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Life on the Routemaster relived in photo tribute
Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent12.05.08
When German-born photographer Ralf Obergfell learned the Routemaster bus was to be axed, he decided he must chronicle its final days.
For the final 18 months of the Routemaster's service he photographed life on the buses and now the results are being published in a book called Last Stop.
Mr Obergfell, 37, said: "I had been attracted to the Routemaster ever since I saw it on television at my parents' house when I was growing up in Germany.
"There was the design of the bus, the rounded curves and the chrome, and the fact there was an open platform and conductor - it was really unusual. Then, when I came to London 16 years ago, I loved riding them so decided we needed to create a tribute to the bus. They were a design icon, a piece of London's street furniture."
Many of the photographs in the book were taken on the 19 and 38 routes, which run from Finsbury Park and Hackney to the West End and on to Knightsbridge and Chelsea.
These are the routes Mr Obergfell himself uses most regularly from his home in east London.
"I came across lots of different people - Londoners as well as visitors," he said. "There was some kind of communal spirit on the bus. It felt safe."
Reader views (2)
Bet he would not feel safe now?
- Monica, UK
It's tragic that the Routemasters were taken out of service. Sacrificed at the alter of 'elf and safety.
I hate travelling in the modern claustrophobic buses of today. Bring back the Routemaster and conductors.
- Db, London
