New buses will be hitting the streets of London by 2012, says London Mayor Boris Johnson. The new buses blend tradition with cutting edge environmental technology.

A full-size mock-up of a new hop-on, hop-off double-decker bus for London, was unveiled on Thursday by the capital's mayor Boris Johnson.

The real thing will be coming to the streets of London in 2012.

The new bus is based on the old driver-and-conductor red Routemaster, which was withdrawn from regular service in 2005, although some still run on popular tourist routes in London.

The bus is being designed and built by Northern Ireland-based Wrightbus. It will be 15% more fuel efficient than existing hybrid buses, and 40% more efficient than conventional diesel double-deckers. It will also be much quieter on the streets.

[Boris Johnson, Mayor of London]:
''The vehicle you see here is not only at the cutting edge of new environmental technology, it marks a return to the great traditions of London transport.”

The pioneering design makes use of lightweight materials, with glass highlighting key features and producing a light and airy feel inside the bus.

As with the Routemaster, the new bus has an open platform to provide a jump-on, jump-off service.

[Boris Johnson, Mayor of London]:
''This is a new bus, but it has some of the best features of the Routemaster, particularly the hop-on-hop-off platform. What this bus is really trying to do for us is to go back to the great traditions of London transport when we designed buses that really suited the needs of London.”