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Boris' “vanity project” ploughs ahead

News editor Stewart Brown reports and comments

THE Madness of Mayor Boris looks set to run for some time yet, with the announcement of joint winners in the mayor’s design-a-Routemaster competition. Ignoring the benefits of artics, the affordability of mass-produced low-floor double-deckers, and the ability of equally congested capital cities around the world to move large numbers of people on existing standardised bus models, the London mayor hopes to see a new-generation Routemaster in service by 2011. Perhaps we should be thankful that his nostalgia trip only took him back to the 1950s, and we’re not seeing the re-invention of the eco-friendly low-pollution horse bus. The competition has been described as a “vanity project” by the London Assembly’s Labour spokeswoman.

The joint first prize was awarded to Capoco Design and to a collaborative entry from Aston Martin and Foster and Partners.

Announcing the winners on Friday, mayor Boris Johnson said: “I promised Londoners that I would hold a competition to design a new bus for London, based on the much-missed Routemaster, and today we can unveil the fantastic winning designs. When I launched the competition, I asked for stylish and imaginative designs which would resonate with Londoners.

“We have had a phenomenal response, with ideas submitted from around the globe, and we now have, in our joint winners, two stunning designs that allow us to go forward and produce a truly iconic bus fit for 21st century London. I know that, like me, Londoners will be waiting eagerly to see how these ideas evolve into the final design that will appear on our roads.”

At least with the use of the word ‘evolve’ in that last sentence, Johnson is acknowledging that whatever design does appear on the capital’s streets may not bear too close a resemblance to the winning drawings. These support the whole retro theme by looking like the ideas for vehicles of the future which were so beloved of children’s comics in the 1950s. The designs are strong on style but light on detail with, for example, impossibly thin (or non-existent) window pillars. But they do have an open rear platform, a feature last seen 40 years ago on a new bus built in Britain.

Now Transport for London is to pass the winning design ideas on to bus manufacturers to develop into a final proposed design. Transport for London expects to award a contract to develop and build the first new bus for London towards the end of next year, after a competitive tendering process.

Labour’s transport spokesperson on the London Assembly, Val Shawcross, was quick to criticise the waste of money represented by the competition. “The design competition may have been fun and the winning designs are extremely impressive, but this is not a serious way to make policy and not a worthwhile use of public money,” she said. “If Boris actually used London’s buses or talked to those who do, he would see that London’s existing fleet is modern, accessible and well-designed.

“I have yet to hear one convincing argument for why London needs a new double-decker bus and until Boris comes up with some, Londoners will see this as little more than a vanity project. There is understandably a lot of nostalgia for the old Routemaster but nostalgia doesn’t get people to work on time.”

And the chairman of London TravelWatch. Sharon Grant, raised the all-important question of the safety of re-introducing open platform buses to regular service. Said Grant: “We hope that the mayor will look carefully at the safety and revenue collection issues associated with this design. It is important to distinguish between fond memories and reality of bus travel in the 21st century. The idea of the open platform bus is an appealing one, but the golden age of the Routemaster was also one in which hundreds of people were killed or seriously injured as they leapt on and off these vehicles.

“People would be alarmed if anyone suggested a train, tram or car carrying passengers should be allowed to move off and travel at 30 miles an hour with its doors open, and it is not clear why a bus is any different. Finally, there is an issue about how fares are collected. Returning to the days of conductors would add enormously to costs.”

In the end the whole costly exercise is going to produce a bus which is expensive to build and to operate. And while manufacturers cannot ignore it, they must all surely be looking for TfL to underwrite any development work they may do, as TfL asks them to produce not so much a red Routemaster as a white elephant.

www.tfl.gov.uk/anewbusforlondon