New Routemaster AKA Boris Bus.The End

[MX51ROD]

TFL are not ordering any more of the " Boris Busses "
The hybrid bus , specially designed for London costs £50,000 more than an "off the peg " bus

More here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-373234...

Had my first ride on one yesterday , went to the top deck and it was stifling , no air , no opening windows, Its 2016 , and still no A/C on public transport !!

[Dogwatch]

I thought they did have a/c. Whether it works in hot weather is a different matter!

[MDMetal]

Dogwatch said:

I thought they did have a/c. Whether it works in hot weather is a different matter!

Ah UK aircon, even a multi million pound office or public space has worse aircon than a Singaporean corner shop in a heatwave. When people order it do we buy the same units as the rest of the world? Or do we have a range of UK companies that somehow seem to be offering some amazingly priced boxes which do nothing?!

[Randy Winkman]

One of the Boris vanity projects.

[MX51ROD]

Randy Winkman said:

One of the Boris vanity projects.

At least the "Garden Bridge " looks doomed , another money pit .

[grumbledoak]

A shame. I like them. They were a much better idea than Red Ken's "let's properly fk up the car drivers" bendy buses. Or the Hydrogen one. £50k extra per bus is nothing compared to that one alone.

[Blaster72]

It's a shame, they were much more practical than bendy buses and less likely to wipe out random pedestrians or cyclists.

TFL need to cull the number of private hire vehicles (Uber or others) licenced to operated on London's roads if they really want to get the traffic moving though.

[craigjm]

They were better than the bendy buses but a city like London needs to be able to break free from stupid planning based around political cycles of 4-5 years. It needs a blueprint for the next 40 years or so that ALL parties are involved in and generally rubber stamp so that when mayors change we dont have these silly phases of stopping stuff and planning all over again.

[Blaster72]

To be fair they ordered 1000 of these new routemasters according to that article. I don't know what the lifecycle is but I'd imagine more advance busses will be available when these are up for renewal?

Maybe that's the reason they haven't ordered more?

[hairyben]

Thats a shame, at least they managed to make a bus look a bit funky, could the issues not simply be fixed? Was nice to see a bit of UK based engineering rather than whatevers cheapest.

As for the wrong brand of politician introducing them... go find yourself a football team to support.

[Riley Blue]

Dogwatch said:

I thought they did have a/c. Whether it works in hot weather is a different matter!

The report says that opening windows are being fitted after complaints about the heat on the top deck in summer. The cost - £2 million.

[craigjm]

Riley Blue said:

The report says that opening windows are being fitted after complaints about the heat on the top deck in summer. The cost - £2 million.

Anyone that goes upstairs on a London bus (especially a nightbus) is obviously brave enough to not allow a little heat to bother them

[Robertj21a]

Riley Blue said:

The report says that opening windows are being fitted after complaints about the heat on the top deck in summer. The cost - £2 million.

They have never had air conditioning (it would be too heavy for a bus on just 2 axles) but they had a 'chiller' unit - although these units work ok on other buses in London they have been fairly useless on these 'Borismasters' and most people have complained about 'sauna' conditions and a general lack of air. They are still being delivered new without any opening windows, but openers are then being retrofitted (at a cost of £2m as quoted already). All in all a rather expensive vanity project that hasn't achieved much of what was forecast.

[Blaster72]

Riley Blue said:

The report says that opening windows are being fitted after complaints about the heat on the top deck in summer. The cost - £2 million.

£2k per bus sounds reasonable for a retrofit. TFL's budget is massive.

[truck71]

It's a real shame this project wasn't handled better, having an iconic bus like the Routemaster is great for London but it did need to be fit for purpose and financially viable. Working in conjunction with one of the established manufacturers would have been more sensible- lot's of existing R&D already costed and with existing aftersales care.

[Robertj21a]

truck71 said:

It's a real shame this project wasn't handled better, having an iconic bus like the Routemaster is great for London but it did need to be fit for purpose and financially viable. Working in conjunction with one of the established manufacturers would have been more sensible- lot's of existing R&D already costed and with existing aftersales care.

It *was* developed in conjunction with one of the established manufacturers - Wrightbus have produced about 50% of the existing London fleets !

[Gareth79]

craigjm said:

Riley Blue said:

The report says that opening windows are being fitted after complaints about the heat on the top deck in summer. The cost - £2 million.

Anyone that goes upstairs on a London bus (especially a nightbus) is obviously brave enough to not allow a little heat to bother them

What is nice about the stairs is the windows to the side - it feels much more inviting even if it's not nice whee you're up there! (the climate or the other passengers)

[Murph7355]

I think they look great. Let's hope whatever replaces them looks at least as good (as the outside is the only view I'm interested in ).

[craigjm]

Gareth79 said:

craigjm said:

Riley Blue said:

The report says that opening windows are being fitted after complaints about the heat on the top deck in summer. The cost - £2 million.

Anyone that goes upstairs on a London bus (especially a nightbus) is obviously brave enough to not allow a little heat to bother them

What is nice about the stairs is the windows to the side - it feels much more inviting even if it's not nice whee you're up there! (the climate or the other passengers)

I wouldn't know I can't remember the last time I went on a peasant wagon

[dvs_dave]

Robertj21a said:

Riley Blue said:

The report says that opening windows are being fitted after complaints about the heat on the top deck in summer. The cost - £2 million.

They have never had air conditioning (it would be too heavy for a bus on just 2 axles) but they had a 'chiller' unit - although these units work ok on other buses in London they have been fairly useless on these 'Borismasters' and most people have complained about 'sauna' conditions and a general lack of air. They are still being delivered new without any opening windows, but openers are then being retrofitted (at a cost of £2m as quoted already). All in all a rather expensive vanity project that hasn't achieved much of what was forecast.

Do elaborate on your statement about AC being too heavy for a 2 axle bus? What's so heavy about it vs a "chiller" which is just a weak AC system. It doesn't stop AC being standard fitment on 2 axle busses in hotter countries.