Unveiling the new Routemaster
Post categories: Buses
| 10:17 UK time, Monday, 17 May 2010
I'm at Battersea bus garage with Boris Johnson and London's Transport Commissioner, Peter Hendy.
The Routemaster is a London icon and we're all excited about the new design. Here's a sneak preview:
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Do you like it?
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Adda a double pair of wheels at the back and we're back to a lovely trolley-bus!
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Exactly what I thought, Henry. Two staircases says loss in passenger space, but I'd like to see it before nailing my colours.
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the biggest suppository in history?
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This is an appalling design - how can this be called a new routemaster? the original and the first draft new design was loyal to the unique front, but this looks SO boring, and like a 5 year old has done it. Great its open deck, but come on, surely they could have kept the front looking unique. VERY disappointed, another broken promise from Boris.
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TfL are now deeply in the red, calling for more money that London simply can not afford, so why does Boris persist with this lame duck of a scheme?
I love the iconic Routemaster buses, so much so I fulfilled a boyhood dream and bought one; but since the withdrawl of these types buses London's travelling patterns have changed, also most importantly the public who use it.
This is not an evolutionary step, it does nothing to offer homage to the 'aesthetics' of the original. It fails to replicate the design offered by Aston Martin; so what is the point?
A waste of time, money, effort and a promise!
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Two or three doors? - surely it will encourage fare-dodging if they went in without a ticket or having valid ticket or pass through the other one or two doors.
Although I am out of London - I thought the new bus will not make London a proud place for any Londoners & visitors.
So I thought it will be useless to stop crime.
The bus look very ugly than ever too.
So back to the drawing room Mr Mayor.
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You old grumps! It's great - I love it. Exactly the right hints of the old Routemaster in the rounded shape at the back. And it's got a hop on / hop off platform which is a big sharp stick in the eye for the health and safety freaks (who would no doubt insist on a rubber stopper at the end of the big sharp stick).
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Three doors eh? So much for forming an orderly queue! As a wheelchair user i can foresee chaos and disappointment for the disabled traveller. Ah well, such is the way of the world.
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Oh so good!
The body has hints of nearly 100 years of design (doesn't the rear look a bit like it's open staircase ancestors)?
Technically the engineering is every bit as revolutionary as the Routemaster was in its day.
Good quality costs initially, but it pays back in time - the Routemasters were expensive but served London well for 50 years.
And at a time when we all have to tighten our belts, this offers an opportunity to once again take pride in the very best of British engineering and design.
Good on you, Boris!
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People will still fall out the back.
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For those that are not aware, Peter Hendy, Transport Commissioner was a guest on Eddie Nestor's drive-time last night. I sent a question in for Eddie to ask about this new bus which was:
"A question for Peter that Boris has avoided answering on twitter.
When the District line trains were due for refurbishment a prototype was kept at a station (might have been Wimbledon) for the public to go and look at what was proposed and we had the opportunity to comment.
Are we going to get the same chance with the new Routemaster or is it a case of "nanny knows best" and we'll have to accept what we are given?"
Peter's response was that 5 "prototypes" have been commissioned and that they should be available for inspection in 2011. PH also went to to talk about costs when Eddie asked about removal of bendy-buses and the like.
The full interview will be available via listen again, I'm sure, however I wanted to congratulate Peter Hendy on being able to handle questions with no warning of the content. It put the recent televised PM debates to shame.
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Recession.....what recession Boris ?
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It looks more like a Bristol VR than a Routemaster!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BritBus_Bristol_VR_in_Harlem_New_York_City.jpg
What happened to the original designs?
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The RML which has not been mentioned yet, seated 72 passengers. Surely a fairer comparison?
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Ref 12 - I really hope Boris has made the stipulation that whatever flavour of the 5 prototypes we end up with, it's built in this country.
It would be a major own goal for him and the conservative-led co-coalition if they were to be built abroad.
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rayB - yes to be built in Northern Ireland at Wrightbus... more at the top at the moment or on this link ... http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/mindthegap/2010/05/the_routemaster_design_conundr.html
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It is a fantastic design. This bus will make us the envy of the world. Very 21st Century, practical, it looks good and you'll be able to run after it as it pulls off and jump on the back... just like the good old days. Well done Boris, I love it!
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Seems thoroughly impractical. Downstairs has 3 platform areas and 2 staircases, pushchair/wheelchair space. Is there any room left for seats, or are infirm people going to be given the choice of going upstairs or getting the next bus? Never mind the expense. 5 million can be better spent on more necessary transport projects. Prioritisation, Boris, prioritisation.
This does have all the hallmarks of a vanity project. Boris wants something to bear his name after he's gone, and he doesn't care if it's a bus or an airport. It's high-stakes tagging and we're the ones footing the bill.
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Reading all this cast out beyond the London Borough in the wasteland of DeRegatania makes me smile wryly. It's like reading about another little country, in it's own world, much like the old municipal bus companies of yesteryear (eg Walsall) who were then able to experiment and have buses the way They wanted because they could afford to.While all the little citizens of Londonville twitter and babble about their special "new" bus, the rest of the country has to get by with buses owned by unsubsidised shareholder driven behemoth transport groups that are , generally, if they turn up at all, rancid, noisy unkempt heaps kept running on a wing and a prayer. The very thought of, say, Birmingham having a reborn "Standard" or a revamped Manchester "Mancunian" is as outlandish as any Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings fantasy. Despite this outside London whinge it will be interesting to see it in the "panels" and at least there is a whiff of interest in buses down in the Smoke, whereas to have to catch a bus elsewhere in this country is akin to having Lice to your peers. BTW I think it resembles the Dublin Metsec Atlanteans of the 60's. Ciao!!
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So where are they going to put the engine? From the looks of that mock-up there isn't any room downstairs and something tells me sticking it at the back of the top deck would be an engineering impossibility (unless they're putting a massive propeller behind it)
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