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Routemaster Boris
Conservative London mayoral hopeful Boris Johnson says that if elected he will try to bring back the Routemaster to London’s streets in a 21st-century form.
The much-loved double decker with its easy hop-on, hop-off back finally fell foul of disabled access laws, despite current Mayor Ken Livingstone’s vow to keep them.
They still ply the streets of the capital along a few, so-called “heritage” routes but most of them have been replaced either by enclosed, driver-operated double-deckers or “bendy” single-deckers.
What do you think? Was the old Routemaster a dangerous and inaccessible relic of the last century or a bus to which all others can only aspire?
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The Wall
Boris’s main grip seems to be the fact that newer buses are slower than old ones. Yes, the Routemaster was a lovely bit of classic engineering but it had two staff, rather than a driver-operator as modern buses do nowadays. And it was absolutely useless if you were disabled and quite dangerous for the elderly who struggled to get on and hold on while the bus juddered away. Unless Boris can come up with a design that incorporates wheelchairs and ease of access for other disabled (and let’s face it, he’s a politician, not a designer!), then he’s onto a bit of a loser. Perhaps the way of speeding up the buses would be to reintroduce conductors?
If a Routemaster was a listed (heritage) building, then the operator would be required to take “reasonable steps” to aid access for all disabled people. As a heritage bus it seems to be condemned to private hire, neglect and static museums.
There are far more registered blind than wheelchair users. The open entrance with a long white pole was much easier to locate for them, and they could always ask the conductor to let them know when they got to their stop. Much better than a distracted driver behind a bullet proof screen.
As I understand it Boris is not suggesting the re-introduction of the old Routemasters (although this would not be the first time they have come to the rescue of modern vehicles intended to replace them) but that a new Routemaster should be designed. An open platform and a conductor should make disabled access for wheelchair users easier not harder. You don’t have to be a design guru to spot that one.
I for one look forward very much to the day I can stop muttering to myself: “I’d have caught that bus if it had been a Routemster”, before waiting 10 minutes in the pouring rain for the next bender bus.
P.S. The bus in your photo is not a Routemaster, but its more-elegant predecessor the “RT”.
It would be a dream come true having the Routemaster back!! Be gone with those overpower inconsiderate drivers and busses that are design only for disable wheel chair users but not elderly people unstable on their feet!
yes, absolutely. out w the automatic doors and bendy buses.
Please Bring the old girl back, even if with a new design!
A conductor is so necessary in our town, with all the yobbos we have in London!
In the last 5 days of the Routemaster Service in Decemebr 2005 we recorded the toughts of people in London as they farewelled the Routemaster
The result was 10 short films which were put into the Farewell Routemaster DVD.
It’s only available at http://www.farewellroutemaster.co.uk
Have a look at how London responded in the last week of the Routemaster bus
THE FILMS ARE
>RM 159 by Kevin Dolan
>Bus Kong by Ed Hartwell
Ed Hartwell’s ‘Bus Kong’ is a delicious animated political cartoon that exploits the iconography of the Routemaster, London and a certain giant ape movie with bold witty simplicity, pitching our hero against a feral bendy-bus and an even more sinister foe…
>Unlucky for Some by Ben Crocker
>Moving Musings by Toby Falconer & Caroline Gardiner
>One Colour Red by Chris Hauke
>MGTV by Martin Gooch
>38 by Eleanor Thomas
>Routine Master by Max Goldzweig
> The End of the Line by Tom Bainton
Tom Bainton’s “The End of the Line” has George Cole reading a self-eulogy over picture-postcard London scenes (”Since ‘56 I’ve been around – landmark, icon I’ve been called/But I kept my wheels firmly on the ground and went where I was told”)
http://www.farewellroutemaster.co.uk
As has already been pointed out (but only as a postscript) the bus pictured in the article isn’t a routemaster. This is VERY sloppy journalism. It is indeed most likely an RT, a considerably older build, in fact. Get it right, guys.
My heart still skips a beat when I see a Routemaster. But all good things must come to an end I suppose. I think that a re-modeled Routemaster would be just the ticket (no pun intended) for London and it’s suburbs.
By the way. To settle all arguments. The photograph above is an RTW. RTW75 to be exact. These were basically an RT but 6inches wider (hence the W). There were 500 of these vehicales built. RTW75 is alive and kicking and I believe is owned by Blue Triangle of Rainham Essex.