Which buses do you dislike?

[Rick1984]

first putting standard double double deck buses on x1 instead of coaches route from lowestoft to peterborough is pretty bad. Think there wright bodied enviro's? Glass stair partition? No leg room, hard seats, no ac. glad I only do yarmouth to norwich as sitting on one for three hours world be unbearable. And no toilet either

 

[Rich McLean]

Anyone remember these horrid things

Many times in the past having a sore arse riding on these things. I think the suspension was made of Bricks

 

[185]

I still say Enviros are the ugliest buses created, the last time I looked through the round window was on BBC's PlaySchool in 1981

 

[83G/84D]

Ex London Dennis Trident's with First Devon & Cornwall, rubbish seats,uncomfortable (lack of) suspension and awful gearboxes.

 

[trentside]

Anyone remember these horrid things

Many times in the past having a sore arse riding on these things. I think the suspension was made of Bricks

Yes, we had quite a few Renault Dodges round here courtesy of RoadCar. Quite a few were destroyed in a fire at the turn of the century, and were replaced by Mercedes 811Ds of various kinds. These were later supplemented at Lincoln by some much more palatable Optare MetroRiders from Scunthorpe!

 

[90019]

Think there wright bodied enviro's?

If it's the ones I'm thinking of, they're Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B9TLs.

Enviro is ADL bodywork.

 

[Pyromaniac]

If it's the ones I'm thinking of, they're Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B9TLs.

Enviro is ADL bodywork.

Correct. There is rumour they will be replaced with more new vehicles in a couple years time too.

 

[Wyvern]

Glovers bus from Belper to Ashbourne is like riding on a tea trolley. It hits every pothole with a teeth rattling crash.

Ive just looked them up on the web and apparently they are Alexander bodied Dennis Darts that were originally used around Merseyside so I guess they are made for smooth city roads.

 

[83G/84D]

Ex London Dennis Trident's with First Devon & Cornwall, rubbish seats,uncomfortable (lack of) suspension and awful gearboxes.

One (32878) broken down at Redruth Railway station this afternoon. Not suprised as I seem to see one every couple of weeks parked with hazard lights going and a fitters van in attendance.

 

[Scania3379man]

i don't like dennis darts pointer 2. not comfort cos chair not fix proper at the back grrr, excel on 60144 engine is awful sound, B10B is alright but colour is not my taste inside, small mini bus in 1995 or old use always sunday service in wigan i can't remember what the name type of mini buses in wigan old service? < that mini bus I hate it.

martyn

 

[90019]

Every Y reg Pointer in the fleet is sh*te, but 183 and 185 are the worst of the ones currently at my depot.

The driver I took over from this evening summed up 183 rather well: "It's all good, except the bus. Oh, and don't go near hills".

 

[Ivo]

Older Lances. Older Scanias. Three-speed Dominators. Older Step Darts. Older manual Merc minis.

You get the idea - early to mid -90s junk.

 

[Tomonthetrain]

I think I've found something more evil than the b6. I present...the 4 Pointer Dart branded for Swift226 of Rotala. They have a habit of breaking down

 

[fgwrich]

Older Lances. Older Scanias. Three-speed Dominators. Older Step Darts. Older manual Merc minis.

You get the idea - early to mid -90s junk.

As long as their Dash Darts then i'll completely agree with you. (Horrible bland boxes on wheels, Alexander's 'designers' must have taken inspiration from a brick!).

Pretty much all Alexander Dennis Enviros (& Pretty much everything by Alexander Dennis as a whole!). I can't stand the Enviro range - the darts are awful things which here in bas seem to shake & vibrate constantly, the curves on the double deck versions just look odd - Why can't we have more of the Hong Kong versions, they actually look surprisingly smart! Also have to include almost everything produced by Alexander Dennis as a whole - i used to like the Plaxton Pointer, indeed our Dart SLFs with beastly cummins engine / voith transmission pairing here in Basingstoke are brilliant, unfortunately we've also got large swathes of not so nice last batch Alex Dennis darts here too.

Optare - a company whose design language is about as confusing as dutch. The earlier Solos are ok, but some of the newer ones, not so in my books. As is their design, one minute their producing the rather nice Tempo - Courtney have a few here in bas, but then change it for this newer rather unimpressive design.

And finally, East Lancs - Need i say more?

(Sorry, mini rant over!)


((Stupid spell checker insists by the way, that i change Voith to Vomit ))

 

[BestWestern]

Older Lances. Older Scanias. Three-speed Dominators. Older Step Darts. Older manual Merc minis.

You get the idea - early to mid -90s junk.

New Scanias aren't up to much either in my experience, the Omnicity is crap.

Those old Merc efforts are hard work; noisy, rattly and bounce like a fairground ride - but I rather like them! Get a good one and they fly, and you get some decent noise too. The're also completely invincible

 

[Ivo]

With regards to older Scanias, I'm thinking of these things:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thespian/6063016696/ (Not my picture again)

To call their suspension "hard" would be an understatement; sitting above the rear wheels was like asking to be punched in the back! They did accelerate quite well, which is a plus, but otherwise they're nasty things. N251 BKK was the worst of the batch that went to Southend for about three years, and was easily identifiable as its internal decor was different to the other nine. They also sounded like their engines were permanently damaged - or maybe overcharged.

 

[LE Greys]

Anything built after about 1980!

Or to be a bit more serious, anything with a plastic interior, hardly any openable windows, uncomfortable seats (i.e. springless seats) and a complete lack of any ideas of passenger comfort. One particular one that keeps on turning up in Stevenage springs to mind, it sounds as if its transmission is about to explode.

 

[507 001]

all of them! :P

 

[D841 Roebuck]

Pimpernel Petroleum.

Very unreliable on the routes up the west side of Loch Lomond...

 

[redthunder]

Ok the worst buses have to be now the Optare Tempo SR, you will find these on Trent Barton's Route i4 between Nottingham & Derby, the most running disaster on 4 wheels, forever unreliable, noisy, underpowered, uncomfortable, in fact I can't think of a nice word to say about them to be honest

(And I thought DAF Plaxton Prestiges were awful but these Tempo SR's take AWFUL to a whole new level)

 

[David Goddard]

For us to the South of Reading, it has to be the Plaxton Beavers that Fleet Buzz are still operating.
Each time we go to get the bus, we pray hard for a Versa or a Solo, even a Dart at a push. Every now and again we are deeply disappointed as a Beaver pulls in to view!

 

[starrymarkb]

Ok the worst buses have to be now the Optare Tempo SR, you will find these on Trent Barton's Route i4 between Nottingham & Derby, the most running disaster on 4 wheels, forever unreliable, noisy, underpowered, uncomfortable, in fact I can't think of a nice word to say about them to be honest

(And I thought DAF Plaxton Prestiges were awful but these Tempo SR's take AWFUL to a whole new level)

It says a lot that Trent cancelled the rest of the batch and ordered Versas instead

 

[redthunder]

It says a lot that Trent cancelled the rest of the batch and ordered Versas instead

Indeed they did, Optare were late with their order and the final 2 of them only just arrived last month when they should have arrived with the rest in May!!!!!

 

[Tomonthetrain]

Ok the worst buses have to be now the Optare Tempo SR, you will find these on Trent Barton's Route i4 between Nottingham & Derby, the most running disaster on 4 wheels, forever unreliable, noisy, underpowered, uncomfortable, in fact I can't think of a nice word to say about them to be honest.

I quite like them. They're kind of like the Pacer of the bus world in my opinion.

 

[Lewisham2221]

Ok the worst buses have to be now the Optare Tempo SR, you will find these on Trent Barton's Route i4 between Nottingham & Derby, the most running disaster on 4 wheels, forever unreliable, noisy, underpowered, uncomfortable, in fact I can't think of a nice word to say about them to be honest

(And I thought DAF Plaxton Prestiges were awful but these Tempo SR's take AWFUL to a whole new level)

Apologies in advance, but I can't resist pointing out that the Tempo's will be on 6 wheels (unless one of Optare's build quality issues is forgetting to put all the wheels on!) /pedant

 

[fgwrich]

For us to the South of Reading, it has to be the Plaxton Beavers that Fleet Buzz are still operating.
Each time we go to get the bus, we pray hard for a Versa or a Solo, even a Dart at a push. Every now and again we are deeply disappointed as a Beaver pulls in to view!

Dont worry, You've got a wonderful / woeful combination of ex Stagecoach Dash Darts & Pointer Darts on your way, as a few of the Basingstoke Darts seem to be finding their way into the Fleet Buzz division lately.

Ok the worst buses have to be now the Optare Tempo SR, you will find these on Trent Barton's Route i4 between Nottingham & Derby, the most running disaster on 4 wheels, forever unreliable, noisy, underpowered, uncomfortable, in fact I can't think of a nice word to say about them to be honest

(And I thought DAF Plaxton Prestiges were awful but these Tempo SR's take AWFUL to a whole new level)

Dosent supprise me unfortunatly. I used to like the older T

 

[BestWestern]

With regards to older Scanias, I'm thinking of these things:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thespian/6063016696/ (Not my picture again)

To call their suspension "hard" would be an understatement; sitting above the rear wheels was like asking to be punched in the back! They did accelerate quite well, which is a plus, but otherwise they're nasty things. N251 BKK was the worst of the batch that went to Southend for about three years, and was easily identifiable as its internal decor was different to the other nine. They also sounded like their engines were permanently damaged - or maybe overcharged.

Sounds as though things haven't changed a great deal then The truly abysmal suspension was one of the most immediately evident issues with the OmniCity's our shack had. The fact that the bodywork is cobbled together in an eastern European sweatshop somewhere (quality control Polski style I believe) doesn't bode well with the bone jarring ride quality, which inevitably leads to the thing rattling like a good'un over every hump and bump. Our drivers actually raised it with the management. The engines do appear to be a good point, ours went like stink even up hills!

 

[Drsatan]

I'm not a bus fan per se, but when I was at sixth form I'd get the X66 daily, run by Stagecoach in Hampshire. The most common bus used would be the Volvo B10M, some of which were kept in very poor condition. A couple suffered from slipping cambelts which were never fixed. A few additional journeys would be operated from my sixth form, and the R reg Volvo Olympians were in pretty appalling condition: I travelled on one which had water ingress in the light fittings and another whose front window on the upper deck was perpetually smeared in what looked like the remains of a cream pie (don't ask how!)

Thankfully, they've now gone: most of the double deckers around Winchester are Dennis Tridents.

 

[ATW Alex 101]

Any bus on my schoolbus route. Helms of Eastham/Aintree coachline. Old olympians which have been abused and
B201 EFM
N422 JBV
S101 YOO


All I've had to take me to school and back, all of them have broken down at least twice. TBF I don't think they're made for my school bus route, most of it being motorway, it doesn't help them either. What also doesn't help is when the driver is doing 70, which I think is illegal anyway for a bus. Very scary standing by the door

 

[Ivo]

Any bus on my schoolbus route. Helms of Eastham/Aintree coachline. Old olympians which have been abused and not looked after. Buses include:
L202 SKD
B201 EFM
N422 JBV
S101 YOO
L100 ACL

All I've had to take me to school and back, all of them have broken down at least twice. TBF I don't think they're made for my school bus route, most of it being motorway, it doesn't help them either. What also doesn't help is when the driver is doing 70, which I think is illegal anyway for a bus. Very scary standing by the door

70 is legal for buses on motorways, but not other dual-carriageway roads. I'm just surprised they can still do 70