File:Routemaster Bus, Piccadilly Circus.jpg

English: A red Routemaster double decker bus operating London Buses route 14, passing through the popular tourist area of Piccadilly Circus in London. Someone on rollerblades is either just getting on or just getting off the bus, from the open rear platform. The bus has arrived along Piccadilly Place and is crossing the Circus west to east, past the front of the Lillywhites sports store and the statue of Eros (out of shot to the left), to exit along Shaftesbury Avenue. Having come from the Green Man pub in Putney Heath in south west London, the bus is now not far away from its final central London destination of Tottenham Court Road. By 2005, Routemasters were in the final stages of withdrawal in London being replaced by more modern buses, due to the lack of disabled access, as well as the dangerous use of the rear platform away from stops and as the bus is moving, as captured in this image. As one of the last 5 routes using them, the Routemasters on route 14 (and route 22) were withdrawn on 22 July 2005. The bus itself is an unidentified RML class Routemaster operated by London General, allocated to Putney Garage (as indicated by the white AF letters). The RML class were a later variant of the Routemaster, a few feet longer than the original RM class, by virtue of an added half section inserted into the middle, as highlighted by the extra small windows. While Routemasters continued in London on the Heritage Routes (9H & 15H), neither passes through Piccadilly Circus.