London Mayor, Boris Johnson, has revealed the real reason he wants to get rid of the so called “Bendy Buses” in London is because of a major financial flaw in the design which is losing TFL millions of pounds.
The bendy buses which as their name suggests, bend in the middle were designed to bring more public transport seats to London without increasing the number of actual buses, but they’ve never exactly been popular with the many Londoners.
When Boris came to power he immediately promised to get rid of them, but it turns this wasn’t becauseof the design or their mysterious ability to catch fire, but more because of a massive oversight by the designers – a ticket machine at the back of the bus.
The machine deals with Oyster Cards, but as the passengers don’t have to pass the driver it’s quite easy to avoid paying any fare at all, and much harder for ticket inspectors to instantly check. According to a new report, this oversight contributed to London buses losing around £40 million in revenue last year alone!
The London Tube network which is also run by Transport for London, lost an estimated £20 million to fare dodgers, despite the fact that over 20,000 people were prosecuted for not paying and 98,000 were given on the spot £50 fines. We assume the latter was for using tickets beyond the London Underground travelzone.
In total there are around 250 inspectors on the London Underground and 220 inspectors on the buses checking tickets, but there are plans to increase this significantly.
Oyster cards give discounted travel on most London buses, the Docklands Light Railway and London Underground.
