Boris and the 'new' Routemaster (it'll be back "by 2011")

[Mitre10]

But they only run on certain routes, that are busy enough to warrent having them, and where the roads are wide enough. When I cycled in london there's no way I'd overtake a bendy bus on the inside, even a stationary one. Asking for trouble.

Good thing about bendy buses - there's no top deck, so you're less likely to be attacked or hassled, Plus, it's quick to get on and off because there are three sets of doors.h

They don't though, they run on some horrendous routes, many major junctions in London cannot accomodate these things as they run across outside lanes or kerbs on corners. Its not the drivers fault as the buses flex in the middle of the vehicle. At least the driver of an artic has the chance to go straight into a 90 degree bend and turn at the last moment to minimise the circle of his trailer.

Stand around the Victoria bus station / Buckingham Palace Road and watch the amount of people who have to try and get back as one of these things inevitably mounts the kerb when rounding a corner... not easy when there are 50 people crammed onto a traffic island.

Just because you and I would never go down the inside of one of these things, it doesn't mean that no-one else will and people don't seem to realise how dangerous it is.

I am no Routemaster lover, although I do like seeing them around. It is just bloody obvious that London is more suited to a shorter double decker than a bendy bus, whatever age or model the double decker is.

 

[Cid]

Top prize a massively underwhelming £25,000.

Says rather about the wealth, success and general out-of-touchiness of you new media stars. £25,000 for a few sketches fancifully remodelling an existing vehicle, in the knowledge that they won't have to be too practical as said new model will never be built, seems quite good to me. If I smoked and could draw I would already be be frantically scribbling away on the back of one of those metaphorical fag packets.[/QUOTE]

Read the competition; they're looking for detailed designs not just sketches... That's a lot of work tbh.

 

[Mitre10]

Top prize a massively underwhelming £25,000.


http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/corporate...ogyandequipment/anewbusforlondon/default.aspx

Not too sure about the underwhelming bit, if an anonymous individual does it and gets accepted, firstly £25K isn't to be sniffed at and then they will be able to brag about that in the future - like that lad who designed the new coinage. If he wants to go into that sort of career, it won't look bad on his CV.

If a proper design company won, they would most likely be hired to further their design and maybe even hired into the project build. Having their design accepted wouldn't look bad on their company portfolio either.




Thats if it a new bus ever actually happens, rather than the mayor being seen to fulfil his electoral pledges by having a design competition and then ignoring it for 4 years that is...

 

[Sunray]

I just hope that the new buses have an open rear platform ala the old routemaster.

The most fucking annoying thing is having to wait to get to a stop and have the doors opened now, crawling through the London traffic... 50m to go, 40m to go, <passage of another 2 mins>, 30m to go, 20m to go <lights change again, fuck, I'm already late for work>, 10m to go <let me off the fucking bus you bastard!!> etc etc

Never going to happen, was a constant source of accidents. 11 a day I think someone said here.

I really wish people would actually see a Routemaster bus for the shit buses they were. To me they symbolise the Thatcher years of chronic under investment in public transport, what other large western city kept their buses for 50 years. For that alone they and all their supporters can burn.

 

[JTG]

they were shit weren't they?

 

[bouncer_the_dog]

As long as it has a big sign on the back saying 'no wheelchairs, idiots who are going to fall off or whingers allowed'

 

[Mitre10]

Never going to happen, was a constant source of accidents. 11 a day I think someone said here.

I really wish people would actually see a Routemaster bus for the shit buses they were. To me they symbolise the Thatcher years of chronic under investment in public transport, what other large western city kept their buses for 50 years. For that alone they and all their supporters can burn

Not sure if that figure is entrirely correct but as I can't be arsed researching it I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

However, I imagine there are more than 11 bicycle accidents a day in London.

BAN THEM ALL!!!

Burn supporters of bikes


<apply to nearly everything else in the world ad infinitum>

 

[Cid]

Cycling is a choice taken for many reasons, and cyclists accept that it carries a risk. Taking a bus to work should not (well, a minimal one). Quite apart from that it is an utterly ridiculous waste of public money, we have perfectly good double decker buses, the aesthetic harks back to the routemaster but they are safer and more efficient. Why on earth would you want to replace them? If a significant jump in the technologies involved happened then yeah, it might be worth it, but as it is it just seems like throwing huge amounts of cash into yet another crikey, bonkers scheme.

 

[Guineveretoo]

They don't though, they run on some horrendous routes, many major junctions in London cannot accomodate these things as they run across outside lanes or kerbs on corners. Its not the drivers fault as the buses flex in the middle of the vehicle. At least the driver of an artic has the chance to go straight into a 90 degree bend and turn at the last moment to minimise the circle of his trailer.

Stand around the Victoria bus station / Buckingham Palace Road and watch the amount of people who have to try and get back as one of these things inevitably mounts the kerb when rounding a corner... not easy when there are 50 people crammed onto a traffic island.

Just because you and I would never go down the inside of one of these things, it doesn't mean that no-one else will and people don't seem to realise how dangerous it is.

I am no Routemaster lover, although I do like seeing them around. It is just bloody obvious that London is more suited to a shorter double decker than a bendy bus, whatever age or model the double decker is.

And they block pedestrian crossings.

Although they do carry more than one double decker, they don't carry more than two double deckers, and they have about half as many running on routes as they used to when it was double deckers.

They are certainly not suitable for London roads, but I agree that the old Routemaster should not be brought back, for loads of reasons.

This competition, however, is a bit misleading since, as soon as it is a new design, by definition it cannot be a "Routemaster". It's just another double decker bus.

 

[Mitre10]

Cycling is a choice taken for many reasons, and cyclists accept that it carries a risk. Taking a bus to work should not (well, a minimal one). Quite apart from that it is an utterly ridiculous waste of public money, we have perfectly good double decker buses, the aesthetic harks back to the routemaster but they are safer and more efficient. Why on earth would you want to replace them? If a significant jump in the technologies involved happened then yeah, it might be worth it, but as it is it just seems like throwing huge amounts of cash into yet another crikey, bonkers scheme.

I seem to have been taken out of context somewhere along the line, I never said I wanted to "bring back routemasters". What I in fact said was:

"I am no Routemaster lover, although I do like seeing them around. It is just bloody obvious that London is more suited to a shorter double decker than a bendy bus, whatever age or model the double decker is."


Although I do admit to wishing that any new double decker could have an open rear platform, accidents or no accidents.

 

[Roadkill]

I really wish people would actually see a Routemaster bus for the shit buses they were. To me they symbolise the Thatcher years of chronic under investment in public transport, what other large western city kept their buses for 50 years. For that alone they and all their supporters can burn.

They weren't shit: they were a design far ahead of their time. Maybe they should have been replaced before they were, and you're right about Tory underinvestment killing off plans to replace them in the early '80s, but tbh compared to a lot of older one-man-operated buses they don't look so bad even now. Remember, you Londoners have the newest bus fleet in the country by miles: go to a lot of other cities and you'll find plenty of very elderly buses still running which are no more accessible and no more comfortable than the Routemaster. I can see why you think they should have gone long before they did - and I've come to think they should probably have gone sooner - but I object to you describing them as 'shit.' Old-fashioned in many respects, yes, but if they'd been a crap design they'd never have been so popular or lasted as long as they did.

 

[HackneyE9]

They weren't shit: they were a design far ahead of their time. Maybe they should have been replaced before they were, and you're right about Tory underinvestment killing off plans to replace them in the early '80s, but tbh compared to a lot of older one-man-operated buses they don't look so bad even now. Remember, you Londoners have the newest bus fleet in the country by miles: go to a lot of other cities and you'll find plenty of very elderly buses still running which are no more accessible and no more comfortable than the Routemaster. I can see why you think they should have gone long before they did - and I've come to think they should probably have gone sooner - but I object to you describing them as 'shit.' Old-fashioned in many respects, yes, but if they'd been a crap design they'd never have been so popular or lasted as long as they did.

Indeed. I point you in the direction of Jonathan Glancey's excellent book, Bread & Circuses, which points out the Routemasters were bespoke built and designed, in Britain (in London IIRC), for London streets. Great bits of engineering.

 

[JTG]

cramped and uncomfortable

 

[Sunray]

Don't fall down the (especially narrow) steps when its moving or your not just falling down the stairs your falling off the bus into the road as well.

These are buses. Its takes me from one place to another in reasonable comfort most of the time. What more do you want from a bus??

 

[Roadkill]

These are buses. Its takes me from one place to another in reasonable comfort most of the time. What more do you want from a bus??

Nothing. Why do you ask?

 

[salem]

Good thing about bendy buses - there's no top deck, so you're less likely to be attacked or hassled, Plus, it's quick to get on and off because there are three sets of doors.h

I can say with my hand on my heart that I've seen much much more trouble on bendy buses then regular double deckers.

In the back half you are as far removed from the driver as on a double decker. The fact the driver is hidden away in their compartment, not even seen by most passengers for their journey. The fact that they can't stop people getting on the bus, or how many people no matter how packed the bus already is means the driver has zero control over what goes on the bus.

I say this with experience of the 29 but most other routes which have gone bendy seem to have the same problems.

 

[editor]

Here's Foster + Partners effort. I rather like it. It looks like the old trams.



http://www.building.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=284&storycode=3124245&c=0

 

[editor]

Eeeugh! How ugly is this thing?

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/stand...erman+design+for+new+double-decker/article.do

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Here's Foster + Partners effort. I rather like it. It looks like the old trams.



http://www.building.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=284&storycode=3124245&c=0

saw that in The Standard last week, and whilst it's lovely looking, who's bright idea was it for a glass roof?

However, it's better than the "smiley" bus where passengers sit opposite each other

 

[editor]

None of them look as good as the original. So much for progress.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

The fugly one's growning on me

Looks fairly hardcore.

 

[Dillinger4]

Eeeugh! How ugly is this thing?

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/stand...erman+design+for+new+double-decker/article.do

that has pimping potential.

 

[g force]

Here's Foster + Partners effort. I rather like it. It looks like the old trams.



http://www.building.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=284&storycode=3124245&c=0

Utter gash....that wheelbase will make it even harder to turn than a Bendy..mind you they all do. Unless the wheelbase is similar to a current double decker they'll be little point.

 

[salem]

I really think that if anything comes of this it'll be a modification of an existing double decker bus rather then something built from scratch. Apparently the bus manufacturer Optare are putting something together.

Building a bus from scratch is a huge task, however chopping the back out of an existing bus shouldn't be too hard. I'd imagine it's only the engine being in the way which would be a problem but even then they were running a funky (single decker) demo bus on the 274 with a door in the same place as a routemaster so it's not impossible.

 

[citydreams]

And the winner is:

http://jimhead.tumblr.com/post/58577592/letting-my-inner-10-year-old-design-the-new-london

 

[i386]

Instead of repeating what cannot be repeated, why not draft something futuristic?
No one said new designs must not be red and round-cornered!

 

[untethered]

Instead of repeating what cannot be repeated, why not draft something futuristic?

When you say "futuristic", do you mean, "designed for the citizens of an imaginary future world"?

 

[lang rabbie]

plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose

Some Suggestions for Doubling Available Road Space
Willliam Heath Robinson, 1927


(I can't believe all the Heath Robinson posters went out of print!)

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Boris and the 'new' Routemaster

Ken said that new EU heath and safety and disabled equality rules meant that the open backed bus would have to go on any new route master.

He also said that TFL could not afford a separate conductor on London buses (or they would put them on bendys etc anyway).

Boris insists these are included in the design for a new 'routemaster' style bus but if the those first two sentences are true then it's all bollocks isn't it?

Does anyone know what this EU health and safety rule is? Or was Ken just talking rubbish.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Ken talking shite, Boris not?

Careful sonny, that's conchie talk round 'ere