The Bus We Loved: London's Affair With The Routemaster

Description

In December 2005, London lost one its most famous symbols: the Routemaster bus - a bus designed and made in London, by Londoners for Londoners, which was to London what the gondola is to Venice. In terms of postcards, books, films, and cheap souvenirs, and in the eyes of the world, the Routemaster represented the city just as much as Big Ben. It was the last bus to be have conductors as well as drivers, the last bus to ring familiar shouts that are at least a century old: 'Fares please, Full up inside but room on top, Next stop the British Museum!' The last bus, in other words, to be a proper bus.

Travis Elborough is a former bookseller and freelance journalist. He reviews for the Guardian, and has contributed to the Sunday Times, Zembla and The Oldie. He lives in London.

Revised to include the Routemaster's Last Run on 9 December 2005 A London best-seller- over 12,000 copies sold in hardback 'Elborough's book will please bus lovers... as well as cultural historians' Sukhdev Sandhu, Daily Telegraph 'A charming account of the capital's enduring affair with its favourite piece of transport' Daily Mail 'This quirky book looks at the Routemaster in a completely different way to other publications relating to this iconic bus... a light-hearted read that will amuse as well as tell the story of one of London's best loved buses' Bus Fayre 'Elborough's love for the Routemaster bus and all who travel in her is unbounded' Magnus Mills, The Times