‘Scene’ at Euro Bus Expo 2014 Part 9

I have been attending these shows for some years now and I am always impressed with the effort that manufacturers put into their products.

 

I will not attempt to cover the show in any great detail. That has and will be done by the professional magazines. Instead, I will focus on the bits that appealed to me.

 

This concluding part covers the remaining bits and pieces.

 

DFB 704D

 

A ‘London General Omnibus Company’ (LGOC) ‘B’ type replica. Owned and operated by 

‘Hearson Heritage Tours’ of Nottingham, it came complete with driver who was dressed in authentic World War One uniform.

 

The ‘B’ type (known as Ole Bill) went from working on the streets of London to being troop carriers on the Western Front in the early days of World War One. 

 

1,200 of the buses (and their drivers) were commandeered by the War Office in 1914. The drivers were still dressed in their ‘LGOC’ uniforms.

 

The bus is based on a Bedford chassis.

 

One of the outside exhibits was this Sunsundegui bodied coach on a Volvo B13R chassis.

Marketed as the SC7 the frontal design seems to bear a strong likeness to the Caetano Levante bodied coaches currently in widespread use with ‘National Express’.

 

The Spanish coachbuilder UNVI generally has something interesting in the show. This year it was the Voyager GT body built on a Mercedes-Benz Atego chassis. 

 

The Atego being a truck derived chassis which is being promoted as a replacement for the Vario now that production of the Vario has ceased.

 

Yutong are reported to be the biggest producer of buses and coaches in the World. I have seen figures quoting 1,000 chassis per week being produced.

 

There were other Yutong coaches inside but this caught my eye in the outside display area.

 

This is the the TC-9 and with a seating capacity of 35, it can also be considered a Mercedes-Benz Vario replacement.

 

A newly re-styled Enviro 200 was on the Alexander Dennis Ltd. stand.

 

Irizar have done well with sales of the i6. The full size version was in attendance but this shorter version caught my eye. 

 

I like the body styling but I am not sure that in the shorter version that the body length to the feature pillar makes it look all front.

 

 

Another bus from Nu-Track was the Nu-Vibe. aimed at the welfare market, the Nu-Vibe uses the body shell of the successful Wright ‘Streetlite W/F’. (Nu-Track being part of the Wright group).

 

The thing I noticed was that it picks up on the body styling of the Wright ‘Streetdeck’. Take a  look at the lower edge of the windscreen and the panelling below it.

 

The ‘Streetlite WF’s big brother the ‘Streetdeck’. This one is going to Northern Ireland operator ‘Translink’.

 

Earlier on this year on the 2nd. of June, I posted a blog about ‘First’ bus in Hanley.

I speculated on rumours that ‘First Potteries’ were about to introduce a variation on the standard ‘First Group’ livery that personally I have always disliked.

 

The image below shows how that variaton now looks. Basically a bus of two halves. The rear end is still identifiable as ‘First’ but the front end now sports a strong colour and clear identification.

 

NOW, if only we can get the back end re-painted.....!

 

The Temsa Safari.

I always thought that this Turkish built coach would do well but I think that the ones I have seen’out and about’ can be counted on my fingers. A shame really, I always thought it an attractive coach.

 

YX54 VOO

One of Alexander Dennis Ltd. New Enviro 400’s that has gone up in the World. I wonder what the next year will bring for it and will it still be looking down on the competition from on high this time next year?

 

Only time will tell.

‘Scene' at Euro Bus Expo 2014 Part 8

I have been attending these shows for some years now and I am always impressed with the effort that manufacturers put into their products.

 

I will not attempt to cover the show in any great detail. That has and will be done by the professional magazines. Instead, I will focus on the bits that appealed to me. 

 

Since the departure of the Mercedes-Benz Vario chassis from the bus market, manufacturers have been moving quickly to come up with a replacement. There is for example Mercedes own Atego chassis.

 

Another contender for the job is another German product, the MAN Euro 6 TGL chassis. 

 

Nu Track now part of the Wright group of companies have used this chassis under its own bus which is called the Pulse. Marketed as a 33 seater, it also has applications in the welfare sector and comes with removable seats and a wheelchair lift.

 

Not the most adventurous of styling but if it does the job....... 

 

 

 

 

‘Scene’ at Euro Bus Expo 2014 part 7

I have been attending these shows for some years now and I am always impressed with the effort that manufacturers put into their products.

 

I will not attempt to cover the show in any great detail. That has and will be done by the professional magazines. Instead, I will focus on the bits that appealed to me.

 

It is a long time since Optare had a double decker in its range. There was the period when the Olympus was produced as an Optare but for a genuine Optare product you have to go back to the Spectra. There was a brief flirtation with the Rapta that appeared at the NEC a few years ago but that never made it past the prototype stage.

 

There were two of Optare’s MetroDecker at the NEC this year, The blue one that has appeared in all the magazines that was in the outside display area and an Orange one that made it inside.

 

Optare have set out to produce a bus that ticks all the boxes and still weighs under 10 tons. 

 

According to all the reports, they have achieved it and all that is left to do is for someone to buy it and prove that it is as good as it looks.

 

 

Introduced 2 years ago, the MetroDecker’s stablemate, the single deck MetroCity was on display. Produced specifically for use in London, the first models are currently just entering service.

 

Also sharing the same Orange paintwork as the rest of Optare's indoor exhibits was one of the latest Solo SR’s.

‘Scene’ at Euro Bus Expo 2014 part 6

I have been attending these shows for some years now and I am always impressed with the effort that manufacturers put into their products.

 

I will not attempt to cover the show in any great detail. That has and will be done by the professional magazines. Instead, I will focus on the bits that appealed to me.

 

The last two years or so has seen both the ‘Stagecoach’ and ‘Arriva’ introduce their up market bus brands that stop short of being coach standard but are a definite improvement on standard buses. These  being ‘Stagecoach Gold’ and ‘Arriva Sapphire’. 

 

In days gone by, they might well have been termed ‘Dual Purpose’

 

I thought that the other big groups might follow, so it comes as a bit of a surprise to see one of the smaller companies go down the same path.

 

Wrexham based GHA Coaches have introduced 5 Alexander Dennis Ltd. (ADL) Enviro 200’s with a distinctly up market specification.

 

These are for use on their service 88 from Altrincham to Knutsford via Wilmslow and Wilmslow Rail Station which is funded by Cheshire East Council.

 

I would think that in an affluent part of the world that this is, it would take something a bit special to convert car drivers to customers. These ‘buses’ could well do the trick.

 

I was a bit surprised that this bus only made it into the outside demonstration area at the NEC. I would have thought that it would have been more at home inside.

 

YX64 VRF 

 

An ‘ADL’ Enviro 200.

 

Apart from the usual leather seats, free wi-fi, wood effect flooring and audio visual stop announcements there is a table with 4 seats that face each other. I can well imagine that these seats might well become perches for some of the well heeled local ladies whilst comparing their purchases on their way home from a shopping outing in Manchester.

 

Well done GHA, something a bit different that deserves to succeed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘Scene’ at Euro Bus Expo 2014 part 5

I have been attending these shows for some years now and I am always impressed with the effort that manufacturers put into their products.

 

I will not attempt to cover the show in any great detail. That has and will be done by the professional magazines. Instead, I will focus on the bits that appealed to me.

 

Down the years, the ‘Stagecoach’ group have been innovators. Do you remember the massive 6 wheel ‘Jumbo’ double deckers, the ‘Magic Bus’ low fare operations and the ‘megabus.com services.

 

On the latter, I remember going to London for 50p. (Was that single or return, I cannot remember).

 

So it came as no surprise when they introduced the ‘megabusGold’ sleeper coaches. This show was my first chance to look at one.

 

The one on show carries the legal titling of ‘Western Buses Ltd’ of Ayr in Scotland. It is a DAF powered Van Hool Astromega.

 

 

 

 

Inside, It is all warm and cosy. The seats used during the day quickly make up into berths for night time. 

 

I felt that the bulkheads that are necessary to support the beds and provide a degree of privacy also restricted the space and might deter anyone who suffers with claustrophobia.

 

I also found the headroom on the upper deck limited. I am only 5ft. 8 inches tall and my head touched the roof 

 

However, I can’t wait to give it a try....!

 

 

 

‘Scene’ at Euro Bus Expo 2014 part 4

I have been attending these shows for some years now and I am always impressed with the effort that manufacturers put into their products.

 

I will not attempt to cover the show in any great detail. That has and will be done by the professional magazines. Instead, I will focus on the bits that appealed to me.

 

I discovered the buses produced by the Spanish coachbuilder Irizar well over 20 years ago on a holiday in Majorca when they were virtually unknown in the UK.

 

I have followed the companies fortunes ever since and seeing as my local operator ‘trentbarton’ have a number in service, albeit all coaches, I have spent many an hour in their company.

 

So the appearance of an Irizar bus in the outside display area demanded further investigation.

 

The vehicles are generally parked up tight to each other for at the NEC, space costs money. So getting suitable images of the bus, The Irizar i3 were not easy.

 

 

The door was open so a walk inside was called for.

 

What I had not expected was the seating arrangements which were tiered in what I think is called ‘theatre style’ which should give everyone a good forward view.

 

I have seen this done before on coaches in Germany built by a coachbuilder called ‘Drogmoller’ but I think that it is the first time I have seen it on a bus.

 

 

 

‘Scene’ at Euro Bus Expo 2014 part 3

I have been attending these shows for some years now and I am always impressed with the effort that manufacturers put into their products.

 

I will not attempt to cover the show in any great detail. That has and will be done by the professional magazines. Instead, I will focus on the bits that appealed to me.

 

I had seen one of the early new Alexander Dennis Ltd. Enviro 400’s at ‘Showbus’ in September but this was the first time I had had chance for a closer look.

 

Beautifully finished in its metallic blue paint, the interior was equipped with coach standard seats that were bathed in a pinkish light which added an exotic touch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

All in all an excellent vehicle. The only niggle I thought was that the provision of two seats behind the door restricted the access to the rest of the bus. It might have been better to stick with the one seat and leave a bit more space.