At least it'll get them off Putney High St.

Try cycling down the cycle lane whilst people are randomly jumping off a
moving bus without looking.

Like 4x4s they are unsafe for people around...


wrote in message
...
The Business

1st August 2004

Business Platform by Ian Watson

Why must the last bell sound for proper buses?

AGE has not wearied them, nor the years condemned their appeal, yet
Routemasters, the red buses which have heroically worked London's streets
for 50 years, are reaching the end of the road. This will be their last
full
summer in operation, then these double-deckers will be scrapped.

By 2005 all will be gone, except for those in museums and in private
hands.
Some will be auctioned for between £2,000 (?3,020, $3,640) and £10,000.
With
their shiny red exteriors, boxy design, properly padded seats, rope-pull
bells, open platforms and rumbly engines, Routemasters have carried
passengers since the age of London smogs, trolley-buses and horse drawn
vehicles. They have survived Hitler's bombs but not the attention of
politically correct Transport Man. He has deemed that the 600 or so
survivors which continue to struggle through London's heavily congested
streets, out of the original 2,876 built during the 1950s and 1960s, are
for
the chop.

Routemasters were revolutionary when launched in 1954. Instead of having a
traditional steel body and chassis, they had strengthened aluminium bodies
which didn't require a chassis to take the stress. This gave them their
enduring qualities. Other novel features for a bus of the 1950s, but which
were fitted as standard on Routemasters, included independent front
suspension, power steering, fully automatic gearbox and power-hydraulic
braking. In 1961, 24 vehicles were built and then lengthened by the
insertion of an additional 2ft 6in bay in the centre of their body. Called
RML, this version with its 72 seat (32 downstairs, 40 upstairs) bodywork
became the standard product from 1965 and remains the most common type
seen
on London streets today.

Nearly 1,500 Routemasters were scrapped through the years, but many were
sold and are still in service elsewhere in the UK or around the world. The
original 64-seater Routemaster (28 down, 36 up) was designed by London
Transport to complete the replacement of the once large London trolleybus
fleet. Built between 1954 and 1968 it was designed for a 17-year life.
They
were built at various locations and different models were powered by
engines
built by Leyland, Cummins, Scania, AEC and Iveco. These Rolls Royces of
buses could hit 70mph with ease.

Loved by commuters and much photographed byvisitors, London Transport's
engineers admit there's probably another 10-20 years of operating life in
these London icons. But that's not good enough for Transport Man. In these
Blairite days, the double-decked, open-platformed Routemasters offer
freedom
of choice, risk and, by not catering for the disabled, infirm or elderly,
are regarded as "socially exclusive".

Although Transport Man won't admit it, what is really consigning them to
the
scrapyard are concerns that these old workhorses don't conform to modem
ideas of political correctness. Transport Man views them as clapped-out
relics and dangerous ones at that. They're not a serious transport
proposition anymore, argues Peter Hendy, who heads transport group Tfl's
(Transport for London's) surface operations. He views them as moving
museum
pieces. Transport Man is also fearful that because passengers sometimes
fall
off Routemasters' open platforms and kill themselves this leaves them
vulnerable to legal action. The facts suggest otherwise. Although the
non-fatal accident rate of Routemasters runs at about double that of modem
buses with doors, the last fatality involving a Routemaster was almost a
year ago.

Another big black mark against them is that they're not disabled-friendly.
That's undeniable, but what's forgotten is that following a few minutes
behind Routemasters are the capital's more modem buses providing easier
access. Anyway, the Disability Discrimination Act doesn't prohibit the use
of Routemasters until 2017. "London's buses are nearly 100% accessible and
play a vital role in getting people to work and to shops, to the
healthcare,
education and job opportunities that London provides," says Transport Man.

What he means is that his modem buses are socially inclusive. Nothing
wrong
with that as far as it goes. But it that enough to condemn Routemasters to
the scrapyard? No, for the figures suggest that there are only about 1,000
wheelchair journeys a day compared with 6m passenger journeys on the
entire
London Transport bus network.

It is indisputable that the capital's new, single decker bendybuses are
more
friendly for the disabled, infirm and elderly, with one exception.
Bendybuses have an unfortunate tendency to transform themselves into
"chariots of fire" by bursting into flames. Another downer is that
Routemasters, as well as drivers, need bus conductors, a species viewed by
Transport Man as another relic of the past. And, of course, they're not
fuel
efficient compared to their modem equivalents. Wrong! Routemasters are
very
fuel efficient. Because of their lightweight aluminium bodies, they
provide
an average of 8 miles to the gallon compared with the five and half miles
delivered by heavier modem buses.

Loud protests from Routemaster's many fans will be to no avail. Transport
Man has made up his mind. Routemasters are no longer fashionable. Part of
London's heritage they may be, but Routemasters are on the road to
nowhere.
They are seen by Transport Man, and London's left-wing mayor Ken
Livingstone, as dinosauric as Beefeaters, Pearly Kings and Guards on
Parade.
We should not spurn new ideas or innovations just because we have become
attached to the familiar. But compared with Transport Man's modem buses,
Routemasters are lighter, cheaper to maintain, more fuel efficient, carry
more seated passenger - and they do not burst into flames. The case for
their early retirement is not made.

"Chris" wrote in message
...
At least it'll get them off Putney High St.

Try cycling down the cycle lane whilst people are randomly jumping off a
moving bus without looking.

Like 4x4s they are unsafe for people around...

Dont you just hate them. Like top posters and people that ride bikes on
pavements. Lets ban usenet and bikes.
--
Everything above is the personal opinion of the author, and nothing to do
with where he works and all that lovely disclaimery stuff.
Posted in his lunch hour too.