The History of the London Routemaster Bus
The forerunners to the LondonRoutemasterbegan with the horse drawn omnibus during the early 1800's, followed by trolley buses of various designs. In 1904 came the first motorised bus services provided by Thomas Tilling and during the 1930's open top double-decker buses were introduced onto the streets of London.
The decision to design a replacement for the trolley bus was made by London Transport (LT) in the late 1940’s using all the available technology of the day and what resulted was a vehicle that was well ahead of its time. It was the last bus to be designed from scratch which they named the Routemaster (RM). Its bodywork was constructed mainly fromaluminumwhich made it lighter than its counterpart, therefore more fuel efficient, less susceptible to corrosion and it carried 64 passengers instead of 56. The design incorporated many novel features some of which drew on technology using aluminum developed by the aircraft industry during World War II. To begin with, it was built without a chassis, but rather the mechanical units were mounted unto sub-frames, it had power steering, an independent suspension, a fully automatic gearbox and power-hydraulic brakes.The design took years of painstaking attention to detail, ranging from design to testing and finally its first appearance at the Birmingham Commercial Vehicle Show in 1954. Five years later, on the 11th November 1959, seventy five buses began to operate from Poplar and West Ham bus terminals and by the end of its 9th year in production, over 2760 buses had been produced for use on the London roads. The only other two purchasers were British Airways who bought 66 which they used for ferrying passengers between Gloucester Road and Heathrow airport and Northern General Transport in Gateshead, North East, England who bought fifty more, making a total of 2876 buses.The original Routemaster design was a two-handed operation, requiring both a driver and conductor. It had two decks with an open platform at the rear. This feature drew some criticism because many felt it was drafty and unsafe, because it allowed passengers to alight before it stopped completely. It was painted in a highly visible red and although it was only built to last an average of 17 years, many surpassed the life expectancy and could still be found on the road 50 years on. The decision was made to faze out the buses and replace them with a more modern version and by December 2005 the only London bus route still being serviced by the original Routemaster was the number 159 which ran between Marble Arch and Streatham.During its 46 years in service, the Routemaster had become an iconic sight on the streets of London and the decision to faze them out was met with some dismay by many Londoners. During its evolution a total of seven different prototypes were constructed, each an improvement on the original idea. The Routemaster took its final journey on Friday 9th December 2005 attended by the press and a huge crowd who gathered to witness the historical event. Needless to say many expressed feelings of sadness, however they were heartened by the knowledge that this part of London Transport’s history would be preserved for posterity in the London Transport Museum.
