Bendy buses are the greatest thing in free public transport since the heady days before London Underground introduced ticket barriers.

The theory is that passengers without an Oyster card should use the front door and show their ticket to the driver. In practice, especially when the bus is crowded, Oyster-free (and ticket-free) passengers enter by the rearmost door and are almost never challenged by the driver or a ticket inspector.

Figures released on 24 May 2006 showed that, on average, there is £6,333 worth of fare evasion per bendy bus per year, compared with £3,636 per year on ordinary buses.

The almost infinite length of the bus also permits what might be called ‘lively’ behaviour to take place at the far end, without fear of reprimand from the driver. Admittedly, this type of activity is (and always has been) commonplace at the back of the top floor on double-deckers, so bendy buses do not represent such an advance in this respect.

There are downsides to bendy buses: they’re ugly, dangerous and take up a silly amount of road space, but that’s a small price to pay for free travel. At the moment, the biggest drawback is that London has only 300 bendy buses, operating on relatively few routes, but it is to be hoped that more will follow.