cav551:
Dennis Javelin:
cav551:
Burnley & Pendle was one of several bus companies which operated ex London Routemasters after deregulation of the bus industry.That’s what can happen when you build a bus that’s made to last. I’ll wager that none of the Borismasters ever see service when their life in London is over. £350k per bus and it only has an expected life of 14 years ago. He should have been hauled over the coals for that montrosity. Very few of them ever use all the doors and most of the time they are running on full diesel power as the hybrid system is [zb].
Funny that, almost as much hatred and vilification is now directed at the Borisbus as was initially by Grey Thompson and Tatchell at the proper Routemaster. You could I suppose add in Hendy and Daniels, with their now somewhat hypocritical volte-face. Although the NBFL was a vanity project from Johnson, I think that aesthetically it is a LOT better than everything else on the road, and he was correct in taking the view that the Capital needs a distinctive looking vehicle. The decision by khan to halt production was a typically vindictive and predictable measure from such a little man. I rather like the vehicle and am convinced that we shall see a significant turn out when the last one is finally withdrawn from service.
The decision to halt production was down to the fact that bus was overpriced - twice the price of a conventional decker - for what you were getting, was continually unavailable for service and had little to no resale value. Ironically the Iatest designs of conventional deckers from Alexander Dennis closely resemble the Borismaster so the look will stay the same but the product had been vastly improved and at a huge price difference. I don’t doubt that Khan took delight in cancelling it but whatever hue the Mayor was the decision would have been the same. Boris took the greatest delight in telling Londoners that he was replacing the feared (but actually quite useful in terms of moving people) bendi-bus. What he failed to mention was that the replacement would be a financial disaster. Wrightbus should never have been given the contract and, in my opinion, they wouldn’t have if their location was anywhere other the Northern Ireland. The had next to no experience of designing a vehicle from the ground up and it eventually led to their demise.