Foster and Partners must be pleased with the coverage of their New Routemaster design. Can't blame them for that. But I advise the good baron and company to make the most of it, because their chances of winning appear remote.
Londonist described their submission as "pleasantly curvaceous", and I agree. This asset, though, seems dwarfed by a drawback brought to my attention by a TfL insider. A striking feature of the Foster effort is its preponderance of windows and glass roof. The trouble is, glass is heavy. This would, I am assured, "Make the vehicle fall over when it went round a banked bend." Would it look quite as lovely lying down?
I understand there are around 700 entries for the judges to consider of which some, surely, will be viable. They'd better be. The result is expected early next month, with the winner pocketing 25 grand. How, though, will the successful blueprint make the transition into reality, and how completely? Which manufacturer will be blessed with the privilege of putting Boris Johnson's mark on London's transport iconography?
We should, perhaps, not read too much into a visit paid ten days ago by Peter Hendy to Wright's of Ballymena – see their media centre entry for 2nd October - where he inspected the forthcoming Gemini 2 hybrid, which has already been ordered by First Group and Arriva for London use. That said, it would be surprising if so illustrious a bus-maker as Wright's weren't a contender. Very surprising. Very surprising indeed. Should I go on?
Yet even as the wheels of Boris's Bus dream keep on rolling, the bendy rearguard is maintained. It's Mayor's Question Time on Wednesday and there are several artic-related queries on the list. Drivers of bendys get more money than those of double deckers. The Lib Dems' Caroline Pidgeon wants to know if the former will face a pay cut as and when the bendys are replaced. And what about passenger capacity? Will Johnson guarantee that this will be maintained? If so, what will the resulting increase in emissions be? These are worrying Jenny Jones too. Labour's Murad Qureshi is inquiring about the congestion implications. And so on. The New Routemaster's long journey may have begun, but the bendy won't be terminated without a fight.
