Mayoral press release:
http://www.london.gov.uk/media/press...80%99s-new-bus
or via http://tinyurl.com/395bm2k
New Bus for London page on the GLA/Mayoral website (including a video
presentation):
http://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/transport/new-bus-london
TfL project page:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/projectsandschemes/15493.aspx
BBC News online story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8685486.stm
Evening Standard story:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23834671-.do
Evening Standard comment - Ross Lydall's blog post:
http://lydall.standard.co.uk/2010/05...dows-open.html
or via http://tinyurl.com/2v8uwxy
I'm a bit of a sceptic with regards to this whole endeavour (and very
much a sceptic with regards to the withdrawal of the supposedly evil
bendy buses - but I'll put that aside for now) - but I won't pretend
that I find the proposed (or rather, apparently finalised) design
unattractive - to my eyes at least, it does look good. I suppose the
project does kind of appeal to the 'schoolboy fantasist' element that
lurks within... I dare say that thought might explain a significant
part of the broader allure of this whole venture, one which was after
all instigated by the grown-up schoolboy that is Mayor Bozza. The
talking heads in the TfL video do all seem quite enthused by it,
though I must say they do perhaps betray a little uncertainty over
whether it's all really going to, y'know, actually happen - but maybe
that's just me projecting my thoughts onto their utterances. (And if
it is going to actually happen, then it might as well be done
properly, workably and professionally I suppose.)
All that said, this is the only bus 'thing' that Boris seems to take
any interest in - one can't help but feel his mindset just regards
buses (well, the Routemaster and this new BorisBus) as little more
than moving ornaments to be admired from afar, rather than as a vital
mode of transport that needs to be treated as a cohesive network,
cared for and maintained. If the BorisBus project means other bus
services get cut back and fares go up, then the "stunning red
emblem[s] of 21st century London" (BoJo's words) will take on
something of a different hue.