They're big, they're red, they're much loved, and they're doomed. They're London's 50-year-old Routemaster buses, a global transport icon now destined to be sacrificed in the name of 'accessibility'. Instead, rolling onto a street near you soon, some soulless red replacement vehicle that takes pushchairs. If this is progress, I'm afraid I'd rather live in the past. So, many thanks to CasinoAvenue for drawing my attention to a new website - Save The Routemaster - with campaigning comment, maps, links and news. Excellent stuff (even if the Flash presentation does get a bit wearing).
Below I've put together a list of the 16 remaining routes on which Routemasters are still running. The eight routes marked in red are scheduled to lose their Routemasters later this year. Ken, you're a bastard. In the meantime, the best places to go and see Routemasters in action are Oxford Street (ten routes), Marble Arch (nine), Hyde Park Corner (nine), Piccadilly Circus (eight) and Tottenham Court Road (eight). I particularly recommend a trip to Piccadilly, along which every single bus is still a Routemaster. It's tourist heaven, while stocks last. But less than three months to go, sob.
6 Kensal Rise - Queens Park - Warwick Avenue Station - Marble Arch - Regent Street - Aldwych (last day: 26 March) 7 East Acton - North Kensington - Paddington - Oxford Street - British Museum 8Bow - Old Ford - Bethnal Green - Shoreditch - Bank - Holborn - Oxford Circus - Green Park - Victoria (last day: 4 June) 9 Hammersmith - Kensington - Green Park - Aldwych (last day: 3 September) 12 Dulwich - Peckham - Camberwell - Walworth - Elephant - Westminster - Oxford Circus - Notting Hill Gate (last day: 30 July) 13 Golders Green - Finchley Road - Baker Street - Aldwych 14 Putney Heath - Putney - Fulham - South Kensington - Green Park - Tottenham Court Road Station 19 Finsbury Park - Highbury - Islington - Holborn - Green Park - Chelsea - Battersea Bridge 22 Putney Common - Putney Bridge - Parsons Green - Chelsea - Green Park - Piccadilly Circus 36 New Cross Gate - Peckham - Camberwell - Vauxhall - Victoria - Marble Arch - Paddington - Queen's Park 38 Clapton - Hackney - Islington - Holborn - Green Park - Victoria 73 Stoke Newington - Islington - King's Cross - Tottenham Court Road - Marble Arch - Victoria (last day: October-ish) 98 Willesden - Kilburn - Marble Arch - Holborn (last day: 26 March) 137 Streatham Hill - Clapham Common - Chelsea Bridge - Knightsbridge - Marble Arch - Oxford Circus (last day: 17 September) 159 Streatham - Brixton - Kennington - Westminster - Oxford Circus - Marble Arch 390 Archway - York Way - King's Cross - Euston - Tottenham Court Road - Marble Arch (last day: 20 August)
Route-mastery
