farmdoc's blog post number 259

Out with the old and in with the new. In 2008 both London and Melbourne elected new mayors. Boris Johnson is the incoming Mayor of London (which is a quite separate title and job to the Lord Mayor of London), and Robert Doyle the incoming Lord Mayor of Melbourne. Both Johnson and Doyle are bumbling, shambolic ex-politicians. Johnson’s started fulfilling his campaign promises, a major one being to bring back the iconic and much-missed double-decker Routemaster bus (left). He instigated a competition to design a replacement bus that would be environmentally friendly, accessible and hearken back to the Routemaster. There were 700 entries. Two winners shared the £25,000 prize: Foster + Partners with Aston Martin, and Capoco. The two designs will go to the manufacturer, yet to be chosen, who’ll include the best elements from both. The new buses should begin service in 2011. The Foster/Aston Martin design (left) is zero-emission, highly manoeuvrable, and accessible for disabled passengers. It has warm lighting, wooden floors, and reconstituted leather upholstery to create a tactile ‘living room’ feel. Also it has a polycarbonate roof incorporating solar cells. Capoco’s proposed bus also has a low flat floor to facilitate passenger access and egress; and it’ll be low emission. Wow! And Mr Doyle? His plan is to ‘pump cars’ into the currently bicycle-friendly and restricted-traffic Swanston Street. I despair.