The other half of the card, this piece shows the old number 10 bus coming down Oxford street and the new style coming in the opposite direction. There is a reason for this, and it's not a fault. I waited ages to get this shot as I needed a number 10 and a rear end shot of a bus, to show just how outdated the postcard (still on sale at the moment in shops) is.Londons iconic Routemaster buses, known the world over for their open exits at the back of the bus, through which you can jump on and off any old time, were phased out some years ago and replaced with closed doors. This was hugely unpopular in some spheres (I loved the death gamble personally of running for a moving bus and jumping on with moving traffic behind me), and then, as if to add insult to injury, they introduced these European-style bendy buses, that were really long and had a bend in the middle. Now THOSE were deathtraps, and cyclists were caught under the wheels of those things all the time
Finally, London has decided to scrap this new breed of elongated deathtrap too, and are going back to something more like the Routemaster so I hear.
So perhaps what i've photographed is not a vision of the past and the present, but I've somehow opened a window into the future...
January 20, 2011 at 12:45 PM
Oh yes, those bendy buses, I almost got it hit one day with a back end of one. Like this one very much.
January 20, 2011 at 1:01 PM
I really hate the bendy buses. Everything about them is wrong especially for the streets of London.
January 20, 2011 at 4:31 PM
I have really only ever seen 1 or 2 bendy buses here in Minnesota. Public transport is a LOVE/HATE relationship for me. Buses here have the right of way NO MATTER WHAT. Too bad they have done away with the open ended buses Andy, thats how I picture all you "Londoners" catching a ride!
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