On the buses

Disability Now’s routemeister Paul Carter looks to the past and an icon of London which could make a comeback in the future

Mayor of London Boris Johnson has unveiled the winning entries in a competition to design a new bus for London, based on the now-defunct Routemaster.

The iconic bus, with its “hop-on, hop-off” design, was removed from service in December 2005 after nearly 50 years, largely due to its inaccessibility to disabled people, especially wheelchair-users.

However, one of the Mayor’s key election manifesto pledges was to reintroduce Routemasters back onto the streets of the capital, incorporating new access features for disabled passengers and environmentally friendly technology.

In conjunction with Transport for London (TfL), Mr Johnson launched the ‘New Bus For London’ competition shortly after taking office, to find designs for a new accessible Routemaster.

The outcome resulted in joint winners, with a design by Capoco Design Ltd sharing the first prize with a collaborative design by leading architects Foster and Partners and motor manufacturer Aston Martin.

As per the requirements of the competition, both designs incorporated features to allow use of the buses by disabled people, with the Capoco design featuring a low-level flat floor, while the Foster/Aston Martin entry contained a central side-loading ramp with a dedicated wheelchair area.

However, it was difficult to judge the accessibility from the design plans alone, as neither of the final designs is likely to be the version that makes it to production.

TfL said that the best elements of all the submitted entries will be passed on to bus manufacturers to develop into final design proposals, before being subject to a competitive tendering process, with the first prototype of the new bus being on the road in 2011.

Boris Johnson said: “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.”

One area of concern appears to be the lack of consultation so far with disabled people themselves as to what features they would like to see in a 21st century bus.

When asked by Disability Now if disabled people would play a role in the design process of the new Routemaster, David Brown, managing director of surface transport, said they “would be foolish not to,” and that disabled people’s groups would be consulted as the project developed.