The Routemaster buses have had to be withdrawn from service as they were not easily accesible for disabled passengers and in particular those people who are wheelchair bound. I don't think it had anything to do with their safety or mechanical reliability, but I stand corrected.
I think this is a step in the right direction as the very design of the old Routemater meant they could not be easily converted to make them wheelchair accesible. The costs involved would have been astronomical even if it were possible to make such a conversion which I very much doubt it would have been.
I travelled on many Routemaster buses in my youth, and although I would agree that the ride was somewhat uncomfortable, they were not really that bad. The open platform did have the effect of making them very cold in the winter months but then most journeys undertaken on these old 'workhorses' were in the main very short ones, you just 'hopped' on and 'hopped' off.
Yes, I guess this did make them somewhat dangerous as many a time I have observed people running after them in a vain attempt to jump on board as the bus was pulling away from the stop. Or jumping off before the bus had come to a complete stop. But in those days that was all part of the 'fun' of riding the Routemaster, it also made it a lot quicker during Rush Hour to catch your connecting bus if your entire journey involved more than one bus.
Times have changed now, and we have to move on and I do think this is a step in the right direction for the disabled traveller who up until their demise was clearly discriminated against. The other probelm with the old Routemaster bus was that many passengers got away with a 'free' ride. This is because during busy peak rush hours the conductor could not get around all those on board as quicly as the passengers were boarding and disembarking. If your journey involved one or two stops, the conductor might not have got around to you to take your fare before you got off. These passngers were not fare evaders, they just made short journeys and were not apprached by the Conductor before it was time for them to get off. The Bus Companies must have lost a fortune this way.
As to conductors helping anyone with a buggy or a pushchair, sorry that one went out with the ark in my own experience
I think that depended very much on the conductor to be fair. I never had any problems with the conductors and found most of them to be very helpful and very pleasant. Many a conductor I experienced went out of their way to ensure your comfort and safety, and some conductors even sang to you. I also think a conductor is a very good idea, as it leaves the driver free to concentrate on the more important aspect of his job, navigating his vehicle around the very congested London streets. But for a multitude of reasons that is now all history.
I believe some Routemasters have been retained and kept in service for special 'Tourist' routes operating in Central London, but you will not see a Routemaster on commuter service in the suburbs anymore, at least not in the UK.
I believe its possible to buy an old Routemaster Bus for something like a £1.000?