LONDON’S ROUTEMASTER NEAR RESURRECTION
There can't be many automotive icons more evocative than the London double-decker bus — or, to be more specific, the Routemaster with its goggly headlights, distinctive radiator grille and rounded contours. And, most of all, that open rear platform with the pole on the corner, allowing passengers to jump on and off whenever they wanted.
New London mayor Boris Johnson, the Conservative with an eye for the populist gesture, made it part of his electoral campaign to bring back the bus with the platform. After winning the election, he launched in July a competition to design a new Routemaster, with a prize of £25,000. Well over 400 entries later, the competition is now closed, and a winner is expected in due course. The UK's largest bus-maker, Falkirk-based Alexander Dennis, which is certain to bid for any contract to build a new bus, has an 80-strong team working on hybrid bus drive technologies and has recently launched a hybrid model, the Enviro500.
Another competition design, from H4 Consulting, an engineering and design firm responsible for much of the refit of London's Royal Festival Hall, includes some interesting engineering features. The seats, for example, are made from a lightweight, semi-transparent breathable mesh, for ease of cleaning and so that passengers can see their baggage at all times. Whatever the result of the competition, TfL seems very serious about bringing back the Routemaster; TfL is reported as saying that the Department for Transport and the EU have been consulted over the safety aspects of the open platform, and been given the all-clear; major bus companies such as Dennis and Wrightbus, of Ballymena, have also been in touch with TfL. An order for 700-800 vehicles, over three years — enough to cover all the bus routes in Central London — is believed to be on the cards.