The London Bus Redesigned

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Origin of Cool: UK

Among sights like red telephone boxes and black taxi cabs, London buses are what I think of as one of the most iconic images of London. But the traditional looking red buses, known as Routemasters, were reduced to only 2 routes in 2005 after they were withdrawn on “accessibility and environmental grounds”. In 2008 Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, launched a revival competition requesting a new Routemaster bus design. The competition was won by Warwickshire-based car company Aston Martin and London-based architects Foster + Partners (and if that isn’t a winning combination I don’t know what is).

At first I was a bit skeptical about a new bus, redesigning such a classic as the Routemaster is never easy, but the resulting bus not only looks space-age and sleek on the outside, with its lightweight glass and metal, but it’s brimming with technology on the inside. The bus has 3 Oyster card readers on each of its doors, a T-loop system for those with hearing aids and the latest green, diesel-electric, hybrid fuel technology.

Eight of the new Routemaster buses (costing £11.37m all together) are now on the roads on Route 38 between Victoria and Hackney just in time to show them off to all the tourists from the London Olympics.

Image Credits: Play-Auto.net

Filed Under: Art & Design

Tags: automobile, design, double-decker, England, iconic, London, Routemaster, transport, UK