May/June 2005

After years debate about the best way to track buses and feed service information to travellers, Transport for London has come down in favour of a system to be supplied by Siemens VDO Automotive. Over the next four years it will be installed in all 8,000 buses run by 30 operators in the capital, and it will be maintained under a ten-year contract by Siemens Business Services.

Many buses are already fitted with earlier generations of tracking system, and the capital's Countdown displays show the approach of buses at selected stops; but the current system is relatively limited. The new plan is intended to improve the accuracy of information, and deliver it to 2,000 bus shelters.

Our picture shows two of the dwindling number of Routemaster rear-entrance buses from the 1950s and 60s still in service in London this year. Following a vigorous withdrawal programme initiated by TfL, about 500 have been removed from the capital's streets in just under two years (including the one on the left), and the last route (the 159) is expected to be converted to modern vehicles in December.