Last week saw the last of the Routmaster bus in public service on Londons streets.
However it was not the last time the red dubledeckers graced the streets of London, they will run on a heritage rout and numerous private ones will be the preferred vehicle for stagnight revellers and footballers alike. They are an iconic symbol for London, together with red postboxes and black cabs they been part of the fabric of London life for about 50 years.
But as other London landmarks such as the Royal Festival Hall that was closed earlier this year for refurbishment it has become old, energy wasting, un-environmental, unkept.
There is now a book that chronicles the history of the red beautys by Travis Elborough The Bus We Loved, published by Granta.
On BBC site Louise Tucker writes that the bus was “designed by Douglas Scott, whose product designs read like a what’s what of British icons through history – Agas, telephone boxes, Rediffusion radio sets – the Routemaster was developed in response to the recognised need for a London-specific, bus to replace trams and trolleybuses and to compete in comfort with the increasing number of Morrises and Austins clogging up the street”.
The buses are available to buy for around £5,000-£10,000, and at least one has been picked up by Natalie Appleton who bought one for her husband Liam Howlett of The Prodigy.
