Blood on the streets

No, he realised that the emotional attachment to the old Routemasters was a useful vehicle for exploiting a weakness of Livingstone's, who had, after all, gone back on his original promise.

I still think Livingstone's main mistake was to just buy articulated buses from abroad instead of using the job to support British industry. OK, people badmouth British industry, but you have to give it a chance to grow again before you condemn it.
The bendy buses were 5cm wider than other buses (and about 15 cm wider than Routemasters) due to change in regs. The Swiss did have a narrow version more suited to London and Valletta but not so good for super-sized passengers.
At 2.52m the new boris bus is 3cm narrower, when overtaking every cm counts.