As far as I remember, Ken did put conductors back on the buses for a period when he first came into power, and if I remember, the experiment was abandoned because the conductors didn't speed up the process of people gettting on and paying. As has previously been said, Bendy buses weren't designed to be used in a city which largely still follows its medieval street plan: there's only so much a bus can bend! And the fare dodging is rampant. I think the current double-deckers are fine and practically much better than the routemasters (although they don't have those pleasant curves). More of some kind of authority presence on the buses, though, would I think be welcomed by most people, especially at night. Not sure whether the best way of doing that would be more PCSOs or the return of the conductor.