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 here:

http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/AllCars/229691/

Correct, TFL actually means "Transport ForLorn" or "Totally F****
London".

On 19 Dec, 17:50, Mizter T gmail.com> wrote:

Won't happen. Even if the disabilty taliban can be mollified the
powers that be are still scared stiff of the health and safety issues
of having an open exit at the back. Its all swings and roundabouts but
we'll have to wait for the current spineless emasculated pillocks who
seem to run the country to retire before something like the
routemaster can come back. Some bullets in the back of the heads of
some ambulance chasing lawyers would help too.

B2003

On Wed, 19 Dec 2007 09:50:22 -0800 (PST), Mizter T gmail.com>
wrote:

I reckon they just went at looked at old designs that attempted to
update the Routemaster and added a twist of current design "flair" to
make it look suitable for current tastes. It doesn't look a million
miles away from one design I glanced at today when I was leafing through
the updated Routemaster book by Ken Blacker.

In uk.transport.london message g2000prf.googlegroups.com>, Wed, 19 Dec 2007 09:50:22, Mizter T
gmail.com> posted:

Was it not Autocar that did road-tests on outré vehicles for the
Christmas number? I recall reading, some while ago, a test of a (1 HP)
brewer's dray. As I recall, they said that it was reluctant to start on
cold mornings, but never completely refused; and that the exhaust
emissions in the first mile were terrible.

It would be nice to read it again; is it on the Web?

Paul Corfield wrote:

Amen to that!

mf

Mizter T wrote:

It's quite possible that opinions vary given the actual bendy bus people are
likely to use. The number 25 serves QMUL (and also my home) and I'm hard
pressed to think of *anyone* with a good word to say about bendy buses in
general.

Paul Corfield wrote:

Well there's the cost issue that's true, but the basic problem is the
Routemaster has several features that a) are not duplicated on the
replacement buses, particularly the ability to jump off between stops, open
platform that prevents it from getting too hot inside and onboard staff who
gave reassurance; and b) have been incorporated into road and bus stop
planning - e.g. the Liverpool Street to Tottenham bendy that takes forever
because of the over frequent bus stops that were placed for Routemasters or
the narrows built into roads that bendies have problems navigating.

What could address some of these problems would be more flexibility on the
part of drivers and/or the training - e.g. allowing passengers to be able to
escape the buses when on a scorching day they're stuck in traffic only 200
metres from the bus stop. It's these kind of things that make people want
the Routemaster back. Yes there's nostalgia for the bus but if the modern
buses were doing as good a job at meeting passenger requirements then demand
for the return would be less.

On Thu, 20 Dec 2007, Tim Roll-Pickering wrote:

A quick online quiz of my friends (not all native english speakers, i
should mention) yielded the following comments:

"they are rubbish, I hate them. i prefer the one with the double floor"

"dodge fare heaven...!!! Route 29 Rules..!!!!"

For the operator, the advantages of an RM are:
- light weight
- conductor can deter vandalism

Passenger advantages are
- hop on, hop off
- generally a better view out
- more seats

On weight, low-floor double-deckers weigh as much as 1.5 RMs. Bendies
weigh more than two.

A light wheelchair-accessible bus would be an environmental winner,
reducing fuel and road maintenance costs.

The cost of a conductor could be covered by reduced fuel and
maintenance costs - including reduced vandalism repair on the bus.

Also the presence of a conductor would have some effect in encouraging
fare-paying passengers late at night.

So it's entirely possible that a bus with a conductor could be more
economical to run overall - especially if fuel costs go up a lot.

Colin McKenzie