Buy your own Routemaster
For 50 years they have stood alongside Big Ben and Eros as London icons.
Today they will disappear from route 36, leaving the open-deck buses and their conductors on just six routes across the capital.
The remaining 170 Routemasters will be gone by the end of the year because Mayor Ken Livingstone wants the capital's 7,000-strong bus fleet to be fully accessible to disabled people in advance of new European laws.
The buses, which entered service in 1954, are now being snapped up by private collectors as far afield as Canada, Hong Kong and Australia.
The Ensign Bus Company in Essex says demand for Routemasters has never been higher, having sold 150 in the last four months.
They have also been snapped up by celebrities. Andrew Lloyd Webber bought one for fellow theatre impresario Sir Cameron Mackintosh, while I'm A Celebrity contestant Natalie Appleton ordered one for her husband's birthday.
Ensign boss Peter Newman, 64, said: "Now TfL has decided to get rid of Routemasters we plan to sell a total of 400 by October next year.
"It's their classic design that makes them so popular. Nowhere else in the world do you get that unique rounded shape and open rear cab. We sell all sorts of buses but there's something about the Routemaster that makes them that extra bit special."
Prices range from ?2,000 for a bus in poor order to ?10,000 for one in top condition. Only vetted customers can apply to ensure a good number are passed on to preservationists and remain in the UK.
Many restore them to their original 1950s interiors while others convert them into mobile holiday homes. Owners pay no road tax as the buses qualify as heritage vehicles. They can be driven with a conventional driving licence.
Mr Newman's son Steve, 32, said they were a wise investment. " People shouldn't think that they'll make a fortune but they should make a healthy return - at least several thousand pounds," he said.
Services on the 36, which runs between Queen's Park and New Cross, will be run from Saturday by new double deckers. Fifty conductors will be made redundant.
Route 19 will be next to lose its Routemasters on 1 April. This will leave Routemasters only on routes 13, 14, 22, 38 and 159.
The last 36 will leave Queen's Park station at 12.04am on Saturday, arriving at New Cross garage at 1.04am. The service will be run by veteran bus the RM9.
