London is planning to phase out double-decker busses in order to comply with EU regulations about making public tranist more wheelchair-accessible.
I have no problem with accessibility, but the double-decker bus is too quintessentially London to simply disappear. Couldn’t the busses be refitted to make the first level wheelchair-friendly but still keeping the second story?
Update: Thanks, Tom, for saying it ain’t so. Not all the double-deckers are on their way out; only the cool vintage ones. So I guess it’s only partially so.
It ain’t so! The story is misleading. Only the Routemasters – the really old double decker buses that have no doors so you can hop on and hop off at will – are being taken out of service. It’s a real shame but there are few of these left anyway, as they are so old. It’s the EU forcing us into it, but also they are very expensive to run and very polluting. In any case, since January you have to buy your ticket before you board for any journey in central London.
The newer double decker buses, of which there are loads, will remain, along with a new fleet of US style bendy buses.