End of the road for iconic bus

At midday the last Routemaster—the number 159—travelled from Oxford Street to Brixton bus garage in south London, ringing in the end of an era.

The buses—replete with a conductor, cord-pull bells and an open rear boarding platform which allowed passengers to get on and off even when the bus was moving—are viewed by many as irreplaceable classics.

Snub-nosed and light-bodied, with the driver enclosed in splendid isolation in his cab, the last Routemaster was built in 1968. They had been designed to last no longer than 17 years.

“It’s born of London for London. And it’s the last of its kind,” said Travis Elborough, author of The Bus We Loved, a homage to the buses, some of which travelled continent-busting distances during their long working lives.

“The experience of travelling on them for many people is a lot more pleasurable than maybe, travelling on certain replacements which have all the aesthetics of the inside of a hoover attachment,” he said.

Since the late 1950s countless visitors to London have climbed the narrow stairs and settled into the front seats for an inexpensive bird’s eye tour of the city’s top attractions. At their peak 2,760 trundled throughout London.

And while passengers will no longer be told to “hold very tight please” as the conductor gave the bell-cord two sharp tugs to signal the bus was departing, not everyone will shed a tear.

The buses’ design effectively excluded many people with disabilities and parents struggling with pushchairs.

“I have a certain sympathy with the whole nostalgia thing, but the world moves on,” said Bert Massie, Chairman of the Disability Rights Commission said.

But the buses will not completely disappear —a few will continue on two London heritage routes for those who can’t let go. —Reuters