The engineering that allows articulated buses to bend(theautopian.com) |
The engineering that allows articulated buses to bend(theautopian.com) |
Edit: The article has a video of this effect near the bottom.
I find it a bit freaky to be honest but you do get used to it.
The Munich bus-trailer in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IUE-yA8R1A
I guessed wrong. I still like my idea, but their solution is simpler and probably more efficient and more durable too.
https://medium.com/@MissMercedes/the-birth-of-mercedes-cb41d...
The article seemed cool but I was only able to read 20 seconds at a time between crashes.
Certainly not in London where they were famously banned in 2009.
Now days they’re uncommon throughout the UK, with UK cities having a preference for double-deckers. You do see them in use as shuttles at some UK airports, though.
They also cause problems for other road users such as cyclists.
Bendy buses work well if your city has wide straight roads. London's roads are neither.
In addition to the other reply's issues, they replaced the dirty and stinking but British-made old Routemaster buses, they were much more accessible to the disabled and babies (pushchairs), they were used successfully elsewhere in Europe, and they use more road space which could otherwise contain an important person's car.
I think they're still used in cities outside London, but that's OK since Daily Telegraph journalists never go there.
Edit: wait, I know one in Germany as well. It's expensive but between Frankfurt airport and another major city, there is a rail line but somehow the bus is significantly faster and they're using double deckers. The front row at the top was, n=3, always free for me (all four seats) so you get a quite unique experience, at least so far as my bus experiences in mainland western Europe go :)
Often true. OTOH, the reduced footprint (vs. either 1 articulated or 2 normal busses) can speeds things up, especially on cramped and congested city streets. And if you're getting near gridlock-level congestion, the length of the articulated busses can be like dumping gravel into your system's gearbox.
cant they just put another entry door?
Double-deckers are cool, I’ll grant you that. And a very nice way to visit a city. But they are far, far less efficient in terms of capacity.
> need a large harmonica to deal
I'd guess you mean "large accordion". Either way, the size & complexity of that joint section may be why the idea never went anywhere.
My local transit agency just stopped allowing rear door boarding, and that was one of the main reasons: https://waypointblog.com/capmetro-is-ending-rear-door-boardi...
People want to get to work on time after all. Entering and leaving the tram or bus through all door is a simple way to improve public transports reliability.
I didn't know until now that they're only common in Britain. I guess when travelling you don't notice things like "there aren't many double decker buses".
the trolleys were basically replacements for trams, which needed a lot of street furniture in the form of rails, points, etc. which caused problems for the increasing use of cars. but i always liked them (trolleys).