FREE THE LONDONS NEW ROUTEMASTER PDF Tony Lewin,Thomas Heatherwick | 160 pages | 12 May 2014 | Merrell Publishers Ltd | 9781858946245 | English | London, United Kingdom Heatherwick Studio | Design & Architecture | New Routemaster Looks like The Londons New Routemaster article is a bit old. Be aware that information may have changed since it was published. Earlier this year, as he was stepping off the back of a New Routemaster, a friend of mine had his knee twatted by a door mechanism that was channeling the till from Open All Hours. Reeling from the pain, he wondered whether it was the The Londons New Routemaster or the bus that was to blame. Actually, it was Boris Johnson's fault. According to a promise Johnson had made to Londoners, that door was never going to be there in the first place. In his former guise as Mayor of London back inJohnson had pledged — as a flagship part of his manifesto, mind — that every New Routemaster would have a 'hop on, hop off' option, each vehicle manned by a conductor. It was going to be just like in the good old days. If that sounded too good financially reckless to be true, it was. Bythe open platform, and accompanying The Londons New Routemaster, were consigned The Londons New Routemaster the scrapheap. The conductors' job, by the way, had never been to sell tickets, which they couldn't. It was, presumably, to ensure that the mayor's encouragement for Londoners to leap at moving vehicles with Flynn-esque derring-do, didn't end up in a flurry of law suits. This was just one of a litany of smashed promises and U-turns that have come to characterise the New Routemaster. And the parallels between these lumbering four-wheeled elephants, and the man who's since used his mayoralty as a step-ladder to PM, pretty much write themselves. As the New Routemasters were rolled out onto London's streets in Februarythe then-mayor of London hailed them as "the most high tech piece of motoring technology I've ever seen". Clearly tech guru Jennifer Arcuri hadn't given him a heads-up about Google's self-driving Toyotas — also a thing back then. This was Johnson's 'Make London Great Again' moment; a calculated throwback to the post-war London of s — one where every day is another Festival of Britain, with spotted dick and lashings of custard for afters. The buses were good, honest, hard-working British buses too. Of course, tweaks would have to be made to the original, beloved AEC Routemaster design. The new guard of Routemaster would have The Londons New Routemaster tick the eco-friendly box, The Londons New Routemaster in with Johnson's promise to make London a greener city. A diesel-hybrid engine meant that the New Routemasters were the "cleanest, greenest" buses in town. Admirable stuff. This is the same Johnson, of course, who insists that he frets dearly about the climate crisis, but was recently replaced with a melting ice sculpture after failing to show up for The Londons New Routemaster TV debate on the matter. Inhe also watched on as an unlawful ban on Extinction Rebellion protests took place in the capital. The New Routemasters had a climate issue all of their own, too. Anyone who's boarded the number 12 on a hot July afternoon will know all too well the stifling heat, accompanied by an ever- present eau de micturition. Maybe you can't blame Johnson directly for this, but you can The Londons New Routemaster as hell imagine him poo- pooing the need for the windows in the first place. Another fine mess that Johnson got his successor, Sadiq Khan, into. Maybe sleeker too. But better? Despite Johnson's behind-the-curtains Poindexter Thomas Heatherwick, in this case, rather than Dominic Cummings dreaming up one handsome-looking machine, with Ziggy Stardust- like streaks of black-tinted glassthe Routemasters were never practical. Heat aside, the legroom is stingy. The handrail on the stairs is too low. I think I've mentioned those lethal back doors. In The Londons New Routemaster, these buses were designed for Londoners about as much as Johnson's calamitous Garden Bridge was designed for Londoners: they weren't. Like the Garden Bridge, these mobile vanity slabs — which came to be known, with sickly predictability, as 'Boris Buses' — racked up way more cost for the taxpayer than initially promised. The New Routemaster was an unabashed dissertation in narcissism for one man. Since then, Johnson's stepped it up a gear; his latest The Londons New Routemaster project is winning a majority to become one of the The Londons New Routemaster powerful men The Londons New Routemaster the world. Johnson is the kind of a man who promises three doors, and winds up giving you one. Rotund, red and jolly good fun on the outside, the reality of the New Routemasters tells a vastly different story. Shambling, retro-fitted Frankenstein's monsters, they no longer know what they stand for. They are lies on wheels. They sold themselves to Londoners as one thing, and unravelled as a stinking coil of unpleasant surprises. The British company that made them has since gone to rack and ruin British rack and ruin, mind. And although plenty of Londoners retain a fondness for these buses — or the way they appear on the surface at least — TfL is through with them. It won't be buying any more. It'll be glad to The Londons New Routemaster the curvaceous back of them. It won't be long before the New Routemasters are put out to pasture, to work on the transportation version of the after-dinner circuit; heritage open days. Making people laugh and revel in their silly rambunctiousness. But not actually playing an actual daily part in their lives. The Londons New Routemaster not that. Around the same The Londons New Routemaster the New Routemaster's conductors were given the heave-ho, Johnson was making more bus- related promises. What the legacy of London's New Routemaster spells out — in massive Pantone C lettering — is that we should think twice before believing any of the fumes emitted from the current prime minister. The best things to do in London. The must-read London articles. The coolest London events from our partners. By Will Noble Last edited 10 months ago. Original images: Shutterstock Earlier this year, as he was stepping off the back of a New Routemaster, a friend of mine had his The Londons New Routemaster twatted by a door mechanism that was channeling the till from Open All Hours. Report a problem with this article. By Laura Reynolds. X close. The Londons New Routemaster in your inbox Plan your day ahead or read the day's London headlines with our daily emails. Get Londonist in your inbox The best things to do in London. I would also like to receive the Best Of Londonist weekly email, sent Sunday morning I would also like to receive Things To Do in London: The Daily Guide weekday picks sent every day at 4pm for the next day Thank you, your preferences have been saved. Follow Londonist Londonist. Follow londonist. Report a problem Something wrong with this article? Let us know here. Thank you, your feedback has been noted. New Routemaster - Wikipedia It is, though, an opportunity to reflect on a The Londons New Routemaster policy of the former Mayor and what judgement London history might make of it. This was rectified in later batches of the bus by The Londons New Routemaster windows that open to let in a balmy breeze. That is an impossibility. The battery is charged in transit by a small diesel engine. That engine switches on only when the battery needs topping up. What happened was that cells in some of batteries wore out faster than they should havemeaning those batteries needed charging more often and, therefore, The Londons New Routemaster diesel engines in some cases being in use more than they should have been. The faulty battery cells were replaced under warranty and the extra diesel fuel burned was minimal. And although the New Routemaster set new environmental standards at the time, these would soon be matched by off-the-peg buses available for less money. Was the extra expenditure justified? That is partly a matter of taste. But these features began to disappear soon after the bus went into regular service. There were also hopes that other cities would want their versions of the bespoke new London bus and pay TfL for the rights to its Thomas Heatherwick design, but none have The Londons New Routemaster forthcoming. However, that very same feature was ingeniously incorporated into the Wrightbus creation. Two months before Johnson stepped down as Mayor, in FebruaryTfL ordered a further New Routemasters from manufacturer Wrightbus, bringing the total purchased up to The price per bus was a little lower than for previous batches, but the election of Khan The Londons New Routemaster May that year ensured that they would, nonetheless, be the last the city purchased. At the end of last year, route became the most recent to converted to the New Routemaster and also the final one. The Londons New Routemaster have, therefore, reached peak Boris Bus. The Londons New Routemaster we be happy or sad? Whatever your opinion, it will The Londons New Routemaster a long time before they start to disappear. The typical lifespan of a London bus is 14 years. The Londons New Routemaster lines: 1. I am not a fan of the NB4L. They are excessively hot and smelly and make me ill — unlike any other bus.