Articulated buses in London



Articulated buses, popularly called bendy-buses, were introduced to London in June 2002 when the then Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, introduced new Mercedes-Benz Citaros to Red Arrow commuter services 507 and 521.

While articulated bus operation had been standard in many other countries, the UK had only sparingly tried their use.Therefore, the introduction of the type in London caused a lot of press attention.

As part of his 2008 Mayoral campaign, in 2007 Boris Johnson pledged to withdraw bendy buses and introduce a modern replacement of the Routemaster bus. In 2009, the first three bendy bus routes were to be replaced with conventional low-floor single and double decker buses, and a prototype for a Future Routemaster was to be on the streets by 2012.

Background
Articulated buses have been introduced on several major, high-capacity routes in the 2000s, coinciding with withdrawal from passenger service of the Routemaster bus from the streets. The Routemasters, involving a step upwards and poor accessibility did not conform to the Disability Discrimination Act. There was also the risk of litigation over accidents involving the Routemaster's rear open platform.

Articulated buses with multiple doors and simultaneous boarding arrangements are capable of loading and off-loading many more passengers in less time than conventional double decker buses and Routemasters. Articulated buses also have a much higher passenger capacity, being able to carry over 140 people per vehicle compared to 77 in a Routemaster although the proportion of standing passengers is increased.

Articulated buses take up more road space per vehicle (18 metres or 59 feet long compared to 9.1 metres or 30 feet for a Routemaster and 10 metres or 33 feet for a double decker), although in terms of road surface used per passenger, there is little difference between double decker buses (which stack passengers vertically on two floors) and articulated buses - 11.8 cm road surface length per Routemaster passenger against 12.8 cm per articulated bus passenger: 8.7% more.

The increased vehicle size means they are more likely to block junctions and cause difficulties for other road users. Press coverage regarding cyclists and motorcyclists has been generally negative due to the reduced viewpoint of the driver and greater likelihood of cyclists to enter blind spots.

Fires
During the initial stages of deployment of the articulated buses, between December 2003 and March 2004 there were three similar fires on the new Mercedes-Benz Citaro buses, causing concern over the possibility of an in-built risk to the public. In one incident, a bus caught fire on its delivery route to its operator. The fires caused the temporary withdrawal and modification of the entire fleet of 130 buses, and some fixed standard Citaro buses.

The buses, which were dubbed by the London Evening Standard as "Ken's chariots of fire", were brought back into service after engineers replaced and modified problematic pipework in the bus engines. A later fire was ruled out as unconnected. A TfL spokesman stated that "Fires on all buses are rare, and bendy buses are no more prone to such incidents than other bus models".

Increased fare evasion
The introduction of articulated buses has increased fare evasion as passengers are able to enter through any door, leading to the buses becoming known to Londoners as "The Free Bus". On other UK buses (including articulated buses outside London), entry is only permitted via the front entrance, which is monitored by the driver and thus discourages evasion. As a result, Transport for London recruited an extra 150 Revenue Protection Inspectors to police revenue collection.

Safety criticisms
Opponents of articulated buses claim that they have a poor safety record. The London Evening Standard has claimed that they are involved in 75% more collisions than other buses. TfL has disputed this, pointing out that as there are more articulated buses, they encounter more road users.

In September 2007, Boris Johnson, the Conservative Party candidate for the 2008 Mayor of London elections has said that his first act as mayor of London will be to scrap bendy buses and replace them with a 'modern-day Routemaster' with an open rear platform and a conductor, describing the articulated buses as 'cyclist killing'. The then incumbent, Ken Livingstone, pointed out that no London cyclist had ever been killed by an articulated bus. During the televised mayoral debate on 8 April 2008, Jeremy Paxman asked Johnson what the cost of his proposal would be twelve times but received no answer.

Planned withdrawal
In August 2008, following the election of Boris Johnson as Mayor of London, it was announced the bendy buses would be withdrawn as their 5 year operating contracts came to an end, starting from May 2009, and completed by 2013 (or 2015 depending on contract extensions). Transport for London now intends to withdraw all articulated vehicles by 2011.

Research by London TravelWatch has indicated that such a withdrawal could prove costly to TfL. A study conducted in September 2008 found that replacing articulated vehicles on routes 38, 507, and 521, whilst maintaining overall route capacity, would cost an additional £12.6m per annum, due to the additional vehicles necessitated.

The first articulated vehicles to be replaced were those on route 507, which were replaced by twelve-metre long single-deck buses in July 2009. Route 521 was converted to operate with similar buses in September 2009. Articulated buses were replaced by double-deckers on route 38 in November 2009. Route 149 was converted to double deck on 16 October 2010, and route 18 on 13 November 2010. In both cases the peak vehicle requirement increased.

On 25 June 2011, Route 25 was taken over by First Capital from Stagecoach London and was converted to double deck,

On 3 September 2011, Route 73 was converted to double deck.

Route 453 will be going on 24 September 2011, route 12 will be going on 15 November 2011, route 436 will be going on 19 November 2011, route 29 will be going on 26 November 2011 and route 207 will be leaving the streets on the last day of the year, 31 December 2011

Withdrawn buses have already found their way to other parts of the UK with some going to Arriva Midlands in Leicester, some going to Arriva in Liverpool, some going to Brighton and Hove and some will be going out of the UK to Arriva in Malta.