Bring back bendy buses to capital to attract passengers, says London assembly

Source: Xinhua| 2017-08-18 05:24:33|Editor: yan
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LONDON, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Double-deck buses are a familiar site in the British capital, but in a report Thursday the London Assembly has called for the return of "bendy buses".

The assembly's Transport Committee says single-decker articulated buses, better known as bendy buses, might be the best option on key feeder routes as they provide both a higher capacity and faster loading/unloading than London's traditional standard double decker buses.

With over two billion passenger journeys a year in London, bus usage is around double that of the London Underground. But the committee report says bus passenger numbers are in decline.

Between 2014 and 2017, the number of passenger journeys made on buses fell by six percent, blamed primarily on the rise in traffic congestion on London's roads.

The report also reveals there has been an increase in "excess wait time" for bus passengers of 20 percent in the last three years.

A spokesperson for the assembly said London mayor Sadiq Khan has set out ways in which Transport for London (TfL) will try to reverse the trend in falling bus use.

But the new report asks whether, but the measures be radical enough.

"London's bus network needs to change as the city grows and evolves and the area of London most in need of additional bus capacity is outer London," said the spokesperson.

In its second piece of important work on London's buses, the London Assembly Transport Committee report "London's bus network" tackles the difficult decisions facing the mayor and TfL.

Among the report's recommendations are improving the bus experience to attract new passengers, including the information provided online, at bus stops and on-board, and introducing Wi-Fi on buses.

It calls for a redistribution of bus capacity to outer London, saying there are currently too many buses in central London.

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