The last journey of Routemaster bus No. 159 will begin today from Marble Arch at Oxford Street and end at Brixton Garage.

Kieran Doherty / Reuters

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LONDON — Britain's capital bids a fond farewell today to the Routemaster double-decker bus that for half a century has been as synonymous with London as Big Ben.

Loved by tourists and locals alike, the distinctive red buses have plied their trade since 1956. But they've been deemed expensive antiques, and they have been gradually retired since the 1980s.

At midday, the last Routemaster — No. 159 — will travel from Oxford Street to Brixton bus garage in south London, ringing in the end of an era.

On Thursday, clusters of amateur photographers could be seen along the 159's route, eager to get a final snap of the vehicle that is as famously British as Beefeaters and red phone boxes.

The buses — replete with a conductor, cord-pull bells and an open rear boarding platform that allowed passengers to get on and off even when the bus was moving — are viewed by many as irreplaceable classics.

Few other buses have fan clubs or a dedicated Web site.

"It's born of London for London. And it's the last of its kind," said Travis Elborough, author of "The Bus We Loved," a homage to the buses, some of which traveled continent-busting distances during their long working lives.

"There is an enormous sort of emotional attachment to these buses," Elborough told Reuters.

Snub-nosed and light-bodied, with the driver enclosed in splendid isolation in his cab, the last Routemaster was built in 1968. They had been designed to last no longer than 17 years.

At their peak 2,760 trundled throughout London.