I remember seeing these buses crawling all over Times Square in New York last year and thinking to myself, “Gosh, what a garishly decontextualized mode of gimmicky vehicular tourism. Those would probably look even more out of place back in DC.”

I should have expected, of course, that they would come to DC too. I don’t know about you, but these buses make me think of London, not Washington, and not in a kind way. Not that I have anything against double deckers in general, but come on, where are there buses like that in our history? At least the combustible Old Town Trolleys make an attempt to visually connect to DC’s old street cars. On the other hand I guess they’re not as tacky as the Tourmobile. Those remind me of the Universal Studios backlot tram.

Here’s the perpetrator of these kitschy double decker monstrosities: City Sightseeing. But hey, if they get us tourist money, why complain?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Paulo Ordoveza

Roving Asian mendicant, can occasionally be seen wandering the streets of downtown Washington, muttering unintelligible gibberish to passers-by while pushing a “bag lady” shopping cart full of old blankets, American flags, soda cans, and healthy secondhand snacks from organic food shop dumpsters. Used to live in a cardboard box at 16th and K but the rent was too expensive.