Ken got rid of them and Boris is bringing them back, and according to TfL’s press release, the Routemaster bus will soon be gracing London’s streets sooner than we might think.
Wrightbus have been awarded the contract to design and build the new Routemaster, and although details are scarce, the London reconnections site has highlighted some of the major points:
– An open platform: a defining feature allowing the reinstatement of a hop-on, hop-off bus service. The platform will have the facility to be closed off at certain times, such as at night
– Green technology: the new bus will incorporate the latest hybrid technology and will be 40 per cent more fuel efficient than conventional diesel buses and 15 per cent more fuel efficient than current London hybrid buses
– Air quality emissions will be reduced by 40 per cent for NOx* emissions and 33 per cent for PM** emissions when compared with conventional diesel buses
– Three doors (including the rear platform) and two staircases, giving an innovative new design and aiding speedier and smoother boarding
– Capacity for at least 87 passengers
We miss the old Routemasters and thoroughly hated the hideous, cyclist-squashing bendy Bus replacements, so we’ll be looking forward to hopping on and off a Routemaster again.
With the hop on/off platform it was surely the perfect vehicle for London – as anyone who’s been stuck in a traffic queue and unable to get off their bus will testify.
The press release states that the new bus will be “on the road” by 2011, but we assume that will be for testing rather than public service, although we do recall a TfL spokesman making that claim last year.
Welcome back, Routemaster!
Update: 02:00 24/12/09 The Guardian:
To be worthy of inheriting the Routemaster name the bus will, of course, have to revive the original Routemaster’s distinctive open platform at the rear: a feature that, for Boris, is a kind of emblem of choice and freedom and a rebuke to the stifling incursions of health and safety.
But, according to this designer, the open platform of the new bus is likely to be little different from the space at the front of existing double deckers’ beside the driver’s cab where you stand when swiping your Oyster. He says, in fact, that it will probably resemble the sort of arrangement already found in some buses already in use in continental Europe.
Boris’s Bus (A Political Journey) Pt 21: “It will definitely not be a Routemaster”
From our archives:
Farewell to Routemaster Buses: the penultimate day
Farewell to Routemaster Buses: the final day
Looking forward to riding these.
See, Mike, there are *some* advantages to having Boris over Ken!
Merry Christmas
P