On Jul 12, 10:37 pm, "Chris Read" wrote:

"West Yorkshire Bus" wrote:
With Boris being pro-Routemasters, anti-Bendibuses, I'm surprised
there hasn't been any changes to the heritage Routemaster services in
London since they were introduced
I was in London recently and the services seemed popular and the very
sight of one on the road caused tens of tourists to get out their
cameras.

They are expensive to operate, and often very quiet during the winter
period. There is no longer a stock of Routemaster vehicles to expand the
service, even if that were desirable.

In fact, I'm quite surprised these services are still operating at all. If
drastic cuts become necessary at TfL, I would expect the 9H and 15H to be in
the firing line. They are 'nice to haves' which contribute little to the
real job of TfL - moving Londoners efficiently from A to B on a daily basis.

There is simply zero chance of them being cut though, at least now
whilst Boris is in office, given the political capital he has invested
in the whole Routemaster 'thing' - if he did, the furore would be
immense. I suppose that if and when the Borismaster (the Routemaster
inspired Boris Bus) ever appears, then they could be dropped - but the
Borismaster, *if* it ever sees the light of day, isn't going to be
that similar to the old Routemasters.

Chris - whilst one can look at them solely the context of TfL's real
job of moving people from A to B, I think it fair to say that they are
a small but important part of 'brand London' - and whilst they might
be costly to run, the tourist promotion folks would surely argue that
they are worthwhile investment in terms of tourism.

Also, the London transport network has more than its fair share of
museum pieces that are nonetheless integral parts of the system - I'm
thinking more in terms of architecture and buildings as opposed to
vehicles. Great lengths are gone to preserve many of these buildings
and stations, and the historical features thereof - under your strict
analysis, doing this is also not necessary but merely a 'nice to
have'. Maybe so, but I think in many cases the extra effort is
worthwhile.

(And this all comes from someone who is a bendy bus fan! Which leads
me on to think... will the LT Museum keep a bendy bus? One could
certainly argue they should - but the LTM is part of TfL which is
ultimately answerable to the Mayor, and I dare say he'd veto any such
suggestion given his professed desire to eradicate them. Thus we are
left with the potential for each and every Mayor to airbrush London's
transport history as they so please! Possibly a bit of an OTT comment,
but you see where I'm coming from. I dare say someone will be along
any moment to argue that such airbrushing of history at the LTM is
nothing new...!)