New 'Routemaster' style bus for London

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

As a petrolhead with a passing peripheral nerdiness that encompasses other vehicles, having phased out the ridiculous bendy buses, TFL are phasing in these new routemaster style buses.

Pic here featuring our esteemed Tit Mayor of London




BBC Story here

What do we think? I think cool.

And for the PH bus 'nostalgists', here's a couple of pictures of my late Father's 1947 AEC Regent Three, that he owned until his death for even longer than he had me. A much loved family vehicle.

[matthias73]

Last year when I was in germany, I had a rather heavy night out with a friend. I wake up in the morning to him phoning me, he is frantically explaining that a london bus narrowly missed him and ended up in a house. He was still rather drunk, and was convinced that I had sent it to kill him.

I thought he was taking the piss, but sure enough a london bus had driven into a house, where he was walking past!

Thought I'd provide a bit of teutonic entertainment, like.

http://www.hna.de/nachrichten/landkreis-goettingen...

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

matthias73 said:

Last year when I was in germany, I had a rather heavy night out with a friend. I wake up in the morning to him phoning me, he is frantically explaining that a london bus narrowly missed him and ended up in a house. He was still rather drunk, and was convinced that I had sent it to kill him.

I thought he was taking the piss, but sure enough a london bus had driven into a house, where he was walking past!

Thought I'd provide a bit of teutonic entertainment, like.

http://www.hna.de/nachrichten/landkreis-goettingen...

Blinking flip!

[Marquis Rex]

I love the old Routemasters. You see them here in the states sometimes coverted into tour buses and coffee shops. Would love to get one and convert it into an RV/Motorhome

[matthias73]

Ray Luxury-Yacht said:

matthias73 said:

Last year when I was in germany, I had a rather heavy night out with a friend. I wake up in the morning to him phoning me, he is frantically explaining that a london bus narrowly missed him and ended up in a house. He was still rather drunk, and was convinced that I had sent it to kill him.

I thought he was taking the piss, but sure enough a london bus had driven into a house, where he was walking past!

Thought I'd provide a bit of teutonic entertainment, like.

http://www.hna.de/nachrichten/landkreis-goettingen...

Blinking flip!

I know right!? I have absolutely no idea what it was doing there

[carribine]

I saw one of the new buses this morning at 7.30 on the m56 by Chester any idea why it would be up my way? Also I think the bendy buses have ended up in Liverpool.

[Stu R]

I think they're really smart, nice nod to the older ones while still looking very modern.

I really want to buy an old one to send over to the states (I sell british food etc over there and it'd be great for some marketing). Nearly sharted my briefs when I saw how much some of them go for - put the kibosh on that idea pretty quickly!

Edited by Stu R on Sunday 26th February 23:19

[essexplumber]

carribine said:

Also I think the bendy buses have ended up in Liverpool.

With all the Communists? It should be made to feel welcome as it was a Red Ken production.

[FunBusMk2]

carribine said:

I saw one of the new buses this morning at 7.30 on the m56 by Chester any idea why it would be up my way? Also I think the bendy buses have ended up in Liverpool.

I think the bodybuilder is up that way. I often see London buses on trade plates heading south on the M1 each morning from Wakefield. They've some '12 plated single deckers heading into London too.

[12gauge]

I like it. Admittedly i havent seen the design and unit cost compared to other buses. And when i do i'll probably like it a lot less!

[SlowcoachIII]

Nothing can beat the original iconic routemasters in design, I just hope this new bus will do the old ones justice!

[DoctorX]

I really like it. The headlamps are wrong though.

[Nickyboy]

12gauge said:

I like it. Admittedly i havent seen the design and unit cost compared to other buses. And when i do i'll probably like it a lot less!

Unit cost around £300k IIRC so not massively more than a modern day hybrid double decker. They hope to recoup some of the design money by selling them elsewhere.

[soad]

Looks alright. Will try to board one (for inspection purposes) when down south.

[shoebag]

Smoke City Wheelers Chopped Routemaster early 90`s

[mat777]

IIRC it was wheelchair access that killed off the old routemasters? Why couldn't they simply have relocated the pole in the hole at the back to one side of the aperture and installed a fold-down ramp that flipped up from the floor and down onto the pavement?
Or am I thinking far too sensible ideas to ever be put before a council? Grrrrr

am I right in thinking that mercifully there are still some of these great machines still in service on the heritage routes?

[GTO Scott]

mat777 said:

IIRC it was wheelchair access that killed off the old routemasters? Why couldn't they simply have relocated the pole in the hole at the back to one side of the aperture and installed a fold-down ramp that flipped up from the floor and down onto the pavement?
Or am I thinking far too sensible ideas to ever be put before a council? Grrrrr

am I right in thinking that mercifully there are still some of these great machines still in service on the heritage routes?

You could theoretically fit the ramp, it's the access into the lower saloon that stuffs it up - you'd need a 40-odd degree ramp to get up to flioor height and still clear the rear diff from the rear platform. Also you'd lose 12 seats at least - the side facing seats over the rear arches would have to go as there would be nowhere for passengers legs to go without blocking the disabled access.

I get to play with old RM's regularly - much nicer to drive than modern buses:

RM1062 - fitted with a Scania engine, and so loud it sets off car alarms just by driving past

[AlexiusG55]

FunBusMk2 said:

I think the bodybuilder is up that way. I often see London buses on trade plates heading south on the M1 each morning from Wakefield. They've some '12 plated single deckers heading into London too.

The new Routemasters are built in Northern Ireland IIRC- so presumably they come off the ferry somewhere near Liverpool?

[LuS1fer]

I like it. the London taxi evolved and it's nice to see a bit of iconic design injected into a bus. New icons need something unique to distinguish them and this has a touch of Airstream about the shape.

[Andy665]

carribine said:

I saw one of the new buses this morning at 7.30 on the m56 by Chester any idea why it would be up my way? Also I think the bendy buses have ended up in Liverpool.

Manufactured by Wrightbus in Ballymena so just come over on the ferry