Crayolas, set squares and glue-on sparkles to the ready: a competition has just been launched to design the next generation of Routemaster buses. Voters will of course recall that the much-loved bus was a key plank of Boris Johnson's manifesto, as he tempted bendy-bus loathers by claiming the articulated eyesores would be banished from our streets in favour of a new fleet of Routemasters. Yet during his first two months in office the topic......

We can't help but be impressed by Boris Johnson's bid to deliver as many of his manifesto pledges as possible in his Mayoral settling in stage. First the tube booze ban, then scrapping The Londoner. Today he's announcing an extra 440 police staff on the buses - his headline promise on transport. Safer Transport Teams were launched in 2005 and in March last year Ken Livingstone stumped up for an additional 400 PCSOs to......

In an attempt to wheeze a bit of life into his flagging mayoral campaign, Liberal Democrat candidate Brian Paddick has called for bus drivers to become 'have-a-go heroes' and tackle crime and anti-social tomfoolery on their double-deckers. The former cop inveigled bus drivers to take action against criminal activities on their rides. He cautioned that they should pick their fights carefully, and "choose which crowd to take on", before (rather like the playground bully)......

In the relentless battle against anti-social behaviour and juvenile crime on our public transport we've reported on 999 text hotlines and genuine gansters brought in to educate the kids. We've had local heroes, PCSOs, poster campaigns and overzealous bus drivers. Now, apparently, we need God. The Ascension Trust have been deploying Street Pastors over large parts of South and North East London since 2003. Their mission "engaging with people on the streets to care,......

The clearest thing to emerge from the mayoral race this week is that no one can agree about buses. The arguments began last Wednesday when Boris Johnson told Vanessa Feltz that the '21st Century' Routemasters he wants to replace bendy buses with would all have conductors and that these would cost 'eight million quid'. Ken Livingstone went on the show next day to say Boris’s figures were fine except he’d left a nought off......

Up to 9000 members of the Public and Commercial Services Union, including security staff at the Houses of Parliament, Police Community Support Officers, Traffic Wardens, 999 Operators and admin support staff will be striking - most pointedly - on Budget Day, 12 March, to protest against a below inflation pay offer. Seems union action is rumbling all around London at present. Yesterday we reported on the mobilisation of bus drivers for standardised pay and......

Our Amy dedicates her Grammies to London. Respect. Bozza on the buses. Well, his thoughts on kiddie crime therein at any rate. It’s London fashion week. We don’t rock to that beat, but we thought we’d better mention it. Any fashionistas out there who'd care to comment on it? Brits do OK-ish at Baftas: could do better. B-. Waltham Forest can’t afford to keep its library or art gallery open, but it can afford......

After receiving what they judiciously describe as "a lot" of feedback, TfL has announced significant changes to the recorded information announcements on London buses. Those changes mainly seem to involve - hooray! - reducing their frequency. The announcements, rolled out last year in conjunction with a display system, are designed to help visually impaired travellers, as well as visitors, navigate the confusing streets of London. A worthy project, certainly, though it means less hilarious......

There's some bickering occurring in the London Assembly over just how much crime is occurring on London buses. While Tory transport committee chairman Roger Evans is saying that crime levels have risen on buses, Labour Assembly members John Biggs and Murad Qureshi are contesting this, accusing Evans of scaremongering and twisting the findings in the transport committee report to provoke fear and support prejudices. Biggs and Qureshi have produced a separate report that backs......

London and Delhi get in bed together. Small blast at Enfield pharma company causes injuries. Bus crime is down on last year. Put a less optimistic way, one crime is committed on London buses every 15 minutes. What price God? St Bartholomew the Great to charge entrance fees for services. Fifth would-be 21/7 bomber jailed for 33 years. Image courtesy of SooHK in lens via the Londonist flickr group.......

Had TfL existed in his time, the great Samuel Johnson may well have amended his famous aphorism to read "a man who is bored of London needs to hop on the number 19 bus". In its perambulation from Battersea to Finsbury Park, the 19 cuts a swath across the capital's economic and cultural barriers, revealing the world within one city that modern London manifests. Vogue has certainly been impressed by the number 19. The......