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Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Londonist is reporting that the replacement of London's articulated buses is to be deferred until 2015.

http://londonist.com/2009/06/bendy_buses_-_demise_deferred.php

As I've pointed out before, this was always to be expected, as the cost of replacing the buses with sufficient drivers and vehicles was too high. This presumably means that the money spent on the Boris' new Routemaster was also wasted.

If Boris doesn't succeed in winning a second term, that will probably end the saga of the new RMs and the current bendy-buses and their like will be with us for a long time to come.

Tags for Forum Posts: TfL, bendy buses, buses, public transport

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Clive, this idea that the streets are too narrow is a myth .. But certainly is dependent on how they are managed, policed etc., etc.,

Here is an example of a high density residential area with trams and car parking..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/isarsteve/6273456619/in/photostream/

Notice also that the pavements and/or park is not cluttered with railings and other unnecessary street furniture and the streets are not defaced with white or other coloured markings everywhere. No lamp posts either (street lighting hangs from buildings)..

Seen from another perspective here (Complete with removal van!):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/isarsteve/6306582492/in/photostream

this idea that the streets are too narrow is a myth

Some formerly narrow streets were enabled for widening, particularly around the docks, East End and the City as a result of unscheduled town planning. The urban clearances happened during September 1940 and May 1941 as a result of the aerial deployment of H.E. by a non-Empire power.

It's a case of horses for courses. Even the small buses that run on the W5 route between Sainsbury and Highgate are a little too big for the narrow streets they have to cope with.

NIce dig Clive.. You do talk a lot of rot sometimes.. You like the majority of Brits seem obsessed with the war.. the last time the UK did anything worthwhile.. it's been downhill ever since.. a very long way downhill to the idiots you've got governing the country now..

apart of course for the Suez invasion

or the fight for the Falklands

or the invasion of Iraq ..   all caused by bad British diplomacy ..


But apparently you can't trust the Germans because they are war mongers... hhmm?

Stephen do you think many things would be better in Britain if the Germans were running the show?

NB. I actually use local buses. The Bendy Buses may have some efficiencies but those extruded boxes have all the charm of a Teutonic factory. Haven't yet had the pleasure to ride on the swish new Routemaster.

You do talk a lot of rot sometimes

Possibly. But at least I didn't make the prediction at the top of this thread:

the current bendy-buses and their like will be with us for a long time to come.

I can't wait to hear your prediction for the Eurozone ;-)

You're right about the prediction but I took that from the BBC article..and no, I think the Germans are better advised to keep well out of British politics .. otherwise we'll end up paying for your wars again .. like we had to in the 1st Iraq war.. because we were apparently 'too chicken' to do our bit..  But that's British press talk - you want your cake and eat it all the time..

Ah, the so-called Eurozone crisis..? The first of the 21st century 'commodity wars'  A phony war fought out by finance markets against elected politicians..

It's been clear for about thee years that the EU would eventually take action against the speculators to restrict the markets and in the end, no doubt cut wages, bonuses and jobs in that sector. The politicians have been saying so since 2008.  So something needed to be done to save the 'jobs for the boys'  in the City of London, where 'shafting people and countries' is the name of the game, and the process of talking down the Euro began ..  the recent calls to down-rate countries in the Eurozone and not to downrate the UK with it's unhealthy economy - just made it clear to everyone what was going on.

I don't understand the UK which want to enjoy all the benefits of a free trade area but is not prepared to act in it's interests..  The calls of desperation about the UK starting trading with other countries that are continually heard do surprise me. What do you want to trade then..? You only have financial services .. Or do you think 'Duchy Biscuits' will go down well in Patagonia? Or will you start buying Indian cars instead of the all the EU built cars you currently drive?

Then there are those that cite the Norwegian & Swiss economies as models of being outside the EU.  Both countries gain from free trade agreements accepting the EUs rules.. and both countries BTW are in the Shengen agreement for (free movement of people).

As I said before, my 'Portugeuse' Euro, as well as my 'German' Euro and 'Irish' Euro still buys me more pounds than it did ten years ago..The British Government has alined itself with speculators and banks.. those that caused the problems from 2008 onwards.. It is already discovering that it made the wrong decision by walking away from the table..  and trying to take some steps backwards.. The country is being seriously delusional in thinking it can go it alone!

Just to put financial services in context, they make up about 11% of the economy. Guess those dang biscuit makers is doin' goooood!

shush Hugh .. it was a good line

the so-called Eurozone crisis..? 

Crisis? What crisis?

I suppose this is the closest we'll get to a prediction, i.e. everything continues as normal.  There will be no bank failures. No countries will drop out. Ouzo will not become cheaper (as predicted by Boris). This might well be the view from Berlin as Germany has done well from the Euro.

Meanwhile, the cost elsewhere in human terms from this grand scheme has been high. In Spain, unemployment is 20% and youth unemployment is 46%. In Greece, likewise currently locked in to the euro, the austerity measures are causing misery for ordinary people. How long will the common man tolerate this? Are these not the kind of social conditions that led to the rise of facism in the Weimar Republic?

But the question that springs to mind is why didn't being outside the Euro spare the UK?

Your data is on a par with Spain and Italy..if not lousier!

The reason is, the crisis is one cooked up by the markets.. who continue to speculate (gamble) on countries defaulting..

Stephen you don't have to be a socialist to believe that the euro is a good idea in theory and you don't have to be a banker (or speculator) to believe its a bad idea, thus far, in practice (except for Germany and two or three others).

Is it not the case that the risk of countries defaulting (in the case of Greece, the likelihood) due to speculation is far less than the risk of countries defaulting as a result of their debt mountains?

For all their past faults (and they are serious) are not the credit rating agencies now assigning ratings that reflect objective truths, ratings that cause the cost (interest rate) of new debt, or rolled over debt, to increase to prohibitive or unsustainable levels?

We have made some progress: you've acknowledged that a crisis does exist, although the real causes still seem to elude. Even Jacques Delors has begun to acknowledge the real cause!

No, I certainly  haven't agreed there really is a crisis. This is just a cooked up so-called crisis to hide the problems in the USA and to some extent the UK.

Let me remind you that there are many socialists who are rabidly anti € and bankers pro.. It has more to do with where you stand on the European ideal of .. 'eine europäische Wertegesellschaft'   - a European community of values! Something which most Anglo-saxon peoples can't grasp and to which I presume, you don't subscribe..

I get pretty sick of British journalists & media workers who live in overpriced hovels, in an overpriced smelly city with extremely high pollution levels, pre-victorian transportation standards, bad standards of health service provison, telling me how wonderful the British Economy and life in Britain is.  The Germans will certainly take no lessons from a British Government on how to run an economy and I notice that you continually avoid answering the point on why the British economy is doing so dreadfully.

Spain is in it's current position because it tried to follow the UKs 'wealth through property style of economy' - so did the Irish..  What did it give you all? Correct! A boom and bust economy.. 

Stephen you might find this BBC graphical presentation on the Eurozone "issue" helpful. (I appreciate that from your perspective, there is no "crisis" as such. The IMF's Christine Lagarde has warned of a possible return to a Great Depression. Might that not count as a crisis?) I don't think the problem is as simple as blaming the markets

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