West End Extra

Friday 13th August 2004

Last chance to save our great old 'buses

Your charming article (“All aboard the love ‘bus; artists’ tribute to No.
19", 6 August) was a well timed reminder
of the sad passing of our much loved Routemaster ‘buses.

On 3 September, local routes 390 and 73 will lose their Routemasters. The
conversion of the 73 is a particularly
deplorable slap in the face for the travelling public, for our fast,
friendly, conductor operated Routemasters are
to be replaced with lumbering, inflammable one person operated bendibuses,
running at much reduced frequencies on
London’s busiest route.

Their conductors, who have proudly served Londoners for many years, will be
thrown on the scrap heap with their
‘buses, sixty of which were repurchased from private owners in Mayor
Livingstone’s first term of office, and
refurbished at a cost of £50,000 each, a total of £3,000,000 of our money,
on the promise that they would spend a
further ten years at London’s service. The last few entered service on the
19 only last March, long after mass
withdrawals of their sisters had begun. The Mayor is consistent only in his
profligacy with public funds.

On a brighter note, there may just be a chance of saving the few surviving
Routemasters, including the 19's, if your
readers protest loudly enough to our elected representatives, and in
particular, the members of the Greater London
Assembly, which is no longer dominated by the Mayor’s cronies. Without your
readers’ help, however, the last bell
will ring for London’s Routemasters in the next few months.

Yours faithfully,




Adrian Davies