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Mayor Boris Johnson's decision to ban bendy buses will end up costing London council taxpayers.
Arriva, the capital's biggest red bus operator with 20% of the market, said today it would earn more money from a 24% rise in the mileage of its buses from substituting double-deckers for bendies on the popular route 38 through the middle of town to Victoria.
Arriva chief executive David Martin said he'd have to put on more double deckers to cope with the number of passengers who have been travelling on the larger capacity, bendies.
London bus operators get paid not by the number of passengers they carry but the amount of miles individual buses cover.
"I think... [bendies] have a place in certain urban environments and I think their ability to load passengers at the rate they do means they offer a better service than double deckers," said Martin.
"However, we will comply with the wishes of... [Transport for London] so I am ambivalent on the matter."
Growth in London bus revenues helped Arriva to record pre-tax profits of £150 million in 2008, up 30%.
Reader views (5)
Bendy Buses may not be convenient to drivers or pedestrians wishing to cross the road but they carry extra passengers and fulfil a need for easy access transport for parents and disabled users. All the people wishing to rid the capital of these bendy buses are forgetting how much these buses cost, how long has passed since they had any problems and are simply having a knee jerk reaction to change. It is logical that simply scrapping a servicable bus because it is not liked is wasteful, environmentally UNfriendly and going to hit TFL users squarely in the pocket...How smart is that?
- Sam, London, 05/03/2009 22:34
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Two things:
a) Thanks for finally covering this, it's been obvious for months that this was the inevitable result of the policy Boris proposed and London voted for in May 2008. It's good to see that the days of pretending that bendies are more expensive are over and I look forward to more balanced, accurate coverage and some holding to account of those who backed this policy.
b) It's not London council tax payers, it's London public transport users who pay since TfL's budget is fares and central grant, not council tax. The annual cost increase of just the first three routes (£3.5m per year) is about the same as running an entire new and good sized double deck route somewhere in the capital, so somewhere in the bus network someone will be short-changed by this action, having already had to swallow an 11% rise in the bus fare this year.
- Tom, London, UK, 05/03/2009 13:15
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Passengers will be paying extra council tax and also taking longer to get to work - bendy buses, whether you like them or not, hold twice the number of passengers as a double decker. This will inevitably mean a return to the days of waiting for 3 to 4 buses to drive by your stop until you can get onto one!
Well done Johnson!!
- S Adams, N16, London, 05/03/2009 13:12
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Even better idea. Lets not pay Arriva to run the buses at all. if it is going to cost 24% more lets use Arriva's profit from running the buses to pay for the increased costs.
That way the London taxpayer will still get teh improved service but at no extra cost and the only loser would be Arriva
- Rob, London, 05/03/2009 13:07
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As routes like Oxford and Regent Street are virtually nose to tail buses how could they run any more. Perhaps its time to install travellators or moving pavements or just walk.
- Jack Spratt, Richmond, England, 05/03/2009 11:51
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