If the current Mayor ends up with a legacy, it will be that various forms of transport will be named after him long after he’s finished at City Hall. We already have Boris Bikes, we now have the Boris Bus and, no doubt, if he’s re-elected there will be a Boris tube line before 2016.
This week has seen the launch of the Boris Bus: the new Routemaster to replace the old bendy buses. However, the first journey of the sleek new double decker didn’t go exactly as planned…
Boris boasted that the new bus “represents the very best in British design, engineering and manufacture and is a demonstration of what can be done given imagination and determination.”
Not entirely the case, though, with the Metro reporting that ‘the inaugural journey of the ‘Boris bus’, named after mayor of London Boris Johnson, saw it stall in Islington, north London, and experience a door that would not close – despite the driver turning it off and on again.
‘ITV London Tonight correspondent Simon Harris – who was on the first bus journey – tweeted that a sticking rear brake was behind some of the bus’ problems, possibly caused by overcrowding.’
Whilst many people have been critical of this ‘vanity project’, Boris championed the new vehicle which began service on route 28 between Hackney and Victoria Station this week. The Mayor said: “From today Londoners will have the chance to jump aboard this stunning piece of automotive architecture on which every feature is tailored to the London passenger.” In the sense that it breaks down, is overcrowded and takes you longer than you expected, presumably?
The Borismaster is on Route 38 not 28. And it is a pile of rubbish. Not enough seats, most of them not on the level inside and face backwards. VERY noisy especially at the rear. Claustophobic upstairs as not very high windows. None of the windows open anyway. All in all an epic failure in bus design. Loads of glass but no class. May be green but not fit to wear the red of London. Bring back PROPER ROUTEMASTERS.