London's Beloved Bus Returns, With an Update The streets of London were brightened this holiday season by a very new, very red addition. The first running prototype of the new double-decker bus, a modern version of the classic Routemaster, drove across the city the week before Christmas. The sleek bus, a diesel-electric hybrid updating of the traditional postcard cliché model might also be seen as a present for the London mayor, Boris Johnson. He campaigned for office in 2007 on a promise to bring back the beloved bus his predecessor, Ken Livingstone, was taking off the street. The Routemaster's open rear platform, seen in many films, could be dangerous, its critics said, and the double entrances required a second employee on each bus. Mayor Livingstone removed the original Routemaster from service in 2005 except for a few on so-called heritage routes. But the end of the familiar red bus, which some compared to a derby hat, touched a political and cultural nerve. The original Routemaster was an automotive icon and held a position in British hearts as a national symbol, like the red telephone booth or the red column-shaped iron postal box, both of which also fell victim to progress. The magazine Autocar solicited a design for a new Routemaster from Capoco, an automotive design company, in 2007. Mr. Johnson, a Conservative, made the bus a key issue in his campaign for mayor. Shortly after taking office, in 2008, Mr. Johnson ordered a competition to solicit designs for a new Routemaster. The winning entry was a joint product of Aston Martin designers and Foster & Partners, the office of Norman Foster, the Pritzker Prize-winning architect. Two sketches by 9-year-olds were also honored. But finding a builder was harder. In 2009, a request for proposals to design and build a bus went to six manufacturers, which were invited to negotiate for the contract to design and build the new bus. In the end, the contract for what is officially titled the New Bus for London went to Wrightbus, which is building it at a factory in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. Called in for design assistance was the studio of Thomas Heatherwick, a young designer known for eye-catching if sometimes gimmicky designs, like a rolling bridge or the British Pavilion at Expo 2010 in Shanghai, whose exterior of acrylic rods resulted in it being called the Dandelion and compared to a porcupine. The bus has three entrances and, like the original, a spiral stair. The open rear platform brings back the hop-on-hop-off boarding mode of the original bus. A bold diagonal band of glass along the front side of the bus is not only striking but practical: the designers said it offers the driver a better view of passengers waiting on the curb. Transport for London, the organization in charge of the project, has promised that the first service of the new bus will begin in February. Eight buses are to be put on duty in time for the 2012 Olympics. The mayor was able to drive the first model off the production line in November.