Optare Solo in Serbia

[alex397]

The Optare Solo is a rare sight in continental Europe. I know of small batches that have ended up in the Netherlands and Germany, but I’m not sure they’ve ended up in many other countries.
The Optare Excel (although built by NABI) has ended up in Hungary.

I’ve recently found these pictures of an Optare Solo operating for Arriva in Serbia! They were new to their operations in The Netherlands.

It just seemed like such a culture clash to see an Optare Solo in Arriva livery (and the original livery too) operating in the Balkans.

The photos can be seen here on Flickr, from user Chris:

Arriva Litas, 62022 (BG 1524-HZ)

Pozarevac, 21 March 2023. Former Arriva Nederland 6065.

flic.kr

If you look at more photos from this photographer, you can see more buses from the Arriva Litas fleet, which are mostly not in Arriva livery. However, one more surprise is the British-built Wright Commander which is another one which was new to the Netherlands.

 

[SLTRegular]

we have Optare Solos in Western Sydney in St Marys depot for the various Western Sydney University Campuses some can be seen as far away as Olympic Park work for Sydney Trains Shuttles. think theres also a Metrocity with cdc TV1048 although it might be working in the Blue Mountains Now,

 

[DanielB]

The Optare Solo is a rare sight in continental Europe. I know of small batches that have ended up in the Netherlands and Germany, but I’m not sure they’ve ended up in many other countries.

Actually all Optare Solos which ended up in the Netherlands are now out of service with their original operators. They have been operating with Arriva, Keolis and Qbuzz, so with half of the operators in the country. But pretty much concentrated in the rural areas of Gelderland and Overijssel (and the city centre route in Utrecht), where they were not very popular with drivers.

Utrecht also had reliability issues with their three electric ones, which were among the first electric buses in the Netherlands.

The red/white liveried Citaro and VDL Ambassadors on the Flickr link by the way are also ex-Arriva Netherlands but have been operating in Brabant and have the regional Bravo livery.

The Wright Commander was present in somewhat higher numbers in the Netherlands, there have been over 100 which have been in service for at least 10 years. Some of them were converted from the original interior for local services in Dordrecht, but the ones on the photos are still original. They're all from the last batch which operated in the south of South Holland, a franchise Arriva lost to Qbuzz in 2018.

 

[dutchflyer]

Then I kind of bet they are 2nd hand in RS=Serbije, Arriva does have a good strategy of replacing units to other operations. Its even more easy due to their common livery.

 

[jamesontheroad]

Apropos of Optare Solos in unexpected places, there is a large fleet (as many as 200?) in Cape Town, South Africa. They were manufactured new in Britain but shipped as kits for local assembly. They provide feeder service for Cape Town's BRT system, and have been successful on the narrow and steep streets of Cape Town's suburbs.

Traffic in RSA drives on the left, so they are outwardly identical to British examples, but with an additional door in the middle of the offside (visible in my photo above, taken in Sea Point last September) for platform boarding at gated BRT stations.