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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/sep/18/routemaster-buses-in-london-to-be-refitted-with-windows-that-open
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| Routemaster buses in London to be refitted with windows that open | Routemaster buses in London to be refitted with windows that open |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Boris Johnson’s New Routemaster buses for London, described as a “cauldron on wheels”, will be fitted with opening windows to prevent passengers overheating – at a cost of £2m. | |
| Transport for London confirmed on Friday that the buses – nicknamed “Roastmasters” for their stifling design – would be refitted with new windows on the top decks after passenger concerns. | |
| There are 550 of the buses on London streets, at a cost of roughly £350,000 each, and a further 250 which are on order will also have the new windows. | There are 550 of the buses on London streets, at a cost of roughly £350,000 each, and a further 250 which are on order will also have the new windows. |
| “We’re pleased they’ve now been able to come up with an affordable and working design to install opening windows, which we anticipate will have been installed across our entire fleet by next summer,” TfL’s director of buses, Mike Weston, told the Evening Standard. | “We’re pleased they’ve now been able to come up with an affordable and working design to install opening windows, which we anticipate will have been installed across our entire fleet by next summer,” TfL’s director of buses, Mike Weston, told the Evening Standard. |
| Related: How the New Routemaster came full circle: back to a regular old London bus | Related: How the New Routemaster came full circle: back to a regular old London bus |
| It is the latest in a series of problems that has plagued the New Routemasters since they were announced by the mayor in 2011, including the abandonment of conductors, who were deemed too costly, a new design which phases out its hop-on, hop-off back door option, and the poor performance of some batteries in earlier models. The bus is, however, still one of the greenest models in the world. | |
| The heat on board the buses has been recorded as higher than 30C, a temperature that would be illegal for transporting cattle. During the hottest day of this year the Metro measured the temperature on one Routemaster hitting 41C. | |
| Passengers had regularly complained on social media about the heat throughout the summer. | Passengers had regularly complained on social media about the heat throughout the summer. |
| Thanks TFL for the Sauna on the way home, at least the Piccadilly line isn't as bad as the windowless & air-con-less 38 Routemaster! #fail | Thanks TFL for the Sauna on the way home, at least the Piccadilly line isn't as bad as the windowless & air-con-less 38 Routemaster! #fail |
| So clever of Thomas Heatherwick to design a giant rolling sauna. I always thought saunas were far too small and stationary #routemaster | So clever of Thomas Heatherwick to design a giant rolling sauna. I always thought saunas were far too small and stationary #routemaster |
| Routemaster mobile sauna buses to finally get windows that open! About bloody time http://t.co/03imIDcomS | Routemaster mobile sauna buses to finally get windows that open! About bloody time http://t.co/03imIDcomS |
| Opposition parties welcomed the refit but said the mistake had been costly for Londoners. Darren Johnson, a Green party London assembly member, said his constituents regularly complained about the heat on the buses. “In the meantime, I hope that the next mayor, whoever that is, will stop any further purchase of these flawed buses,” he said. | |
| The mayor had initially said opening windows would overwork the air cooling system and cause more emissions to be pumped out from the bus, telling the London assembly in June: “It would not be desirable to make air-cooling units work harder to nullify the effects of warmer air entering the bus through open windows.” | The mayor had initially said opening windows would overwork the air cooling system and cause more emissions to be pumped out from the bus, telling the London assembly in June: “It would not be desirable to make air-cooling units work harder to nullify the effects of warmer air entering the bus through open windows.” |
| The Green party AM said on Friday: “We need an assurance that this won’t happen now.” | |
| It is understood TfL believes New Routemaster buses with open windows may possibly cause higher emissions, but no testing has been done yet. | |
| Labour’s London assembly transport spokeswoman, Val Shawcross, said she welcomed the change after “years of suffocating journeys on overheated buses”. | Labour’s London assembly transport spokeswoman, Val Shawcross, said she welcomed the change after “years of suffocating journeys on overheated buses”. |
| “But the paying public has been left to fork out £2m for more upgrades to what was supposed to be a state-of-the-art vehicle,” she continued. “It’s clear the Routemaster has come to represent yet another ill-thought out, increasingly expensive ‘legacy’ project for Boris Johnson to leave behind.” | “But the paying public has been left to fork out £2m for more upgrades to what was supposed to be a state-of-the-art vehicle,” she continued. “It’s clear the Routemaster has come to represent yet another ill-thought out, increasingly expensive ‘legacy’ project for Boris Johnson to leave behind.” |
| Caroline Pidgeon, the Lib Dem AM and mayoral candidate, said: “It simply beggars belief that such expensive buses were ever purchased by the mayor and TfL with such a basic design fault. These buses are, quite frankly, a cauldron on wheels during hot weather. | |
| “However, the mayor must now explain why the needs of passengers were overlooked when he decided to purchase these incredibly expensive buses.” |