Last Day For Bendy Bus On The Number 18

Today marks the final time that the articulated version of the number 18 bus wends its bendy way between Euston and Sudbury. From tomorrow, the route will be served by a fleet of new double-decker vehicles, and the frequency will correspondingly increase, from 12 buses per hour at peak times to 18. London's programme of de-bendification, one of Boris Johnson's electoral pledges, has already seen the 507 and 521 switch to shorter vehicles, while the 38 and, most recently, the 149 were replaced by double-deckers. By the end of 2011, the bendies will be mothballed, probably to be resurrected decades from now when some ambitious Mayor decides to hang his campaign on a nostalgic reinvention of a once-loved bus.