March 3, 2008
Extra, Extra
- Boris Johnson might just have won himself the election with a pledge to abolish the bendy bus and bring back the Routemaster.
- Emotions were high today as the Bethnal Green tube station disaster was commemorated, 65 years on.
- Londonist is feeling left out: we want to climb up something and protest: today saw two up a crane grumbling about the EU Treaty.
- On the Olympic front, today saw the announcement that the IOC is to drop by again, whilst our Seb has decreed that there is money available to help any countries who want to bring their teams here to train.
- Paul Raymond has gone to the great strip joint in the sky: the king of Soho has died at the age of 82.
- That Jewish school is in trouble again.
- This year’s Love Music Hate Racism concert date and line up are announced.
- This time it wasn’t Macavity: a swan-eating tent-dweller is sought in North London.
Photo to think about from Enigma Photos’ flickr stream.
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Boris is barking if he thinks a 'modern Routemaster' is economically viable. The original Routemaster was overengineered and way too expensive - it pretty much bankrupted London Transport, who couldn't offset the costs by finding any other municipal buyers. Great bit of engineering and design, though. However, custom designed London buses in the 21st century? How much will that cost?
And conductors. Who's going to pay the wages?
The sums don't add up, Boris.
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Not being snide Steve, but I, as many Londoners, am rather interested in the nitty-gritty of these mayoral bouts, could I ask where you get your info on the sums, and why they don't add up?
Laying my cards on the table, I'm a Boris chap, but I'm not going to vote out of sentimentality for a bus if its stupidly expensive. I moved to H&F to keep my council tax low, and I like it there!
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The Guardian has some analysis of the sums - and they REALLY don't add up. Boris's campaign estimates the cost at £8m, by doing the most back-of-an-envelope calculations ever, and then accuses TfL of political bias when it produces figures that take into account things like relative capacity and frequency of buses - and come to a cost 8 times higher than Boris's estimate.