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Wednesday March 12, 10:29 AMRed London bus on loan gets press preview ahead of debut in Japan(Kyodo) _ A distinctive red double-decker bus from London on loan to the western Japanese city of Shimonoseki was unveiled to the press on Wednesday ahead of the start possibly this spring of its scheduled service.Shimonoseki in Yamaguchi Prefecture will be the first Japanese city operating the London heritage vehicle, called the Routemaster, on a regular basis. Aimed at promoting tourism, service by the vehicle will be limited to Saturdays, Sundays and holidays on a coastal route from Japan Railway Shimonoseki Station. The Japanese city requested in 2006 that the London public transportation authority lease a Routemaster bus on the occasion of the centenary of the opening of the former British consulate building in the city. Besides Shimonoseki, five other cities such as Paris and Moscow have also leased Routemasters free of charge after London switched to new models. The Shimonoseki government spent around 10 million yen to refurbish the bus, built in 1962, to meet domestic regulations including a requirement for an emergency exit. The bus measures around 8.4 meters long, 2.4 meters wide and 4.4 meters high and has an open platform at the rear to allow people to hop on and off. Transport for London replaced the Routemaster with modern single-and double-deckers after they were withdrawn from service in November 2006. |
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