In article
,
(Mizter T) wrote:

I found this story earlier on the BBC News website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7149722.stm

Autocar magazine (somewhat bizarrely) asked bus design company Capoco
Design (which designed the the Dennis Dart and Trident amongst others)
to come up with a concept design for a new Routemaster-type bus. It's
hardly a spectacularly original idea, but it's interesting nonetheless.

When I first read the BBC story (above) I scoffed somewhat, not least
because Boris Johnson (the Tory candidate in the forthcoming Mayoral
elections in May) declared it was "the shape of the future" - so my
instant prejudice was to be highly sceptical! However, the full
article has now been put up on the Autocar website, and it's less
ridiculous than I first though - you can read it for yourself he

http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsAr...llCars/229691/

Now I've looked at the article the biggest point seem to me the
incredibly old-fashioned and space-wasting half cab design. That was out
of date when the Routemaster was new (the trolleybuses they replaced had
full width cabs). With modern engine arrangements I'd have thought they'd
want to put it full in the body and the best place would be under the
stairs. That would allow more buggy and wheelchair space downstairs by
the front entrance.

The article says "At 8230kg, it will weigh around 400kg more than the old
version — a tribute to the original aluminium spaceframe design".

In fact that weight is almost the same as the 30ft long RMLs which
weighed 8.25 tons (8382 kilos).

--
Colin Rosenstiel