The Big Smoke

A war has broken out between supporters of the bendy bus – led by the Boriswatch blog – and those who want to see Boris’s new Routemaster – led by long-time Boris fan, Andrew Gilligan. Gilligan, in a virulent piece, has accused Boriswatch of getting its figures wrong and provoking ‘unintentional hilarity’ by supporting the despised bendy.

Interestingly, this view is not borne out by either the statistics or the commentators beneath Gilligan’s own piece, the majority of whom come out in support of the bendy and have been allowed to say so despite the Standard’s ruthless policy of vetting overly critical comments.

And as for unintentional hilarious, well look no further than Gilligan himself, who Tory Troll reveals has apparently been leaving favourable comments about himself all over the internet under a variety of different names. Did you really think you'd get away with it, Andrew?

But some interesting arguments lie at the heart of all this froth. Should Boris’s value-for-money campaign promise be compromised by his new Routemaster campaign promise, even if it is going to cost a fortune?

Is the bendy bus actually as unpopular as we are told?

And should public transport put dull but essential things like passenger capacity and cost-per-mile above the beauty of good design?

I'm genuinely undecided by all this. As a bus user, passenger capacity is important, but I dislike bendies, which tend to make the horror of commuting even less appealing. And while I don't have a problem with the state spending money on quality-of-life-raising projects, I do wonder whether this is the best use of the mayor's budget in the current climate and with so many other pressing concerns.

Any views? Do you hate bendies? Do you think Boris should be spending vast sums on new buses that aren't really needed at a time when he has promised to cut costs? How much do you want a new Routemaster? And isn't this a more interesting controversy than Sachs/Brand/Ross/Satanic Sluts-gate?

Update:  It appears I've been far too harsh on the Standard's comments policy, given that they've published my query to Mr Gilligan regarding his alleged habit of leaving anonymous comments about himself all over the net.