Boris Johnson drives his new Routemaster and it's a silver dream machine
You can ride on a Boris bike - now get ready for the Boris bus.
Today the Mayor unveiled a prototype for his new Routemaster-style vehicle and gave it a test drive.
Mr Johnson also promised that bendy buses, which the new Routemaster is set to replace, will be phased out by Christmas. The first five new Routemasters will be on the road by March, with the full fleet of 30 to 40 coming in to service over the following year. No routes have been selected yet but the first ones will be operated by Arriva London.
The prototype - the final version will be red, not silver - is being tested. Each will cost £330,000.
The Mayor, who sat behind the wheel at Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire, said he had driven many vehicles as a motoring correspondent but this was "the best".
He added: "This is the smoothest ride. It's the most sophisticated piece of machinery I've ever seen. This is a marvel of technology."
The bus uses lightweight materials and has a hybrid engine and the latest green technology, making it 15 per cent more fuel efficient than existing hybrid buses and 40 per cent more efficient than conventional double-deckers, as well as much quieter.
It will carry 87 people - 62 sitting and 25 standing - about the same as a conventional double-decker but almost half the number of a bendy bus. Like the original Routemaster, it will have a hop-on, hop-off door and, for 12 hours a day, a conductor. The hop-on door will only operate when the conductor is on board.
The vehicle, has been created by Wrightbus with design firm Heatherwick Studio. Predominantly manufactured in the UK, its development was a key pledge of Mr Johnson's election campaign. Ken Livingstone withdrew the original Routemasters in 2005 because they were inaccessible to wheelchairs and pushchairs.
Leon Daniels, managing director of surface transport at Transport for London, said: "The test vehicle will allow us to check and recheck physical structure, engineering and performance."
Tests include tilting it to 28 degrees on a huge hydraulic table to ensure it meets safety standards.
Mr Johnson gave his pledge on bendy buses on LBC this morning, saying: "In the words of Barack Obama on Osama Bin Laden, you won't see a bendy bus walking this earth, walking London again after Christmas."
