London's famed red buses near end of line

LONDON Those red double-decker buses - on which tourists ride ontop and dogs ride free - may be on a one-way street to extinction.

As part of a program to improve Britain's wobbly publicservices, Prime Minister John Major pledged to deregulate London'sbus system and sell it to private owners.

"Every company will choose its own livery to run under, so thered bus is probably already gone," said David Hales, a press officerfor London Regional Transport.

"It's a great shame, I think. We've already lost the red phoneboxes. Next, we'll be losing the royal guardsmen."

Officials are aware that eliminating the double-deckers will anunpopular move. That's …