WELCOME ABOARD THE FUN BUS!
An ideal pollution-free and quiet mode of transport that can be used to ferry passengers in and around congested parts of city centres with the minium of fuss and maximum fun! Drop-down rain protectors with heating elements make the Fun Bus an all-weather passenger vehicle and a pleasure to ride. Oxford Street will never be the same again! The Fun Bus can be used to bridge petrol bus routes that currently pass through areas of congestion, thereby avoiding the need for petrol buses to drive through congested areas. Petrol buses can be used more efficiently for ferrying passenger to and from Central London, but there is no need for them to drive through it. The advance in battery technology makes the Funbus concept feasible for the 21st Century, as the buses are very light and robust compared with the much larger 20 ton "routemaster" and even heavier 'bendy' buses. Sometimes just a few passengers are carried on journeys through Central London using these polluting buses. At the present time Transport for London operates a cartel situation whereby the only buses that are allowed on the streets are those which comply with the "Required Specifications" ie., petrol and hybrid 'monster' buses. |
Sample Routes Fun Bus route - petrol buses do
not pass along red section Fun Bus route - petrol buses do
not pass along red section ------- Petrol bus route. Petrol buses go as far as the battery bus route, where passengers disembark and board battery powered buses to take them through congested areas. Passengers board another petrol bus if they wish to resume their journey beyond the congested areas covered by the battery bus. The need to change buses may be regarded as an inconvenience, but it is preferable and actually quicker than having to sit in a packed petrol bus moving at 5mph along a congested route such as Oxford Street. ------- Battery bus route. Battery-powered buses are used to ferry passengers through congested areas. These buses are quiet, polution free, and fun to ride! Battery-powered buses allow petrol buses to be used more efficiently. |
Battery Bus Specification |
Passenger Capacty: |
Standard Configuration
|
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE VARIOUS WAYS IN WHICH BATTERY-POWERED BUSES CAN BE UTILISED IN CONGESTED AREAS, PLEASE CONTACT:
FUN BUS
Marble Arch,
London W2 2BA
John Aidiniantz
Tel: 0207-224-3688
londonlinks1@gmail.com
18th November 2008
The Mayor of London Hello Mr Johnson We wish to put about 80 battery powered buses onto the streets of London. President-Elect Obama calls it "Green Energy" - and that's what it is. However, we have not received any positive signs of life from officials at Transport For London, who have expressed no interest in this project whatsoever. You have recently expressed an interest in buying an electric family car if one were to become available, yet no one seems to be interested in an electric bus that can carry more than just one family and would solve London's transport requirements for the 21st Century without adding to pollution (Zero emissions!). Here are the details of our battery -operated bus: When you have found a person at TFL with any sense between their ears to dsicuss this project, please contact me and I will be happy to ensure that you are the first on board for the pilot journey. There may even be space for your bicycle. Let's start thinking about a Londonwide transport strategy for London in the 21st Century, rather than just dreaming or talking about it. Yours faithfully, John Aidiniantz - Director **********Start Previous Correspondence with TFL*************** "Shirley Richard (ST)" <Richard.Shirley@tfl.gov.uk>, date17 December 2007 13:02 Battery-operated buses for urban areas ******************************************* John The passenger sections have still to be designed to correspond to the requirements for PSVs which are fairly straight-forward, allowing for passengers to be able to pass from the trailer section to the front as in the case of 'bendy' buses, and for the requirement that the trailer section cannot be dismantled except in a garage environment. The other health and safety matters will of course need to pass the current regulations. As regarding the licence required to operate as a bus, this will be the final stage of the development, and we are not yet at that stage. I am confident that battery-operated buses will be able to play a valuable role in the future transport requirements of London. The only thing I need to work out is how to make their approaches audible to pedestrians to avoid accidents. John Aidiniantz Funbus - 1 Albion Mews, London W2 2BA 0207-935-4430 07956-860336 ******************************************** I received your voice mail message. Please
can you direct your enquiry through our customer services agent Hayley (email attached) **************************************** Ref: 698595/1 Thank you for your email. We can confirm that this has now been received. Under our customer services policy, we will do our best to respond within 10 working days. If we cannot give you a full answer in this time we will send you an acknowledgement within 2 working days and then a full written response within 15 working days. In accordance with the company procedures we will only use the information you supply us to respond to your correspondence. If you have marked your correspondence as confidential, your contact details will not be passed on. Please be aware this may limit our ability to respond to your enquiry, suggestions or complaint. Should you require current Travel Information, please email Travinfo@tfl.gov.uk or call our dedicated 24 hour hotline on 020 7222 1234. Thank you once again for contacting London Buses. If you are unhappy with the response you receive, you may wish to contact London TravelWatch. This is an independent watchdog body, set up by parliament to represent the interest of passengers. They can be contacted at the following address: London TravelWatch Regards, Hayley James ********************************************************* Our Ref:
698595/1/ASM
Dear Mr Aidiniantz ******************************************************** date22 July 2008 16:58 Hello Angharad ********************************************* Our
Ref:
698595/2/DB
Dear Mr Aidiniantz Thank you once again for your email regarding battery powered vehicles. We were interested to read about their alternative proposals for moving towards zero emissions technology for public transport. Individuals or companies wishing to promote such technologies would need to prove the efficacy of their products by testing it over a simulated bus test cycle. Transport for London (TfL) is unable to cover any of the costs of such trials. As you may be aware, TfL is looking towards both reducing emissions and assess the potential of zero emission vehicles. As part of phase one of the hybrid programme, TfL plans to trial around 60 hybrids by December 2008 from a variety of manufacturers, which will be evaluated for their operational and environmental performance. Phase 2 will involve the roll out of greater numbers of hybrid vehicles to the fleet to 2012. Hybrids are considered a key element of TfL's plans to tackle climate change and will help London deliver an 11% reduction in CO2 emissions from the bus fleet by 2015. Thank you once again for bringing your suggestions and proposal to our attention. We will further consider such ideas once vehicles are produced and tested. Feel free to get in touch if I can be of any further assistance. Yours sincerely David Broughton *********************************************** Hello Mr Broughton, **************************************** Our
Ref:
698595/3/DB
Dear Mr Aidiniantz Thank you for your further emails and apologies for the delay in getting back to you. I understand your commitment to the benefits of electric buses. As previously explained, before we consider new products, we would want to see the results of a test cycle evaluation at an approved proving ground. London Buses are unable to fund any such preparatory work. As you are no doubt are aware, bus services in London are run under contract by private operating companies. You may wish to consider carrying out small scale trials in conjunction with a bus operator. Thank you again for bringing your ideas to our attention. I recognise that this may not be the answer you were hoping for and I wish you luck in your endeavours to see the widespread application of the technology. If you do have any further concerns feel free to get in touch. Yours sincerely David Broughton *******************************************
Date 8 August 2008 15:50 Hello Mr Broughton ************************************** Our
Ref:
698595/4/TL
Dear Mr Aidiniantz Yours sincerely ************************************** Hello Ms Lotter *********************************** Our
Ref:
698595/5/DB
Dear Mr Aidiniantz Thank you for your further correspondence on the subject of battery powered buses. I appreciate your interest in the matter. However, at present battery powered vehicles are not an option that TfL is pursuing. TfL's present strategy is the trialling and development of hybrid and hydrogen technology as outlined by my colleague Tess, in the previous email sent to you. It is not to say that we would rule out electric in future but at present we are not looking into the technology under the current strategy and would therefore suggest that you concentrate your efforts elsewhere. Thanks again for bringing the proposal to us. I'm sorry that I cannot provide a more favourable response on the matter. I hope this clarifies the matter. Yours sincerely David Broughton *************************************** 8 September 2008 Thank you Mr Broughton for clarifying the
matter. ************************************** 15th May 2009 Mike Winter Dear Mr Winter, Battery Powered Bus Further to our
telephone conversation, I look forward to receiving the Specification which London Buses
has drawn up and adopted to 'solve' London's transport requirements in the coming years. I note your
reservation over the use of battery-powered buses in comparison with the hybrid
vehicles you are planning to purchase or approve for bus routes, and have pointed out
that battery-powered vehicles may not be able to fit in with the requirements set out in
your Specification. This means that your
Specification may need to be amended to take into account the 'limitations' of battery
powered vehicles, because clearly they cannot perform in the same way as hybrid
vehicles. This does not mean however that they have no place to serve in terms
of assisting with a transport strategy. On the contrary, I believe you will find that
they can play a very important role in any transport stategy involving urban areas, to the
extent that you may find that there is no need to bring hybrid vehicles into the
congestion charge area - they can be kept outside. The logistics of
moving people from A to B by road using the hybrid "monsters" that you envisage
is one possible solution to the public transport needs of Londoners, but as I have
indicated, it should not be looked at in isolation, particularly as battery-powered
vehicles are beginning to make their prsence felt on the streets of London. Before we can develop
a vehicle, we need to be sure that it can correspond in as many way possible with your
specifications, and the contruction and use regulations etc, but even more important we
need to be sure that we can operate a battery-powered bus in London! We are not looking to
supply other operators but to become a bus operator ourselves with our own fleet of
vehicles. So I look forward to
receiving the complete Specification in due course. Regards John
Aidiniantz ********************************************************* Mr John Aidiniantz Further to our
telephone conversation please find attached the current bus specification document. This
document is in the process of being updated to take account of i-bus equipment, hybrid
buses and some later specification developments. I will ensure you receive an updated copy
when issued. Please treat the attached specification as a confidential document for a
potential operator review. Thankyou for your
interest and views Mike Winter ************************************************************ 8th June 2009 Thanks Mr Winter for this information. The most important consideration is going to be breaking into the London market - in other words the ability to compete on a level playing field with the other type of buses that TFL has set their heart on. In this regard I can only note that bigger is not necessarily better. If you sometimes travel on any of the bendy buses as I am sure you do, you will note that although their seating capacity is for 45 passengers, these monster buses can often be seen to be carrying as few as 3 passeners - especially on some routes in the evenings - and quite often passengers get on at the middle exit which effctively means that they are being used as free transport by a proportion of the travelling public. The driver is stuck in his cabin and can hardly turn his head to check who is on board, never mind dealing with fare dogers.
I would also suggest that TFL considers putting up notices on these buses to advise passengers to remove any false teeth they may be wearing, because the suspension rattles so much that one can hardly keep in one's seat. The experiment with bendy buses is any event over, so perhaps there is no need to dwell on the past. I think you will agree that sending out large buses along the streets of London (which incidentally were built for horse-drawn traffic) is not going to be sensible if on a great number of journeys only a small proportion of a buses's capacity is being used. It would be better to have smaller vehicles using more of their capacity and which are cheaper and more frequent. Getting the size of a vehicle right for the needs of a particular route is something we will have to look at, but at the moment I don't think anyone in their right mind can say that the spectacle of seeing red buses "nose to tail" moving along Oxford Street at 3mph makes sense. All of these buses should be kept out of Central London and a new range of electric buses brought in, which are lightweight, cheap to buy, easy to board, and functional. Thety don't need to go fast - a mere 20 mph would be much faster than the average speed attained by a red bus. There is no doubt that some of TFL's specifications may need to be adapted in the light of the need to allow electric buses to operate, as their functionality is different to the buses which you have traditionally envisaged. If a level of argument develops over the specifications we will need to take this in our stride and understand that it is part and parcel of the negotiations. If you look at the news you will see battery technology developing and new vehicles coming to the market. TFL must not stand in the way of this innovation by sticking to old concepts and partners, so I come back to the problem identified in the opening sentence, which is that the door must be opened to allow electric buses to operate in London. I will report back to you when the specifications and the bus operator's requirements have been examined, but I must emphasise that we will not be spending a cent unless we know in advance that TFL is willing to think out of the box, for what would be the purpose of developing an electric bus if it cannot be utilised? Regards ohn Aidiniantz ***************************************************** 29th June 2009 Dear Mr Winter I trust you have had a pleasant holiday. It is not going to be possible for me to develop the battery-powered bus concept for London unless there is a commitment from TFL that it will make provision in principle for batterey powered buses to be allowed to operate on routes in London which will not necessarily replicate existing bus routes. Having spoken with you recently it is clear that at the present time the concept of battery-powered buses is not even on the drawing-board for consideration. That attitude would need to change before developers can get involved and I will explain the steps which TFL would need to publicly take in order to get developers interested in the project. TFL would need to work out what routes BPV (battery powered vehicles) could cover to support existing petrol or the planned hybrid buses. As I stated, it is my belief that London is rapidly approaching the period when all petrol or even hybrid buses should be excluded from Central London with BPVs providing the sole means of public transport along the roads. There is no sense whatsoever in continuing with the commission of yet more red buses of whatever form they take if the intention is to use them to cover the Central London area. They are too big, too unnecessary - and London frankly no longer has the space to accommodate them. Their maximum average speed is approximately 6mph. Whether you feel that there is a future for these large red buses is immaterial - but what matters is whether you feel there is a future for BPVs. As long as TFL has taken no steps to express an interest in seeing these types of vehicles on the road or it does not believe they can play a useful part in the transport needs of Londoners - then no developer is going to lift a finger or spend a penny trying to convince you otherwise. The initiative has to come from TFL which means that you need to sit down and think with your planners how such vehicles could be utilised for transport purposes. If you feel they can be utilised and you can envisage a scenario where they can be used, then you should publicly invite tenders from developers to provide a specification which TFL ought to support if not fund. You are in possession of tax payers money to spend and you ought to be spending it in a direction which can be of benefit to them and not just to the red bus manufacturers. If a prototype is developed, what assurances are there that BPVs will be allowed to operate alongside or in replacement of existing red bus routes? All these factors and more need to be thought about. I can only do so much but I feel that TFL should either dip into its pocket to help develop a battery-powered bus for its use, or else make it clear to other developers that their products will be purchased by TFL or allowed to run. If the door to the market is closed you cannot expect developers to do much to open it, as they do not hold the key - you do. So in order to progress matters there needs to be much cooperation on the part of TFL to move this forward - otherwise it will go nowhere and BPVs will remain a pipe dream. Regards John Aidiniantz ****************************************************** Subject: RE: Battery Powered Buses Dear Mr
Aidiniantz Thank you for
you continued interest in the fleet emissions of London Buses. TfL are in
discussions with some of the major manufacturers on the possibility of all battery
powered buses and we continue to review their suitability. The major bus
manufacturers develop and fund their own research and development programmes. This will
continue to be the case as all battery powered buses are developed. Part of my roll
at TfL is to liaise with the major manufacturers and our operators to constantly assess
such technical developments. As you are not a
manufacturer or a TfL operator (I have previously sent you the contacts to become a
tendering operator) can you please address any future correspondence to the appropriate
TfL contact, customer services (James/Hayley.james@tfl.gov.uk). Any relevant
technical input you make via customer services is forwarded for my review. Many Thanks
Mike Winter ************************************************ 1st July 2009 Thank you Mr Winter We can only contemplate becoming a tendering operator if TFL has an intention to consider batter-powered buses and is willing to make provision for their use on London's streets. This means considerably more interest has to be manifested in this mode of transport than has hitherto occurred in our correspondence before we can spend further time on this matter in relation to TFL. You now say that you are in discussions with some of the major manufacturers on the possibility of battery-powered buses, whereas previously in our discussions you said that this was not even being considered by TFL. It would be interesting to note the companies you have been discussing these issues with and we ourselves would be pleased to liaise with them. I have already received negative feedback from Mr James Hayley some 9 months ago and therefore do not wish to go back down that road which I believe to be a dead-end in every sense of the expression. If there is any real interest in seeing the type of vehicles shown on our website driving around the streets of London - albeit in direct competition with the red buses which you envisage and which you are planning to purchase - do let me know. The Specifications incidentally which you kindly sent me have no bearing on the type of vehicles we are proposing, which make no noise and have zero emissions. When TFL shows an appreciable interest in utilising battery-powered buses, then we would be glad to get involved in such plans. Regards John Aidiniantz |
