Was talking about this the other day with Dan and Andy. The "dehumanised moron" doing the ridding is in the Today report. The only reason is the disability one, a point demolished in the Telegraph opinion piece.
Livingstone and the 'morons' have killed off the Routemaster
Telegraph
24/10/2005
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Fans' farewell to Routemaster bus
This is London
9 December 2005
London Mayor Ken Livingstone offered a hostage to fortune in 2001 by saying that "only a ghastly dehumanised moron would want to get rid of the Routemaster".
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BBC Radio 4
Today Programme
09/12/05
0838 Today is the last day that the red double-decker buses known as the Routemaster will be on the streets of London. Stephen Pound, a Labour MP who used to be a bus conductor, contributes to our report.
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1 comment:
I too mourn the passing of the Routemaster (I made a point of riding the last routemaster 73 up Tottenham High Road.) I also think conductors were a good idea and were a deterrent to loutish / criminal behaviour.
However, in fairness here is some stuff from one of the Mayor's public meetings. (It's quite dense - search for the word 'Routemaster' once you've opened the link.) He claims the bendy bus is more popular. Haven't found any evidence to back him up though.
Here's a rare anti routemaster article. (Just to even things up a bit.)
In the mid-50s there was similar gnashing of teeth over the demise of the trolley bus. They even made a film called The Elephant Never Forgets about the last trolley bus journey. Its replacement was universally loathed, described as ugly and squat, a nasty red bug. It was the Routemaster.
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