Huge coup for Wrightbus – from Ballymena to Battersea?
From the Evening Standard’s Londoner’s Diary
*LORD Foster’s architectural firm has been dropped from Boris Johnson’s project to design a new Routemaster bus, despite having won the design competition back in 2008. The Mayor’s Transport for London (TfL) has instead awarded an £8 million contract to design and build five of the new buses by 2012 to Northern Ireland-based Wrightbus.
Getting rid of the unloved bendy buses and the reintroduction of a modern version of the hop-on, hop-off Routemaster were among the central planks of Boris’s mayoral campaign in May 2008, some of which he famously conducted from the rear platform of one of the few remaining in service.
His predecessor, Ken Livingstone, was much derided for getting rid of the Routemasters in 2005, having previously said that “only a ghastly, dehumanised moron” would do such a thing.
In December 2008, the mayor announced Foster + Partners and Aston Martin as joint winners alongside bus-design firm Capoco. Foster’s design featured cream leather seating, wooden floors and a glazed roof. But a TfL spokesman has now told the Architects’ Journal: “Neither the Foster nor the Capoco concepts will be used.”
Wrightbus’s working design, which will be unveiled next month, is understood to have a limited “open” platform to the rear and two staircases.
Thank you, Brian, Good news indeed, Good old boris.
Great news however it was originally announced in December 2009 so in reality old news.
I look forward to these new Ballymena-designed London Routemasters, the new 21st century British design icon!
Well done Wrightbus. Presumably they have put the bad reputation behind them.
Hop on , hop off frequently, Londoners.
I rather liked the idea of having Aston Martin buses.
The bendy buses are far too long for London streets and though Ken had the noble idea of speeding up entry and exit, too many passengers decided they were free since they did not have their tickets checked when they got on. They cost TfL a fortune in lost fares.
However if the Wrightbus replacement requires a conductor as well as a driver then that will double the cost of running the bus, and the Routemaster conductors rarely checked every ticket. And having two staircases will reduce the amount of seating – I look forward to seeing the design. I suspect that this may again be another one of Boris’s a half-cocked ideas.
However, it is good it will create employment and money for NI.
The ‘unloved bendy buses’? Who said so? Not those who used them, to find them replaced by less convenient, more polluting single-deckers with fewer seats.
The whole ‘unloved bendy buses’ was a magnificent but flawed piece of lying propaganda. All those dead cyclists? Not one existed in reality. London bus deaths are up 8% for 2009 (including the odd one caused by falling down the stairs of a double-decker–not a common event on a bendy). All the zillions lost on avoided fares? Another piece of truth-improvement. For those really interested, “Tom” regularly pontificates on the technicalities of London bus operations for boriswatch.co.uk.
London’s loss has been Brighton’s gain, apparently. It may also be the case that all those ‘unloved bendy buses’ will be required back in London for the Olympics. There will still be far more ‘unloved bendy buses’ than a precious few ‘Routemaster replacements’ in service when we kick out Blasted Boris.
As for the Wrightbus ‘Routemaster replacement’, its near-relative is already in operation. In Kowloon. The London version will differ by having an amazing peg-back rear door. A major engineering feat, no doubt (especially since Volvo determine the essential geometry). Now calculate the costs and the double-manning thereof.
Finally, has Wrightbus improved its “equal opportunities” policy? Last I heard, there was a distinct asymmetry between the make-up of its work-force and that of the local populace.
TellMeMa @ 06:46AM
Horses for courses? Look at the routes on which the articulated buses run, and, in the case of the 38, ran. On the 38, 47 Citaro “bendies”, providing a peak two-minute service interval, had to be replaced by 68 double-deckers, and a less frequent service. It should have been 72 vehicles: that was another Boris “cut”, but — hey! — the 38 runs through areas which wouldn’t vote for Boris.
Now, for your party-piece, drive a ‘Routemaster replacement’ through the Strand underpass.
The bendy buses are far too long for London streets
Eh? If london streets are too short for the buses then they have more corners, which bendy buses are made for.
Wright bus’s bendy urban road tram thing for Las Vegas is a great concept. Lots of room, cheaper than trams and quicker to introduce into cities.
Great company.
What’s next? The executive commuter bus with wi-fi, filtered air, big seats for fat banker bums, and free cappuccino’s and croissants served for the lisburn to belfast traffic jam?
Wonder if Boris knows about Wrights hiring practices.
Anybody know how that situation resolved itself, if in fact it ever has?
Aul Willie has done well for Ballymena and “Wrightbus” is the best design buses in europe.
As for the articulate buses they shiping a load of them to Las Vegas, a fabulous looking and also ecgo frendly bus.
Joe
What “bad reputation behind them” are you talking about as they have a record of producing a high quality bus and have been in the top three coach manufactures in europe for the last 8/10 years and have given employment to not only to the Ballymena area but also the most of counties Antrim/Londonderry & even into Co. Down regardless of their colour or cread
“9.Wonder if Boris knows about Wrights hiring practices”
PE,
Something the Republic’s government missed?
http://tinyurl.com/yzbbvbo
Ah the good old hop on hop off London buses . I recall waiting for the 137 forever only to be served by three of them arriving simultaneously. And waiting for the 19 on the Kings Road was to forever see no end of No 22′s pass by and vice versa. The bus timetable was a work of fiction and probably only exceeded in imagination by CIE or the West Clare railway of Percy French fame
Has it improved by any chance ?
Sad to see the RM are still spining and are shy with the truth when it comes to employment
Wow Brian. What a coup.Your story (copied from the Evening Standard) only lagged Wrightbus’s own press release of 23 December 2009 by a mere 3 months.
http://www.wrightbus.com/site/default.asp?CATID=9
Nice to see you maintaining the journalistic standards we have so come to admire
Marlagh
>>Sad to see the RM are still spining and are shy with the truth when it comes to employment<<
Fire away with that “truth”
Oneil
Hoors as you well know, but I’m still left bereft not knowing if Boris is aware of their history, if it is indeed history. I do not know, perhaps Marlagh will enlighten us.
PE you keep spining the lies and I will keep telling the truth.
Marlagh
Blowhards tend to talk a lot about truth and lies, I am sure you do not fit the criteria to be labelled as such. Thus if you could enlighten me as to what is truth and what is lies, I would be mightily obliged……….honest!
Well I am waiting to here of the “Wrights hiring practices that Dublin missed” when Dublin Bus gave their order to Wrightbus
oh dear Marlagh, relying on some hoors in Dublin to bodyswerve your “truth and lies” shite. i am bored now anyways so it is your choice whether you chosse to furnish us with the details.
Fair do’s, but out of interest I can guess by your attitude that you care not, but are you even aware of this company’s previous employment practices? Or is this me at the “lies” again? *groans*
Marlaghman,
It wasn’t their buses that had a bad reputation but their hiring practices and behaviour of one or two staff.
Know of them well as I have had the pleasure to have work for them and know the truth not the RM spin
PE
“Hoors as you well know, but I’m still left bereft not knowing if Boris is aware of their history, if it is indeed history”
They may well be but I can’t see both them and particularly the London Mayor’s office both turning a blind eye to that kind of alleged practise in 2010.
A bit of trivia, I didn’t care much for it myself, finding only the miserable old inspector in the least bit funny, but “On the Buses” was a huge hit in N.A.
Joe
Is your good lady hame safe and well yet? I hope she realises what she put you through and vicariously us the readers of your angst ridden posts on the Pissing about with parades thread.
Just don’t let her go gallivantin and spendin all the weans inheritance money again ;¬)
Oneil
>>They may well be but I can’t see both them and particularly the London Mayor’s office both turning a blind eye to that kind of alleged practise in 2010.<<
Now you are at the “lies” as well (well according to Marlagh)
See that was what the jist of my query was about, to see if it is still going on. Far be it from me to hold up London Tories or some Dublin hoors as moral gauges in these matters. I remember the furore from years ago and was hoping that someone could let me know how or if the situation was resolved to a reasonable degree.
PE,
“I remember the furore from years ago and was hoping that someone could let me know how or if the situation was resolved to a reasonable degree”
The Fair Employment Tribunal has got nothing on them, so I am guessing the answer must be “yes”
http://tinyurl.com/yee4tdx
Thats correct oneill their a “Fair Employer”.
THe RM spin fron David McKay did not stand up
Malcolm Redfellow @post 6, page 1: Are you taking the piss?
The ‘unloved bendy buses’? Who said so? Not those who used them
Yeah, those who did not pay for their tickets would love them. They get really crowded, and I like the upstairs part of older buses so I can more easily avoid the crowds – and get a better view, even if it is the same one I have seen 100s of times.
Also the bus drivers like them because they get around double pay than if they drove ordinary buses.
I like the newer double deckers with only one driver. They are roomier and have more comfortable seats than the old Routemasters which had really steep stairs and only one bell on the top floor – right next to the stairs or somewhere therabouts as it tended to be in different places. Most people did not know the bell was there.
a piece of lying propaganda
Probably exaggerated, but not lying. I voted for Ken and am really disappointed he did not get in. One thing I disagreed with him though was about those bendy buses. If he had been re-elected he may well have reviewed their use. Even politicians can make mistakes, you know.
All those dead cyclists? Not one existed in reality.
I didn’t die, Malcolm but I was squashed in between the end of a bendy bus and the railings. The bus driver tooted at me on my bike (so he knew I was there), then proceeded at speed to stop at the bus stop I was at the end of. I had to go backwards to extricate myself. This is just one of many instances cyclists have had with those bendys.
The bendys are longer than most semi-trailers.
All the zillions lost on avoided fares? Another piece of truth-improvement.
Disagree with you Malcolm. I was on a crowded bendy one Saturday and three ticket inspectors got on. Someone opened a door with an emergency release, then half, yes half, of the passengers got off and ran away. One ticket inspector told me this was normal.
London bus deaths are up 8% for 2009 (including the odd one caused by falling down the stairs of a double-decker—not a common event on a bendy)
Falling down stairs might not be a common event on a bendy, but catching alight is. Several passenger-filled buses destroyed or damaged by “spontaneous” combustion while travelling along those narrow streets. Fortunately the fires did not combust quickly, but they sure would have scared the passengers who managed to escape.
As for the Wrightbus ‘Routemaster replacement’, its near-relative is already in operation. In Kowloon. The London version will differ by having an amazing peg-back rear door. A major engineering feat, no doubt
Ha. I look forward to seeing the design when it is released.
Reading all of the other comments in this thread, I cannot but wonder if the whole Wrightbus thing was organised by Boris in the hope that Conservatives, along with their UUP allies, will get more votes in the next election. Are Wrightbus factories are in Unionist areas? – though that may be irrelevant if the project is providing jobs to unemployed others and who may be grateful for that.
Malcolm Redfellow: Now, for your party-piece, drive a ‘Routemaster replacement’ through the Strand underpass.
I don’t think the Strand underpass has ever been a part of a bus route, Malcolm. There would not be enough passengers and if it did use it, it would miss three stops.
I don’t miss the Routemasters, they were old, badly designed and their engines were not environmentally friendly. They should be (and most of them were) replaced by newer double deckers with no conductor.
A lot of the smaller buses (single deck, smaller than Routemasters) are now electric or hybrid vehicles and are very quiet. These buses get used on small roads in the suburbs.
Greenflag: The bus timetable was a work of fiction and probably only exceeded in imagination by CIE or the West Clare railway of Percy French fame
Has it improved by any chance ?
Yes and no. Buses are more frequent (I say reservedly) but there are a couple of new tricks:
1. Stopping the buses “to regularise the service” So that all the passengers have to sit and wait sometimes several times on a route so the bus is not ahead of its timetable, not caring that passengers may be trying to get to an appointment on time, etc.
I was on one bus which did this until the next bus caught up with it, then I think it went over the speed limit a lot to stay ahead till the end of the route. Maybe it is just a game for the drivers. on the other hand with satellite tracking it may not be.
2. Ending a route early. All passengers have to get off and wait for the next bus, sometimes for ages. This again to “regularise the service”.
The last thing bus companies think of are the passengers actually travelling on a bus.
On the underground (and trains now), with the advent of Oyster there is another gotcha and that is afternoon travel between 16:00 and 19:00. If you are a pay-as-you-go traveller and start your train journey between those times you will be charged at peak rates, ie around £7 instead of £5. If you have a bus journey before 9:30 then take a train between those afternoon hours you will also be charged at peak rates. And your Oyster runs out of money or goes negative and you don’t realise that until late at night far away from any ticket office. You could be stranded…..
The best way to travel in London is by bicycle. And your own bike, not a rent one Boris proposes as it will cost a lot of money if you use it for more than half an hour. So take your bike with you when you are next visiting London. It is quite a compact city being only 33 x 25 miles within the M25.
On bicycle riding in London:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/20/cycling-london-hg-wells
(comments, not just article)
You’ll all know the old saw about realising you were getting old when the police started looking younger than you. That phenomenon didn’t actually worry me at all; but recent visits to London have, and the new Wright contract has compounded my complex. Because I have to admit that I’m old enough to have worked in London when the very first Routemasters were taking to the streets!
I wonder does management still allow the workforce to ‘down tools’ and travel in convoy to take down tricolours in Ballymena?
Now Stewart these are the lies I am talking about. The truth is not hard to tell
Marlaghman: what is the truth?
I don’t know anything about Wrightbus except that it has a contract from a Tory Mayor to build buses for London.
And that apparently its HQ is in Ballymena.
Best bus design in europe, works out of Ballymena Co. Antrim, is a fair employer and employies from the co’s. Antrim / Londonderry / Down area. Will employ tradesmen/semi-skilled if the they meet their standards.
If locals don’t apply they wont get a job.
So they had to look to the uk and europe for workers
David McKay PSF said they did not employ enough catholic’s, but as I said if you do not apply you will not get an interview.