Platform souls
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In an experiment to test passenger reaction, a bus with an open rear platform has for the past few months given surface transport in Paris a touch of notalgia. The vehicle, a standard Saviem single-decker, was rebuilt after a rear-end accident to incorporate an open "balcony" which can hold eight to 12 standing passengers.
For reasons of road safety access is only from inside the bus but the provision of the open-air facility is already widely welcomed by tourists and smokers who have been subject to restrictions on Paris buses for several years. If a decision is taken to reintroduce the traditional Paris platform feature, withdrawn from general service in 1971, an initial batch of 20 existing Saviem buses will be converted in RATP workshops.