New Bus For London

The New Bus for London, sometimes referred to as NB4L, and colloquially as the New Routemaster, Borismaster or Boris Bus (named after the Mayor of London who was in office when they were introduced, Boris Johnson) is a 21st-century replacement of the iconic Routemaster as a bus built specifically for use in London. Designed by Heatherwick Studio, it is built by Wrightbus, and features the 'hop-on hop-off' rear open platform of the original Routemaster, but meets the requirements for modern buses to be fully accessible. The first bus entered service on 27 February 2012.

The original Routemaster was a standard London bus type with a rear open platform and crewed by both a driver and conductor. It was withdrawn from service (except for two Heritage Routes) at the end of 2005 by London Mayor Ken Livingstone, in favour of a fully accessible one-person-operated modern fleet, none of which feature a rear open platform. The withdrawal of the Routemaster became an issue of the 2008 London mayoral election, and Boris Johnson was subsequently elected Mayor, with one of his campaign pledges being to introduce a new Routemaster. Following an open design competition in 2008, Wrightbus was awarded the contract to build the bus at the end of 2009, and the final design was announced in May 2010.

The design for the new bus features three doors and two staircases to allow accessible boarding. Unlike the original Routemaster, the new bus has a conventional full front end and a rear platform that can be closed when not needed, rather than the protruding, bonneted 'half cab' design and permanently open platform. The layout of the new bus allows it to be operated by one person at off-peak times. The cost of each bus is £354,500 (as of the fixed 600 buses contract by TfL, from 2013), which is higher than the price of £326,000 for a standard bus.