The GLA (Greater London Authority) wants to ditch the Routemaster, that iconic open-ended bus that has been on the streets of London since time began, it seems.
The mayor, Ken Livingstone, wants to bring in new bendy-buses or characterless 'normal/ double-deckers. He says they are wasteful, dangerous and not good for people with disabilities. The first two are not true at all. (They do more miles per gallon than other buses and more injuries are reported on those buses with doors. It is true they are not easily accessible for the disabled, but most Routemasters are on routes that are shared with buses that are accessible.) A Help the Aged representative has said the Routemaster, with its conductor and seats right next to the 'door' are better for older people who might need personal help getting on and off.
So, please sign the petition and please pass it on to anyone who has an interest in saving this piece of London. Get as many people - whether they know London or not - to sign it. If you can, lobby Transport for London
http://savetheroutemaster.moonfruit.com

email the Mayor - [email protected]
email Peter Hendy, London buses - [email protected]

Bombard the headquarters!

Or, if you believe that buses are meant to get all the people - not just design maniacs with no disabilities, toddlers, shopping or luggage - around a city, send the GLA a note nominating your town to host one of these polluting monsters. Look up "diesel particulates" and ask how many of them you'd like in your part of the world.

The right place for these dinosaurs is the Long Hanborough Bus Museum (the stop on the Cotswold railway line after Oxford and before the Cotswolds proper).

If you want to see "history" preserved, come at look at these, and other equally dysfunctional forms of transport, in what should be their natural habitat. Off the road, no longer emitting and handy for photographs.

I am old enough to remember a time before the Routemaster, and an early demonstration of one at a London Transport Open Day - even then I noticed how jerky the automatic gear-change was. The old ones that still survive are showing their age badly, and even if they didn't pollute, they're increasingly uncomfortable (and it simply isn't acceptable to say that if you're not fit enough to get on, there'll be another one along in a minute). Sorry, much as I value the skill of getting on and off a moving bus, I don't regret the change.

Flanneruk puts it a little strongly, but I agree with him. Routemasters were charming, and a good creation for their period, before public law gave any great attention to the disabled. These were most of them expected to retire gracefully, potter round the house with wheelchairs and walking sticks, watch television, and draw their pension. Public attitudes have changed, and rightly. For the disabled person, a city adjusted to let them get around liberates them to enjoy all a city has including cinema, theatre, music, pubs, clubs, visiting friends, and sitting in the park with a girl friend or boy friend. For the taxpayer the adjustments let disabled people keep or take jobs, draw benefit only late in life, and spend a full forty years paying the income tax upon which state activity is based.

There are limits: I do not ask for state provision of readers to sit in cinemas and tell blind people beside them what is happening on screen. But proportionate expenditure, such as bus design to help them, benefits them and benefits the budget.

Most of you readers will live to an active old age, and aged 85 you will be booking a sleeping car to Lviv. But one in ten of you will want your own and other cities and towns to allow for a disability.

[email protected]

As a Londoner having to work and live in this City the Routemaster has served its place. Flanneruk is correct, these are polluting old fashioned, and uneconomical to run (or should I say subsidise). London is a modern city of 8 million not a nostalgic museum. Sorry but time to call it a day.

have a look at this one too ;-)

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34512284

muck

All buses are subsidised. Routemasters are a lot more economical than other types. Why not keep a style icon on the road?

OK, Nigello, you can have a special line, like the steam preservation railways. Any suggestions for routes? Tate Britain to the Tower along the Embankment, maybe..?

I notice, BTW, that the commercial, tourist-oriented bus tours don't use Routemasters - even though they're the last genuinely hop-on hop-off bus!

Why not keep a style icon on the road?

For all the reasons just mentioned. Public transport is payed for by Londoners for the use of Londoner's, not tourists. Think yourself very lucky to be able not to use public transport on a daily basis. May be you should get all the signities of your petision to buy them and thus preserve your style icon. I think one would look nice sitting on your drive. Perhaps for the school run?

Sorry terrible spelling in that last post - awful hangover = bad typing. But I?m sure you got the message.

As you are aware, I am a London resident. I enjoy seeing these relics on the road, and as for pollution, a little more won't hurt. The new buses lack the iconography and immortal moments associated with the routemasters.

I always enjoy watching people chase a bus down the road and then jump on through the open "door". These new buses with closed doors won't have any such romantic notions attached to them. Red Ken should watch his step - he lives in Cricklewood incidentally which is a vile area - he's the London mayor not style guru.

FYI
I do not have a car and use the buses daily. I do not do the school run.
All buses are subsidised. Routemasters use diesel like all other buses. They are much more efficient (8 miles to the gallon rather than 5 miles to the gallon) and by dint of their very existence are helping to prevent more energy being expended in the production of new buses.
I am shocked and saddened at the lack of desire to preserve something uniquely British for the good of residents and tourists.

Those of you that think Ken Livingstone is going the right way, don't forget to email [email protected] [email protected] and let them know of your support.

Keith

Hey all you dingledorfs,

Give Our Ken a full and total break. It's an EU directive that requires the Routemasters to be phased out -- not the GLA (who are doing a kickin' job IMO).

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4316040/

My French and Dutch friends are horrified at my love of running & leaping onto the platform . . . and I think there are actually a handful of deaths related to just this sort of dangerous activity , )

It's both a safety and accessibility issue. So blame big bad Brussels

From this tourist's point of view, I can say that yes, the Routemaster buses are charming and nostalgic. But the new buses are much more comfortable and easier to get around on.

We visited the London Transport Museum on our last visit to London. There were a lot of other charming and nostalgic modes of transportation on display. But their time has passed.

Hmm. No opinions on this subject-but an interesting thread! Nigello-I thought you were going to Beijing to study Mandarin? You aren't telling porkies again, are you? (smile)

MK2-I take it you don't fancy Red Ken? Crinklewood (funny name-where is that?) "a vile area" and the "vile Essex sort" of English tourist- you DO crack me up-regardless of what people think you do, or who you are!

Cricklewood (not crinkle - that's Noel Edmond's territory) is sandwiched between Kilburn, Brondesbury Park, and the North Circular road system - no shops to speak of, depressing terraces of houses, an area to lock one's door when driving alone at night.

ok, i have been using every single day, and at least 4 times a day,for 6 months the london buses (i don't like subways) so i suppose that even if i'm a spaniard i've got some things to say... i'm totally in love with the routemaster!!! in fact if i could afford the delay i waited for it rather than hop on the new ones..why? mainly 'cose the fresh air, whether in summer or winter i really find disgusting to "feel" the "old" air...the windows of the new ones just open 5 cm so no fresh air from there, they have no air conditioning(unbelievable for a southerner like me)and the engine of the back makes the seats the closest i'll be to sit in hell!

also, on the new ones half of the people are standing, so u are most of the times sandwiched between a baby carriage and somebody with their own weight in shopping bags that in every bend, brake or gas bump repeteadly on your leg...

the routemasters had that "luggage" space, the condurton helped u to put baby carriages or suitcases or anything that could be unconfortable for others there and there could only be 5 people standing up.

The mayor of London was not elected to be a style guru.

He was elected, amongst other things, public transport for Londoners. ALL Londoners, including people with mobility problems (parents with prams or young children, shoppers, disabled passengers).

Whilst part of his remit includes bolstering tourism to London that should not come at the expense of those who live and work here.

The routemasters are an icon but, like many, they have outlived their time.

That should read:

He was elected, amongst other things, <b>to improve</b> public transport for Londoners.