Londoners try to board the last Routemaster bus on route 159 at Oxford Street. (AFP)

London, Dec. 9: A much-loved London icon, the “hop-on, hop-off”, red double-decker Routemaster bus, was withdrawn from commercial service today after having been a familiar sight on the streets of the capital for more than half a century ? and all in the name of “progress”.

The mood of Londoners was summed up by Matthew Doherty, 45, a messenger from Hornchurch, Essex, who said: “This is a sad day for bus lovers and Londoners in general.”

The Routemasters are being withdrawn by Transport for London on the orders of the mayor, Ken Livingstone, who has changed his mind since he observed in 2001 that “only a ghastly dehumanised moron would want to get rid of the Routemaster”. Thousands of people brought Christmas shopping in Oxford Street to a standstill when they turned up to bid an emotional goodbye to the last 159 to return to Streatham in south London at noon.

In keeping with hallowed British tradition, the bus was 40 minutes late in leaving but perhaps, for once, this slackness could be forgiven because on the inward trip Londoners turned out to clap and cheer the Routemaster as it made its way from south London to Marble Arch in the West End.

There was even a touch of fog that enhanced the sense of nostalgia that something good was passing into history.

As a watery sun broke through, a drinker at a pub raised his glass to the passing bus, a taxi driver on Westminster Bridge gave a thumbs-up sign, and a man with a wreath proclaimed “RIP Routemaster”.

“I am very sorry to see the Routemaster go,” said Rustom Battiwalla, 37, a former bus driver who used to drive the Routemaster. The Routemaster, which had a driver and a conductor, has been replaced by new, one-man operated double deckers and much hated “bendy buses”, which consist of two long vehicles joined by a flexible middle.

The hop-on, hop-off Routemaster allowed passengers to jump off if a bus got clogged in traffic (or to get on).

The honour of driving the last 159 from Oxford Street, along Regent Street and into Trafalgar Square, fell to Jamaican-born Winston Briscoe, 62, from Croydon, with Lloyd Licorish, 61, as his Barbados-born conductor. People took pictures as the bus passed Big Ben and Whitehall.

One legacy is an affectionate “biography” of the Routemaster, The Bus We Loved, by Travis Elborough, who turned up today to witness the last 159. There are now hundreds of discarded Routemasters which can be snapped up by enthusiasts for ?10,000, though finding a place to park will be a problem.