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They may give you a warm, fuzzy feeling thanks to their nostalgic design (that or the naff air-con), but it’s the end of the line for the new Routemaster buses.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has cancelled all purchases of the vehicles, first introduced by his predecessor Boris Johnson, to try to save cash and tighten up London’s transport budget.
The Routemasters cost a whopping £350,000 each, which is £50,000 more than a regular double-decker London bus. The announcement was published in a plan released just before Christmas, in which TfL confirmed the buses would be ‘discontinued’.
‘New capital investment will be reduced significantly as we discontinue purchases of New Routemaster buses. We will carry on investing in the fleet however, by retro-fitting 3,000 vehicles with Euro VI standard emission technology by 2020,’ the plan said.
We’re not surprised Sadiq is trying to save a bit of dosh. Like the rest of us, he went on a bit of a festive spending spree. The mayor committed to spending £770 million to improve London’s cycling infrastructure, as well as £875 million to fight pollution on the capital’s roads.
And let's be honest, the Routemasters buses haven't been the same since they scrapped the hop-on hop-off feature. Even if they did finally get windows that actually open.
Check out these ace photos of London taken through a bus window.
Or see London's most popular Hopper bus routes on this handy map.