Never having had an interest in buses, I came across your channel by accident, and was surprised at how interesting, and informative your comentary is. Well done Pal, you have a new convert.
Now i travelled all the way from Cardiff to travel on this bus because i liked the idea of it and i was very impressed with the bus , when me and my friend travelled on it we travelled from Crystal Palace and were talking to a member of the go ahead staff who was monitoring the time taken for the bus to get charged as you can imagine the power draw on a cold day can be quite a lot and the charge took about 8-10 minutes. on the day that i travelled on it the screens that showed the stops wasn't turned on and it was interesting to see where you were. I noticed that it was quite nippy and you didn't really feel that you were travelling , the seats i thought were quite comfy compared to some of the seating on modern trains. great video
Nice review. I took this from Bromley to Anerley and it was really nice, felt futuristic. I didn't find the seats all that bad or the main lights, but I think over time it would become more obvious. It's not a local to me, so I doubt I'll know. I'd recommend checking out an old bus, the Optare Olympus, if that interests you. There's a small fleet limited to the 151 now and their time is almost gone, being nearly 16 years old.
Manufacturers allow high level of customizations, especially of the interior of the bus, like seats, pols, screens, lighting etc so it's the operator that desudes and the more basic settings are the cheapest. We have those in Barcelona (but the bendy 18m ones) and they are great. As for the doors, since we can use the first back door to enter (our buses have 3 doors forcthe 12m and 4 for the 18m) the front door is not a problem.
Coaches use swing-plug doors to make that shape work. That means instead of the swung-in door as of now you would reduce width with a pole holding the door. So no space won. And for a sliding-plug door like you imagine, the door needs to be equally long at the upper and lower end, because with both ends moving the same distance, the slide rails need to be the same length.
Congratulations on reaching 5,000 subscribers. I do appreciate your videos and content. I personally think that TfL would spend more money on buying more new battery powered buses to replace the older diesel buses that are operating across London. And London wants to become a greener cleaner city.
"The screens are necessary features on buses, giving people a visual aid to know where they are." Bus operators in Essex: "We're gonna pretend we didn't hear that."
Your channel is awesome bro u do give in depth and detailed info on buses which there is a lack for in this community, stuff on buses are barely explained here which i hate
irizar are mainly a coach company and have bought out all their suppliers including door manufacturer masats (by the way, Irizar is pronounced i r i z R)
I agree with Nathan. For an electric vehicle that needs to conserve power, bright lighting is not the way to go. Also the colour temperature of the light should be warm, so easier on the eyes. That can be fixed. The front door design and how it opens, definitely was not thought out. Nathan, you should have been on the design committee. 😂
To be honest, I did notice after I had made this review that some drivers turn the lights down so it isn't as intense and is more warm. Also I should be shouldn't I aha!
ooh wow they look futuristic but also looks like something from teletubbies I can't explain why they just do. I like how clean and snazzy the interior looks. I don't like the screens though, they should have thought them through a bit more. I love that the seats aren't fabric, easier to clean
That front door will be restrictive also for school kids with their sports bags I suspect. I wonder if all the glass it might be quite hot to ride in during the summer months? One for those summer reviews ... take a thermometer 😆
I was thinking of all the suitcases and shopping trolleys you see on buses in south London. Love the charging, but that design wouldn't work round here.
@@networknathan But airconditioning would mean no ventilation and everyone will breathe the same recirculated air and that's why we get more colds etc. in the winter.
Good video Nathan. Would be interested in the air conditioning this bus has, that is if the wildows are locked. Will have to get on one on a cold frosty morning, to see if it warms the bus up at the start of its day, like some electric cars do.
I hope we won't get air conditioning cooling on buses here because that would usually mean no windows that open so we all breathe the same recirculated air and all catch the same cold or flu or worse that an infected pasenger or driver might have.
Another good review, I popped over to Elmers End from Deptford last week to have a look and trip on the bus, loved the look, though confirmed my prejudice in favour of trams, wish the tram at Beckenham had been pushed through to Lewisham. But wish I had seen your review before having a trip on it, your + and - points were excellent. Cheers mate.
That is a really great looking bus! It will be a design classic. As a cyclist I quite like those wheel covers because they look less threatening that a big steel wheel with wheel nuts spinning around. I don't fancy colliding with either but if I had to choose I'd opt for the wheel covers on that bus.
I like that they actually look new, rather than the other new Chinese buses, which already look 15 years old. I hope they get more of these on other routes.
looking at the weight of the coach doors that swing out and additional power required and the fact that a coach only usually stops a handful of times compared to a bus in which a heavy opening door opening so many times could be a considerable drain on the battery..... just a thought!!
I do like the new battery powered buses and it’s great to have new battery buses for London. But also there were plans for hydrogen buses to be used across London to replace older diesel buses.
I'd rather have nice, clean white walls and a simple interior compared to the ugly blue/yellow/random colours on almost every other bus. The seats are plain but also seem easier to clean than traditional cloth seats
I personally disagree. Having limited colour and pattern on the interior of any public transport or infrastructure depresses me. And even if the colours maybe considered ‘ugly’ or ‘random’, the presence of colour interesting pattern, as opposed to clinical greys and whites, I feel helps my mental health.
They could kind of solve the door problem by turning the 358 into a sort of BRT route with Oyster readers at stops, so you pay before you board and you can board through any door. Assuming they dont want to do anything about the front door.
@@noahottin4015 I don’t think the door is a problem at all though. Everyone needs to tap in with oysters / show a travel pass to the driver when entering, and this only happens one-at-a-time on any London bus. So having the door the same size as the queue isn’t a big deal
Good analysis but I have a few more points to add: Very fast acceleration 👍 I don't how long the wheel covers will last before they get scuffed or cracked🤷♂️ There are serious issues with the battery range so even when they go for a top up at either end of the route, they end up curtailing due to lack of charge 👎When a bus is running too late, the driver can't make up time at the stands and regulate because the buses need to charge👎 Lastly, the pantograph chargers at the stands are operated by Bluetooth which isn't very reliable as I've been told by drivers (which is rubbish when the bus needs to be charging for at least 10 mins at the stand)👎
Maybe the bland seat covering is because the are not owned by go? Or still in experiment so they didn't go down moquette and stuck to supplier pleather.
Agree - the narrow front entry is a significant design error, and could/should be re-engineered on any Mk 2 version. Likewise, the step-up to rear seats for those with mobility issues, is no improvement on the old 358's. . Other points: low ambient noise, pretty good suspension, and good acceleration - though the braking can be a bit harsh. Thank's for your excellent review.
Coach doors dont' have to open and close as often as a bus door, so reliability of the mechanism might be an issue. I agree with you about the single door though, it is impractical and makes me wonder who actually selects the buses for London streets - are normal bus passengers involved in the process? Aside from these issues the idea of a tram-bus seems to be to be a daft exercise in style over function. It's a bus, no need to style if to look like a tram, that's just an unnecessary and impractical novelty. All the benefits you mention could be applied to a regular electric bus design.
The sensor at the backdoor gets easily 'blocked' by passengers and would not close esp if it's packed. I got on this on it's 2nd day out in the wild and the driver got frustrated (eventually) after having to shout multiple times to passengers in multiple stops to not stand so close to the sensors :) Overall though, I like it!
Thank you Nathan. I went for a ride on the electric bus to try it out. I am not a very critical person and there is only one thing I found objectionable. The *maximum rate of acceleration* (from a standing start) is excessive. Drivers have control over acceleration, of course, but I reckon they usually like to give it the works. Passengers who have not found seats have to hang-on for dear life. Especially if they are elderly or infirm. Whereas internal combustion engines have zero torque at zero rpm, an electric motor can have maximum torque at zero rpm. And there is no clutch, so the motor is geared directly to the wheels. Older readers might remember the double-decked trolley buses that had the same problem. If you were half way up the stairs when it took off then heaven help you.
Fabulous looking bus, love the 1930s vibe, but 100% agree it should have a front door like a coach, unbelievable that the designers didn't see that as an issue!
Nice white interior, great for marks and scuffs, and big windows to let the bus heat up a lot in the summer. Front door is ridiculous. Overdesigned and form beats function in this case. Good review, didn't know about this.
my favourite thing about the ibus display having the status of the tube network is that, currently the only route to run the ietram is the 358, which goes through the one part of london notorious for having absolutely no tube stations. also, having taken the ietram once for a fair chunk of its journey, i honestly didn't particularly find the seats super uncomfortable. i can agree with the lighting though, i wish the leds did more, because they're probably my favourite part of the interior
I think it’s a good job it isn’t single door, personally I would have designed a normal width front door and extended the bodywork to encompass it. This seems to be an expensive example of style over substance. Wait until one has an accident, it won’t be cheap or easy to repair.
That front door 😅 here is Washington to we have a few buses with one front door panned bus it swings and it’s curved with the front window of the motor coach.
Caught one the other day (from Crystal Palace). Agree with your review except about the exterior looks, I don't like the look & on the bus I caught the wheel cover was already damaged. It will age badly I fear. The info screen is the best I have seen on any bus - shows the next 2 or 3 stops. I found it comfortable too, quiet and smooth. The front door is odd, I saw a few people struggle a bit getting in with bags - not super bad, but just a bit awkward. The worst part, and I suspect it's a big problem, is that on my return trip there was a service gap over 30 mins (supposed to be 8 to 12 mins gap). The 358 has always been clunky with occasional big gaps, but never had that. Judging on my trip from CP I suspect the charging times are not correctly accounted for (it was a very cold day so maybe they had to charge for longer?) As an occasional user I will keep my eye on the gaps. A general point, can TfL please put card readers in the disabled area so disabled and pushchair users can tap it without the faff of getting their card to the reader by the driver.
Tried the 358 from Crystal Palace today. First bus was diesel. Second bus went on to the charger, pan came down and went straight back up. Bus is reversed out and they try again, same result. Sent out of service to the garage. Third bus comes on and charges ok. You can hear a marked hum from the transformer as it pumps the enery into the bus. Even if you can get your pushchair throught he front doors it won't get between the seats.
It can get crowded, and the “on-off switch” acceleration/braking can be a bit uncomfortable when standing. The suspension reminds me a bit of the old 663 trolley bus (and travel sickness as a child). You can’t see through the back, so don’t know if it’s worth making a dash for the 54 coming up from behind. …and they seem to be breaking the route up more frequently since the new buses were introduced, which can be a pain as everyone has to get off and wait for the next one to continue their journey. But on the whole, it’s a pretty good and frequent service from something like 4.30 in the morning till about 1 am.
It's a nice bus, but it's still a bus. I really wish they'd just give people the trams they want instead, and not try and trick people into thinking that a bus is a tram. Especially because it never works
Nice vid I've taken the bus full route but the windows don't open and the air condition wouldn't work and then condensation acted and I couldn't see outside the bus
I absolutely hate the narrow door as there's no handrail on the left hand side and the one on the right is attached to the door and is not very stable. Worse still, the step is higher than on other buses and if you're heavy and slightly disabled like me, they are difficult to get on. Impossible, if you're carrying heavy shopping. I had to ask the gentleman behind me to help me up. I think they would have let me on through the back doors if there has been no-one to help. I found the seats quite comfortable and I love the red lighting!
Bucket seats don't work for me at all. I'm tall, wide, and deep. I get poked from all angles by handles, headrests, ventilation skirtings, seat shells ..
i wonder if the bland interiors are because they don't expect these machines to stay in London very long ... so they need to make them easier to resell to another country?
Great job again Nathan 🙌🏼…Would love to see you reviewing Hong Kong buses🇭🇰…you’d be fan-boying so hard! 😂The UK made some amazing features for the HK market (like this vid from 1998 on a Dennis Trident with Duple Metsec body: 1min30sec th-cam.com/video/S9vEbIht1JY/w-d-xo.htmlsi=bh_eq20TCfSJ93qd)
I really don't like the fake streamlining of the bus, like it is a high speed train. All those curved panels are going to be difficult for a repair shop to reproduce. In your external shots of the bus, it looked like the diagonal pillars that hold up the roof are obstructing a fair bit of the view the driver has to the front-right. I'm not sure if that is better or worse than other busses. Those low-level side windows are bad. Super-bad. The people who designed this bus were probably men as they have put in a crap ton of viewing windows at skirt height, using clear glass. TfL need to get the maintenance staff in the bus garage to put some frosted anti-upskirt film over those windows. It's a shame you don't have a friend that is a wheelchair user. I'd love to see how the wheelchair ramp compares against other TfL busses (both from the point of view of someone using the ramp and from the point of view of other passengers who might get delayed if the ramp is slow). A lot of transport TH-camrs talk about the noise that various trains make. You talk about bell noises. But I'd love to know which busses have beep-beep wheelchair ramp noises and mechanical ramp noises that sound good...and which ones sound dire. Last but not least, "Tram-Bus" is not a thing. It's not a tram. It's not a multi-part bus that looks like a tram from the inside. It's a red jelly mold on half-hidden wheels. It's good that TfL is trying out charging technology, but they need to put it onto sensible vehicles next time.
Theres one door???? Thats going to be a disaster going forward.......they should take them off the roads and change it(easier said than done). Edit citaros are still used by the 108 to stratford international!
@@networknathan Payment however is basically impossible for the wheelchair user unless you have someone with you as you can't get near the driver.... (London buses often assume wheelchair users have a pass but unfortunately it isn't true)
These are absolutely ugly 🤮🤮 I'm not a fan of those IEs at all, look like they could be bad for accidents tbh, use to use the 358 from crystal palace to Bromley n Orpington, but these, no, not for me, I agree with you, they're horrible
Never having had an interest in buses, I came across your channel by accident, and was surprised at how interesting, and informative your comentary is. Well done Pal, you have a new convert.
RT and RF types got me hooked .... which goes to show (a) how pervasive the condition is *and* (b) how ruddy old I am!!
Nathan, I really enjoyed this video! I used to take the 358 to school and now I’ve got a reason to take it again!
Thanks and I'm glad. Have a fun ride!!
Happy 10K subscribers!
Thank you :)
@ No problem, great content!
Now i travelled all the way from Cardiff to travel on this bus because i liked the idea of it and i was very impressed with the bus , when me and my friend travelled on it we travelled from Crystal Palace and were talking to a member of the go ahead staff who was monitoring the time taken for the bus to get charged as you can imagine the power draw on a cold day can be quite a lot and the charge took about 8-10 minutes. on the day that i travelled on it the screens that showed the stops wasn't turned on and it was interesting to see where you were. I noticed that it was quite nippy and you didn't really feel that you were travelling , the seats i thought were quite comfy compared to some of the seating on modern trains. great video
Cant wait to see the train that looks like a Plane ✈. lol 😂
the original bullet trains???
Nice review. I took this from Bromley to Anerley and it was really nice, felt futuristic. I didn't find the seats all that bad or the main lights, but I think over time it would become more obvious. It's not a local to me, so I doubt I'll know.
I'd recommend checking out an old bus, the Optare Olympus, if that interests you. There's a small fleet limited to the 151 now and their time is almost gone, being nearly 16 years old.
I love the Opatre Olympus, need to get a few more rides in before they go and thanks :-)
@@networknathan You're welcome.
Manufacturers allow high level of customizations, especially of the interior of the bus, like seats, pols, screens, lighting etc so it's the operator that desudes and the more basic settings are the cheapest.
We have those in Barcelona (but the bendy 18m ones) and they are great. As for the doors, since we can use the first back door to enter (our buses have 3 doors forcthe 12m and 4 for the 18m) the front door is not a problem.
Great review - made me think of all those other aspects of buses that you mentioned!
Coaches use swing-plug doors to make that shape work. That means instead of the swung-in door as of now you would reduce width with a pole holding the door. So no space won. And for a sliding-plug door like you imagine, the door needs to be equally long at the upper and lower end, because with both ends moving the same distance, the slide rails need to be the same length.
Congratulations on reaching 5,000 subscribers. I do appreciate your videos and content. I personally think that TfL would spend more money on buying more new battery powered buses to replace the older diesel buses that are operating across London. And London wants to become a greener cleaner city.
"The screens are necessary features on buses, giving people a visual aid to know where they are."
Bus operators in Essex: "We're gonna pretend we didn't hear that."
Your channel is awesome bro u do give in depth and detailed info on buses which there is a lack for in this community, stuff on buses are barely explained here which i hate
My new favourite transport channel. Keep up the good work!
irizar are mainly a coach company and have bought out all their suppliers including door manufacturer masats (by the way, Irizar is pronounced i r i z R)
I agree with Nathan. For an electric vehicle that needs to conserve power, bright lighting is not the way to go. Also the colour temperature of the light should be warm, so easier on the eyes. That can be fixed.
The front door design and how it opens, definitely was not thought out. Nathan, you should have been on the design committee. 😂
To be honest, I did notice after I had made this review that some drivers turn the lights down so it isn't as intense and is more warm.
Also I should be shouldn't I aha!
My little sister loves your videos. Thank you!
It would be up to the company that bought the busses to specify sliding front doors. It’s normally avoided due to additional costs
ooh wow they look futuristic but also looks like something from teletubbies I can't explain why they just do. I like how clean and snazzy the interior looks. I don't like the screens though, they should have thought them through a bit more. I love that the seats aren't fabric, easier to clean
Hmmm. Large glass area + summer sun = solar gain (ie HOT bus!)
That front door will be restrictive also for school kids with their sports bags I suspect. I wonder if all the glass it might be quite hot to ride in during the summer months? One for those summer reviews ... take a thermometer 😆
Honestly, I'm shocked it got released with just the one.
Aha possibly but they have air conditioning so it hopefully shouldn't get too hot
i had exactly the same thought about all the glass in summer ... time will tell !
I was thinking of all the suitcases and shopping trolleys you see on buses in south London. Love the charging, but that design wouldn't work round here.
@@networknathan But airconditioning would mean no ventilation and everyone will breathe the same recirculated air and that's why we get more colds etc. in the winter.
Good video Nathan. Would be interested in the air conditioning this bus has, that is if the wildows are locked. Will have to get on one on a cold frosty morning, to see if it warms the bus up at the start of its day, like some electric cars do.
I hope we won't get air conditioning cooling on buses here because that would usually mean no windows that open so we all breathe the same recirculated air and all catch the same cold or flu or worse that an infected pasenger or driver might have.
Another good review, I popped over to Elmers End from Deptford last week to have a look and trip on the bus, loved the look, though confirmed my prejudice in favour of trams, wish the tram at Beckenham had been pushed through to Lewisham. But wish I had seen your review before having a trip on it, your + and - points were excellent. Cheers mate.
That is a really great looking bus! It will be a design classic. As a cyclist I quite like those wheel covers because they look less threatening that a big steel wheel with wheel nuts spinning around. I don't fancy colliding with either but if I had to choose I'd opt for the wheel covers on that bus.
The buses look nice, at first glance, but then you start to see horrors. And they don't function well.
I like that they actually look new, rather than the other new Chinese buses, which already look 15 years old. I hope they get more of these on other routes.
The front door threw me offff the first time I got on this bus 😂
I love the hat. You could put a baguette behind you too to look more French
looking at the weight of the coach doors that swing out and additional power required and the fact that a coach only usually stops a handful of times compared to a bus in which a heavy opening door opening so many times could be a considerable drain on the battery..... just a thought!!
I do like the new battery powered buses and it’s great to have new battery buses for London. But also there were plans for hydrogen buses to be used across London to replace older diesel buses.
I'd rather have nice, clean white walls and a simple interior compared to the ugly blue/yellow/random colours on almost every other bus. The seats are plain but also seem easier to clean than traditional cloth seats
I personally disagree. Having limited colour and pattern on the interior of any public transport or infrastructure depresses me. And even if the colours maybe considered ‘ugly’ or ‘random’, the presence of colour interesting pattern, as opposed to clinical greys and whites, I feel helps my mental health.
They could kind of solve the door problem by turning the 358 into a sort of BRT route with Oyster readers at stops, so you pay before you board and you can board through any door. Assuming they dont want to do anything about the front door.
The pleather or vinal seat may be just basic supply due to the buses not being bought? Moquette is quite an investment
@@noahottin4015 I don’t think the door is a problem at all though. Everyone needs to tap in with oysters / show a travel pass to the driver when entering, and this only happens one-at-a-time on any London bus. So having the door the same size as the queue isn’t a big deal
Would the walls be padded with no windows?
Good analysis but I have a few more points to add: Very fast acceleration 👍 I don't how long the wheel covers will last before they get scuffed or cracked🤷♂️ There are serious issues with the battery range so even when they go for a top up at either end of the route, they end up curtailing due to lack of charge 👎When a bus is running too late, the driver can't make up time at the stands and regulate because the buses need to charge👎 Lastly, the pantograph chargers at the stands are operated by Bluetooth which isn't very reliable as I've been told by drivers (which is rubbish when the bus needs to be charging for at least 10 mins at the stand)👎
Maybe the bland seat covering is because the are not owned by go? Or still in experiment so they didn't go down moquette and stuck to supplier pleather.
Agree - the narrow front entry is a significant design error, and could/should be re-engineered on any Mk 2 version. Likewise, the step-up to rear seats for those with mobility issues, is no improvement on the old 358's. . Other points: low ambient noise, pretty good suspension, and good acceleration - though the braking can be a bit harsh. Thank's for your excellent review.
Coach doors dont' have to open and close as often as a bus door, so reliability of the mechanism might be an issue. I agree with you about the single door though, it is impractical and makes me wonder who actually selects the buses for London streets - are normal bus passengers involved in the process?
Aside from these issues the idea of a tram-bus seems to be to be a daft exercise in style over function. It's a bus, no need to style if to look like a tram, that's just an unnecessary and impractical novelty. All the benefits you mention could be applied to a regular electric bus design.
The sensor at the backdoor gets easily 'blocked' by passengers and would not close esp if it's packed. I got on this on it's 2nd day out in the wild and the driver got frustrated (eventually) after having to shout multiple times to passengers in multiple stops to not stand so close to the sensors :) Overall though, I like it!
Thank you Nathan. I went for a ride on the electric bus to try it out. I am not a very critical person and there is only one thing I found objectionable. The *maximum rate of acceleration* (from a standing start) is excessive. Drivers have control over acceleration, of course, but I reckon they usually like to give it the works. Passengers who have not found seats have to hang-on for dear life. Especially if they are elderly or infirm.
Whereas internal combustion engines have zero torque at zero rpm, an electric motor can have maximum torque at zero rpm. And there is no clutch, so the motor is geared directly to the wheels. Older readers might remember the double-decked trolley buses that had the same problem. If you were half way up the stairs when it took off then heaven help you.
Fabulous looking bus, love the 1930s vibe, but 100% agree it should have a front door like a coach, unbelievable that the designers didn't see that as an issue!
Nice white interior, great for marks and scuffs, and big windows to let the bus heat up a lot in the summer. Front door is ridiculous. Overdesigned and form beats function in this case. Good review, didn't know about this.
my favourite thing about the ibus display having the status of the tube network is that, currently the only route to run the ietram is the 358, which goes through the one part of london notorious for having absolutely no tube stations.
also, having taken the ietram once for a fair chunk of its journey, i honestly didn't particularly find the seats super uncomfortable. i can agree with the lighting though, i wish the leds did more, because they're probably my favourite part of the interior
I like these buses. They look great and are comfortable to read on.
I tried this a couple of weeks ago. Great bus! Really enjoyed it.
Headlights are small, so all the light comes from super intense points. Hard for oncoming traffic.
I think it’s a good job it isn’t single door, personally I would have designed a normal width front door and extended the bodywork to encompass it. This seems to be an expensive example of style over substance. Wait until one has an accident, it won’t be cheap or easy to repair.
Retro shape on the bus I really like it. Thank you for the review 🙏👌
Cheers :)
Nice one nathan
Great review
That front door 😅 here is Washington to we have a few buses with one front door panned bus it swings and it’s curved with the front window of the motor coach.
Basically like the coach you showed but larger and faster.
Honestly from display placement to payment and seats I think our newest new flyer XD40 and 60’s should be an example for bus design.
I thank you for confirming that this tram bus is two years late.
Aha, has to be mention!!
Whoo hoo another bus review!
Nathan's a poet: did he know it?
Newly found talent ;)
I don't know about Irizar, but I'd like to hire this guy, but it's nothing to do with bus design! Lol!
Caught one the other day (from Crystal Palace). Agree with your review except about the exterior looks, I don't like the look & on the bus I caught the wheel cover was already damaged. It will age badly I fear.
The info screen is the best I have seen on any bus - shows the next 2 or 3 stops. I found it comfortable too, quiet and smooth.
The front door is odd, I saw a few people struggle a bit getting in with bags - not super bad, but just a bit awkward.
The worst part, and I suspect it's a big problem, is that on my return trip there was a service gap over 30 mins (supposed to be 8 to 12 mins gap). The 358 has always been clunky with occasional big gaps, but never had that. Judging on my trip from CP I suspect the charging times are not correctly accounted for (it was a very cold day so maybe they had to charge for longer?) As an occasional user I will keep my eye on the gaps.
A general point, can TfL please put card readers in the disabled area so disabled and pushchair users can tap it without the faff of getting their card to the reader by the driver.
Tried the 358 from Crystal Palace today. First bus was diesel. Second bus went on to the charger, pan came down and went straight back up. Bus is reversed out and they try again, same result. Sent out of service to the garage. Third bus comes on and charges ok. You can hear a marked hum from the transformer as it pumps the enery into the bus. Even if you can get your pushchair throught he front doors it won't get between the seats.
It can get crowded, and the “on-off switch” acceleration/braking can be a bit uncomfortable when standing. The suspension reminds me a bit of the old 663 trolley bus (and travel sickness as a child). You can’t see through the back, so don’t know if it’s worth making a dash for the 54 coming up from behind. …and they seem to be breaking the route up more frequently since the new buses were introduced, which can be a pain as everyone has to get off and wait for the next one to continue their journey. But on the whole, it’s a pretty good and frequent service from something like 4.30 in the morning till about 1 am.
Yeah I agree it does seem to get curtailed a lot - I imagine very few people would actually take the bus the whole journey end to end!
Really good review. Let’s hope they listen to you and update it down the track. Let’s see……
Thanks and🤞
It's a nice bus, but it's still a bus. I really wish they'd just give people the trams they want instead, and not try and trick people into thinking that a bus is a tram. Especially because it never works
11:20 If those LED lights were enclosed under black glass they would look nostalgic.
What's wrong with an ePaper display?
Nice vid I've taken the bus full route but the windows don't open and the air condition wouldn't work and then condensation acted and I couldn't see outside the bus
Thanks and that's not ideal at all 🤔
No windows for fresh air is always a bad idea as people were reminded of during covid.
so excited !!!
I absolutely hate the narrow door as there's no handrail on the left hand side and the one on the right is attached to the door and is not very stable. Worse still, the step is higher than on other buses and if you're heavy and slightly disabled like me, they are difficult to get on. Impossible, if you're carrying heavy shopping. I had to ask the gentleman behind me to help me up. I think they would have let me on through the back doors if there has been no-one to help. I found the seats quite comfortable and I love the red lighting!
im curious if these buses will suffer in the summer like the NRM's did, they had to be retro fitted with new windows
hopefully not
Network Nathan my fucking goat
:)
I just call it the Irizar ie Trolleybus (yes I know there aren't overhead wires, but there is a pantograph and the bus is electric...)
I came all the way from Manchester to ride one yesterday and there wasn’t one for an hour so I left 😭
Oh that is annoying. Hopefully you get to ride on one before you go back!
good morning Nathan
hi the 331 sat morning when carboot is on on the way back it is hell people carry all there carboot buys
Is that new ibus display going to roll out to the rest of the bus fleet?
I am not actually sure. Something similar I'd imagine
Sliding door would make the bus incompliant to PSVAR as there is no handle and blocks the view of the destination
Bucket seats don't work for me at all. I'm tall, wide, and deep. I get poked from all angles by handles, headrests, ventilation skirtings, seat shells ..
Plug door is what is needed
I noticed the 358 always terminating at penge or Elmer's end now.......
it gets curtailed alot..
Does it go on tramline like the guided bus way?
What's the wheelchair bay like and where is the button?. Pity I don't live near the route
i wonder if the bland interiors are because they don't expect these machines to stay in London very long ... so they need to make them easier to resell to another country?
ooo, interesting thought!
Where is the bus built
Why do they always undercook the air conditioning so the windows steam up
The pantograph is progress..
These things are exactly what we teach our Design students not to do.
These buses are a damp squib, after all the hype. A Mercedes Citaro artic would be much better !
Great job again Nathan 🙌🏼…Would love to see you reviewing Hong Kong buses🇭🇰…you’d be fan-boying so hard! 😂The UK made some amazing features for the HK market (like this vid from 1998 on a Dennis Trident with Duple Metsec body: 1min30sec th-cam.com/video/S9vEbIht1JY/w-d-xo.htmlsi=bh_eq20TCfSJ93qd)
Bad lighting on buses/trains is the worst!
For the display, its completely the operators fault due to how they formatted the display.
I really don't like the fake streamlining of the bus, like it is a high speed train. All those curved panels are going to be difficult for a repair shop to reproduce.
In your external shots of the bus, it looked like the diagonal pillars that hold up the roof are obstructing a fair bit of the view the driver has to the front-right. I'm not sure if that is better or worse than other busses.
Those low-level side windows are bad. Super-bad. The people who designed this bus were probably men as they have put in a crap ton of viewing windows at skirt height, using clear glass. TfL need to get the maintenance staff in the bus garage to put some frosted anti-upskirt film over those windows.
It's a shame you don't have a friend that is a wheelchair user. I'd love to see how the wheelchair ramp compares against other TfL busses (both from the point of view of someone using the ramp and from the point of view of other passengers who might get delayed if the ramp is slow). A lot of transport TH-camrs talk about the noise that various trains make. You talk about bell noises. But I'd love to know which busses have beep-beep wheelchair ramp noises and mechanical ramp noises that sound good...and which ones sound dire.
Last but not least, "Tram-Bus" is not a thing. It's not a tram. It's not a multi-part bus that looks like a tram from the inside. It's a red jelly mold on half-hidden wheels.
It's good that TfL is trying out charging technology, but they need to put it onto sensible vehicles next time.
The seats by the low level side windows are parallel with the window ledge so no-one's legs are visible from outside.
Theres one door???? Thats going to be a disaster going forward.......they should take them off the roads and change it(easier said than done).
Edit citaros are still used by the 108 to stratford international!
not for long :(
Can you take a wheelchair on this bus?
Yes, via the back door with a extendable ramp
@@networknathan Payment however is basically impossible for the wheelchair user unless you have someone with you as you can't get near the driver.... (London buses often assume wheelchair users have a pass but unfortunately it isn't true)
No
These are absolutely ugly 🤮🤮 I'm not a fan of those IEs at all, look like they could be bad for accidents tbh, use to use the 358 from crystal palace to Bromley n Orpington, but these, no, not for me, I agree with you, they're horrible
I don’t like these busses
I'd advise that you avoid using phrases like, "to be honest". It implies that you aren't honest at other times.
Great review