Last Stop!

A design classic and an international symbol of London, the Routemaster bus became a landmark in itself, a global icon you could ride to work. Designed in 1954 by the London Transport Engineering Manager, Colin Curtis, and introduced in 1956, the Routemaster was a fixture of the capital's streets for half a century before its withdrawal from regular service at the end of 2005 - a decision that outraged thousands of the bus's admirers in Britain and around the world. This was no mere item of public transport, they insisted, but a living part of the city, worthy of appreciation, loyalty, even affection.Drawn from hundreds of images gathered over the Routemaster's final year of service, Last Stop! is not an exercise in protest, or even nostalgia, but a celebration of the unique and dynamic role the bus played in London life.These vibrant, witty and iconic photographs were mostly taken on the 19 and 38 routes, running from Finsbury Park in the north and Hackney in the east through the heart of the West End and on to Knightsbridge and Chelsea. They pay tribute to the bus' warm, weighty yet elegant design features, the spontaneous social interactions catalysed by its trusty conductors and the ever-changing conversation between inside and outside space allowed by its open back. It's in these fluid, organic elements - all absent from the buses that have replaced it - that Obergfell finds the Routemaster's soul.