Beginning of the end for bendy bus
LONDON today takes another baby step back towards a civilised, democratic and distinctive public realm - with the rebirth of the Routemaster, the bus Londoners would not allow to die.
The competition is the result of public revolt against "Transport for Livingstone's" destruction of the much-loved, most efficient bus - a rare example of the people beating the bureaucrats.
The hundreds of entries which poured in, from schoolchildren to professional designers, showed the extraordinary affection for the Routemaster.
The two winning designs pay full tribute to the things which made the Routemaster so special, while updating the bus. A new minimal-emission hybrid drive will elevate it above the level of a mere vanity project, belatedly cleaning up London's filthy, 99 per cent diesel bus fleet. There will be full access for the disabled. But there will also be the conductor to provide help and security, and to make sure (a revolutionary departure, this) that people pay their fares. Above all, of course, the classic open platform - not only convenient, but symbolic of a public service that treats us like adults.
Prigs and killjoys hate the open platform. They mutter about its "dangers" (actually minimal) and the need to protect us from ourselves. They will grumble about the cost, forgetting that TfL was going to be buying new buses anyway. But prigs and killjoys no longer run London. You do - and the people are getting what they voted for.
The real action will now move to the manufacturers. As the Standard reported in October, the winning entries will do no more than inform the manufacturers' design efforts. We will need to be vigilant. TfL is still run by the two people, after Ken himself, most responsible for the original Routemaster's demise - Peter Hendy, the commissioner, and David Brown, the director of surface transport.
The three-year prototyping and manufacturing process offers them ample scope to water it down. That must be resisted, because this vehicle could be something genuinely important - not just a departure from the failures of current buses, but a restoration of the principle that public services should please the users, not the operators.
