Less than a month in and already doubts have been cast over the likelihood of London seeing a new Routemaster.
We all remember the Mayor’s pre-election promises to start the process of creating a new bus on ’day one, act one, scene one‘ of his term in power. Boris himself said these plans were not ‘beyond the wit of man’, but now his director of transport policy, Kulveer Ranger, has taken the most tentative of steps to suggest that the double decker is not a certainty.
Ranger is an ex-DJ, former Tory parliamentary candidate, management consultant and Spurs supporter, who has in the past warned of Conservative leader, David Cameron’s “aristocratic tinge”. In his new role as part of Johnson’s City Hall team he added a list of caveats to the introduction of the Routemaster II.
After repeating earlier announcements that a competition would be held to find a new design, he went on to state that the policy would be reconsidered if no bid appeared good enough. In addition he failed to narrow down the cost of the project, which currently stands somewhere between £8 million and over £100 million. Finally, he prevaricated on the question of whether conductors would be present on the new vehicles, despite Boris’ previous promises.
Perhaps it might turn out to be beyond the wit of man – or at least one man – after all.
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