — Expeditional: Vintage Event Buses & Experiences

Book direct with the worlds only operator of a London Bus driving experience in the famous Routemaster Bus. A unique, once in a lifetime opportunity to drive an iconic Routemaster, modern type double deck bus and the infamous Bendy Bus.

www.expeditional.co.uk

Interesting. I was not aware of any of those either. That certainly sounds like an interesting driving experience. It is very expensive though especially for such a short time.

 

[PG]

So after that it seems the only bendy buses left will be:

Normal Routes:
• First Aberdeen (Mercedes)

IIRC Aberdeens bendies are Volvos these days - their earlier bendies were Mercs with the first arriving way back in 1992.

 

[GusB]

IIRC Aberdeens bendies are Volvos these days - their earlier bendies were Mercs with the first arriving way back in 1992.

There was only one bendy Mercedes - K1GRT.

 

[railwaytrack]

IIRC Aberdeens bendies are Volvos these days - their earlier bendies were Mercs with the first arriving way back in 1992.

I thought it was the opposite and that the Volvo buses were withdrawn and the Mercedes buses replaced them. From looking online this seems correct as all the recent photos only show the Mercedes ones and i can not find any recent Volvo photos. From what i understand there were originally 15 of them at First York however recently 9 of them transferred to First Aberdeen with 5 remaining left with First York and 1 seems to be missing. Perhaps someone here knows where the missing one is. It will be interesting to see if the remaining First York ones end up at First Aberdeen at some point as i thought that they wanted to eventually make the York Park & Ride 100% electric bus operated.

 

[GusB]

I thought it was the opposite and that the Volvo buses were withdrawn and the Mercedes buses replaced them. From looking online this seems correct as all the recent photos only show the Mercedes ones and i can not find any recent Volvo photos. From what i understand there were originally 15 of them at First York however recently 9 of them transferred to First Aberdeen with 5 remaining left with First York and 1 seems to be missing. Perhaps someone here knows where the missing one is. It will be interesting to see if the remaining First York ones end up at First Aberdeen at some point as i thought that they wanted to eventually make the York Park & Ride 100% electric bus operated.

If you're referring specifically to First Aberdeen, there was no replacement of Volvo artics by Mercedes. There was a one-off Mercedes O.405G that was bodied by Alexander (registered K1GRT). There were several Mercedes-Benz vehicles added to the fleet shortly afterwards, but they were rigid O.405s with Wright and Optare bodywork.

@Jordan Adam will keep you right here

 

[railwaytrack]

If you're referring specifically to First Aberdeen, there was no replacement of Volvo artics by Mercedes. There was a one-off Mercedes O.405G that was bodied by Alexander (registered K1GRT). There were several Mercedes-Benz vehicles added to the fleet shortly afterwards, but they were rigid O.405s with Wright and Optare bodywork.

@Jordan Adam will keep you right here

Yes i am referring to First Aberdeen specifically. I do remember the original K1 GRT step entrance Mercedes from years ago. However i thought in recent times there have been Mercedes Benz Citaro O530G bendy buses which came to Aberdeen to replace the Volvo B7LA bendy buses. Aberdeen is not my area of expertise however photos online seem to confirm that this is the case.

 

[Volvodart]

Yes 11106/8-15 came from First York to replace the last of the Volvo B7LAs.

 

[Jordan Adam]

If you're referring specifically to First Aberdeen, there was no replacement of Volvo artics by Mercedes. There was a one-off Mercedes O.405G that was bodied by Alexander (registered K1GRT). There were several Mercedes-Benz vehicles added to the fleet shortly afterwards, but they were rigid O.405s with Wright and Optare bodywork.

@Jordan Adam will keep you right here

Aberdeen currently operates nine Citaro Gs, which in part replaced the 14 B7LAs that were still in the fleet in 2020. The other 5 B7LAs being indirectly replaced by 4 B9TLs which were retained following the arrival of the Hydrogen Streetdecks.

First Aberdeen 11112 BG58OMH (11th February 2022)

First Aberdeen Mercedes-Benz O530G Citaro 11112 is seen here on King Street near Regents Walk while operating a Red Line 1 from Danestone to Garthdee & RGU. Photo Date: 11/02/2022

www.flickr.com

Albeit in reality Aberdeen rarely has more than five Citaros out at once due to reliability issues with 11106, 11109 & 11113 each spending months off the road, 11109 most notably only returned to service three days ago having been off the road since last June!

 

[CBlue]

One other artic that made an appearance earlier this year is owned by Completely Coach Travel of Norwich who operate a 2004 Citaro G on rail replacement work. It's also been known to operate on contracted Sunday services around the city.

 

[cnjb8]

I thought it was the opposite and that the Volvo buses were withdrawn and the Mercedes buses replaced them. From looking online this seems correct as all the recent photos only show the Mercedes ones and i can not find any recent Volvo photos. From what i understand there were originally 15 of them at First York however recently 9 of them transferred to First Aberdeen with 5 remaining left with First York and 1 seems to be missing. Perhaps someone here knows where the missing one is. It will be interesting to see if the remaining First York ones end up at First Aberdeen at some point as i thought that they wanted to eventually make the York Park & Ride 100% electric bus operated.

The missing one (11107) is still at York and has been on long term-repair since way before Covid and its sisters leaving for Aberdeen. Once the repairs are completed, it’s staying at York

One other artic that made an appearance earlier this year is owned by Completely Coach Travel of Norwich who operate a 2004 Citaro G on rail replacement work. It's also been known to operate on contracted Sunday services around the city.

The 2004 Citaro has been scrapped now I believe. Such a shame

 

[Western Sunset]

We did have a handful in Bournemouth in the early/mid 2010s - think they were London cast-offs. Largely on the university runs.

 

[JonasB]

A lot of European cities have double decker sightseeing buses which are very popular, maybe they should consider running double decker regular service buses, taking up less road space and providing more seats.

The reason stated for not using double deckers on city routes is that the stairs take up a lot of space and they spend longer at bus stops slowing down the routes. They are however being used on regional routes, mostly on routes where higher capacity is needed. (I.e. routes that should be operated by train.)

 

[AlbertBeale]

He claimed in his election propaganda that they were killers for cyclists. Unsurprisingly for a man of his character, this was a total lie, no cyclist was killed by them in TfL service

Even if no cyclist was killed by one, they were, however, far and away the most frightening type of bus for cyclists. I know people who wouldn't use combined bus-and-cycle lanes where there were bendy-bus routes. I was run into the kerb by them quite a few times - in each case I wasn't hurt only because of my quick reactions and good brakes. They also damaged pavements on tight corners and came very very close to hitting a pedestrian on one such corner within my direct experience - no doubt it happened often at the spot concerned.

I'm not (to put it mildly) in general a fan of Boris Johnson. But I think that's no reason for me to refuse to acknowledge any occasional good things he did - and getting rid of bendy-buses was one of those things.

Bendy Buses are not dangerous in any way.

They certainly felt like it for cyclists in London!

 

[johncrossley]

I know people who wouldn't use combined bus-and-cycle lanes where there were bendy-bus routes.

Buses and bikes are not suitable to be combined in the same lane. It is notable that the country with the best cycling in the world also runs a lot of articulated buses, as well as articulated trams (which nobody criticises). They don't usually allow bikes in bus lanes in the Netherlands. Perhaps it is even illegal.

 

[AlbertBeale]

Buses and bikes are not suitable to be combined in the same lane. It is notable that the country with the best cycling in the world also runs a lot of articulated buses, as well as articulated trams (which nobody criticises). They don't usually allow bikes in bus lanes in the Netherlands. Perhaps it is even illegal.

In some places in London there isn't room to have separate bus/taxi lanes and properly segregated bike lanes, unless you remove other motor vehicles in one or both directions entirely. (Not that I'd necessarily complain about that, but it tends not to happen... Instead, it's often bus users who lose out from new cycling infrastructure.)

 

[Bletchleyite]

Buses and bikes are not suitable to be combined in the same lane. It is notable that the country with the best cycling in the world also runs a lot of articulated buses, as well as articulated trams (which nobody criticises). They don't usually allow bikes in bus lanes in the Netherlands. Perhaps it is even illegal.

In NL it is a legal requirement to use a cycle facility if present, which it mostly is.

I agree combining buses and bikes doesn't work. Bikes go at a low constant speed, buses go faster but stop often. Combine them and both go slowly and stop often.

Yet cycle campaigners don't see a problem. I suspect this is because they like buses being subservient to them. Many are incredibly militant, and even as a cyclist I find I cannot in any way support them. I find it most interesting that I have had very few bad encounters with drivers when cycling on roads, but they seem to have them by the minutes. I think it is likely because they cycle aggressively rather than defensively.

 

[MotCO]

There is also a Citaro bendy bus in the Bromley Bus Preservation Group. Clearly this does not run in normal service, but may occasionally be seen at bus rallys (when it is working!).

 

[InOban]

Even if no cyclist was killed by one, they were, however, far and away the most frightening type of bus for cyclists. I know people who wouldn't use combined bus-and-cycle lanes where there were bendy-bus routes. I was run into the kerb by them quite a few times - in each case I wasn't hurt only because of my quick reactions and good brakes. They also damaged pavements on tight corners and came very very close to hitting a pedestrian on one such corner within my direct experience - no doubt it happened often at the spot concerned.

I'm not (to put it mildly) in general a fan of Boris Johnson. But I think that's no reason for me to refuse to acknowledge any occasional good things he did - and getting rid of bendy-buses was one of those things.



They certainly felt like it for cyclists in London!

I'm rather mystified by this. Since the front portion has a shorter wheelbase than a normal bus, and the rear portion is prevented by the articulation from cutting the corner, a bendy bus should cut corners much less than a normal one and be less dangerous to any cyclists on the inside.

The new Highway Code tells cyclists to use the middle of the lane and not the inside.