Bendy Buses

[SatanInHeels 10]

Oooooo.. I remeber bendy busses, i was very young when they stopped running like, but they were so cool! (just thought i'd add that) X

[foxy27 10]

Werent they like the bus equivalent to the supertram....

[sarah_d 10]

We've got them in London but they kept setting on fire for a while.I know commuting isn't the greatest experience but being on fire takes the biscuit!

[367squadron 10]

i just drove past the safeway on chesterfield road and i saw a bendy bus at the bus stop..........it wasnt in service tho.....wonder wot its doin there......anyone else see it?

[AndrewM 10]

Bendy buses have a terrible consistancy to catch fire.

 

When you've seen one on fire outside the Dorchester in London you have seen it all.

[Lickszz 10]

Originally posted by foxy27

Werent they like the bus equivalent to the supertram....

 

I wouldn't describe them as that.

[andy1702 10]

Originally posted by AndrewM

Bendy buses have a terrible consistancy to catch fire.

 

When you've seen one on fire outside the Dorchester in London you have seen it all.

 

There is a design fault with the London bendys, built by Mercedes, which memans fuel pipes have a tendancy to fracture and drip diesel onto hot parts of the engine.

 

They were all temporarily withdrawn a few weeks ago for modification and are now back in service. I haven't heard of any more fires since, but I would be interested to know if there are any.

 

I also have a preserved Mercedes from the generation before the London vehicles. This too caught fire when I collected it, but for different reasons. Luckily the fire was only minor and no significant damage was done.

[Illaria 10]

I can remember going to St Thomas Moors School and our school won a competition to name one of the buses cos they all had plaques on the partition behind the driver, with a picture and the buses name.

 

We named one of them "Pegasus" can't remember any of the other names but yeah I used to love sitting in the middle and going round the corners

[shefflad 10]

first group are buying some more they cost 3/4 of a million each going on the road in sheffield next year

[Guest unners]

If my memory serves me correctly,the second batch of Bendy buses had problems with the doors not shutting when the Sun shone on the sensors on the side of the steps(this was to stop the doors being closed on people as they were getting off).I remeber the driver coming over the tanoy system asking you to press the emergency door close button!

[andy1702 10]

I don't remember anything about the doors not closing.

 

I do remember the names though. These were carried by the second generation of bendys in Sheffield. There were 13 all together, but the final 3 were 'Fastline' ones for service elsewhere (either Rotherham or Doncaster I think). They had coach seating and only two doors, while the Sheffield ones had ordinary bus seats and 3 doors. These Sheffield examples were named after clipper ships as they were used on a service known as the City Clipper. One was indeed called Pegasus (I have a feeling it was either 2007 or 2008. Others were called Queen Of Clippers, Cutty Sark and The Great Republic, which was numerically the last of the Sheffield ones, being numbered 2010 by SYT.

 

2010 was also known as 'White Lightning' by some, even though it wasn't white! But that's another story!

[hazel 11]

Am I right in thinking the Bendy buses were originally called in Sheffield "the clipper", and went round and round town continuously as a sort of Park and Ride. We used to get on free so there was a mad rush for the doors, ( ? more than 2).

There was usually on a saturdays a young man called Clive who used to ring the bell for everyone and give directions to the driver, which made for an interesing ride!

 

I remember one man died on the bus and I had visions of him going round and round before being discovered a bit like the film EL Cid.

 

Hazel