(24 Feb 2021, 1:15 pm)streetdeckfan wrote Definitely agree.
Before they got the StreetDecks on the X21, I think I may have used it maybe once, it just wasn't a very pleasant place to spend the hour and a half up to Newcastle. Since then I've pretty much exclusively used the bus to get up to Newcastle.
If a 15 year old heap turns up instead, there's no way I'm getting it unless I have an appointment I need to get to. I'll wait the half an hour until the next one. When a service is advertised as having WiFi, USB, Tables and comfortable seats, I'd bloody hope a vehicle of that specification turns up. It's like booking an Uber Exec and a Vauxhall Astra turning up.
Tables might seem like a waste of money, but I use them for work every time I get the bus. There's no way I could work on my laptop sitting in a regular seat, there just isn't the space to open it up fully.
Fancy seats might seem like a waste of money, but when you're spending 4 hours a day on a bus, they really do make a difference.
USB ports and sockets might seem like a waste of money, but for those of us who spend the day getting emails and phone calls, they're basically essential when you also have mobile ticketing. If your battery runs out, you're stranded.
And sorry to burst everyone's bubble, buses weren't better 'back in the day', the services might have been, but the buses most certainly weren't. I genuinely don't understand why people think they were, is it the nostalgia?
Because I certainly wouldn't like to spend 2 hours sitting on what is no better than a slab of wood with no back support.
Not everyone travels for that length of journey though. Although saying that, depending on the day of the week or time of the day - what could be a 15min journey in the car, can take that sort of time door to door, depending on connections.
I think it's too easy to say 'buses are better now'. I'm not sure that is always going to be the case. As was one of the favourite phrases of the apparent former member of this parish 'eezypeazy': "that's a wild statement to be throwing around". Something like that anyway... I think he was distracted by me being in the bath with my face cloth one night. He lurked around for a bit, said something about 'battleship grey', 'wibble wibble' and 'magic money tree' and he's not been seen again!
An uprated Metrobus with DP seating vs a Streetdeck and it's ironing board seats... Hmm. I know which I would prefer for distance 'express' work.
Travelling between Sunderland and Durham and the choice of a Mk2 National vs a Streetlite... Hmm.
The modern versions may have WiFi or plugs, but given the amount of data people have, the limits imposed by operators and the price of portable charging devices - that National and Metrobus will win every time in my mind.
Nothing to do with nostalgia. Just a nicer ride.
Some were better.
Edit: just found this - https://mancunian1001.wordpress.com/2016...bus-seats/ mention of the current seating vs some of old. Including DP seating which was comfier in the authors opinion.
There's also a photo of the saloon of a Lynx. The native examples were pretty rough and I'm sure an extra row was squeezed in on the Washington/Phili examples.
There was also the random split seat at the back. It is just possible to make this out in the link.