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Twenty years of low floor buses! - buses7675 - 12/07/2013 11:56
Hi All,
Time really does fly, 20 years ago today on 12th July 1993 the UK's first low floor bus, Neoplan N4014 K930 EWG entered service with MTL on Merseytravel route 224!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/buses7675/5734738064/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/buses7675/5734814914/
Shame the bus no longer exists but although some bits never quite worked (like its Smart timecheckers!) the idea of low floor buses took hold and nearly all buses remaining in service over most of the UK on normal bus routes are now low floor buses.
RE: Twenty years of low floor buses! - MPTE1955 - 12/07/2013 12:40
It is kind of strange that we have had low floor 20 years yet there are still some high floor in use, of course high floor were made for about 7 years after the smart bus first came in. Its just such a shame that none of first low floor buses survive, but with the Neoplan not exactly being mainstream in the UK it probably would have been very costly to preserve. So the earliest ex merseyside/MTL etc LF bus in preservation is 7533, unless there is something else that I have forgotten about.
RE: Twenty years of low floor buses! - R557 ABA - 12/07/2013 12:48
(12/07/2013 12:40)MPTE1955 Wrote: It is kind of strange that we have had low floor 20 years yet there are still some high floor in use, of course high floor were made for about 7 years after the smart bus first came in. Its just such a shame that none of first low floor buses survive, but with the Neoplan not exactly being mainstream in the UK it probably would have been very costly to preserve. So the earliest ex merseyside/MTL etc LF bus in preservation is 7533, unless there is something else that I have forgotten about.
Neoplan L407 TKB was saved as it attended the 2008 Wirral Bus & Tram Show and I later saw it stored at Arriva's Manchester depot however I'm unsure if it remains intact.
RE: Twenty years of low floor buses! - buses7675 - 12/07/2013 12:55
I think preserved Scania L113/Wright Axcess Ultralow P309 HEM is a little older (without checking mind) although I could be wrong!
RE: Twenty years of low floor buses! - R557 ABA - 12/07/2013 13:11
(12/07/2013 12:55)buses7675 Wrote: I think preserved Scania L113/Wright Axcess Ultralow P309 HEM is a little older (without checking mind) although I could be wrong!
You're quite right, 5309 was August 1996 and 7533 was June 1997.
RE: Twenty years of low floor buses! - MPTE1955 - 12/07/2013 13:16
(12/07/2013 13:11)R557 ABA Wrote:(12/07/2013 12:55)buses7675 Wrote: I think preserved Scania L113/Wright Axcess Ultralow P309 HEM is a little older (without checking mind) although I could be wrong!
You're quite right, 5309 was August 1996 and 7533 was June 1997.
Somehow, strangley that one completely slipped my mind.
RE: Twenty years of low floor buses! - Gillmoss 0324 - 12/07/2013 14:28
MTL/Lancashire Travel also had early Pointer Dart slf's 7531-32 N531-32DWM which were the first production type low floors in use on Merseyside. Overall the Neoplans weren't too bad/maybe a little over engineered but sadly Merseytravel for introducing low floor bus operation to the UK doesn't get the recognition for this and is overlooked in this with the London Pathfinders that began operating in 1993/94. Wish Merseyside has/had more low floor deckers and SMART hadn't withered and died too but that's for another post/time.
RE: Twenty years of low floor buses! - SK15 GZG - 14/07/2013 10:29
(12/07/2013 12:48)R557 ABA Wrote: Neoplan L407 TKB was saved as it attended the 2008 Wirral Bus & Tram Show and I later saw it stored at Arriva's Manchester depot however I'm unsure if it remains intact.
I think L407 TKB has been scrapped unfortunately
RE: Twenty years of low floor buses! - television - 16/07/2013 11:38
Are we forgetting the first true low floor buses here? Quest 80's with Locomotors bodies delivered to Merseyside PTE in 1985/6. However not all entered service & were moved on for service with Millers of Cambridge & Tanner of St.Helens.
By the way, it was 6404 that attended Heaton Park... I took it there!
RE: Twenty years of low floor buses! - MPTE1955 - 16/07/2013 12:14
To be fair, its not hard to forget the Quests, I never ever seen one in service, in fact I never ever seen one anywhere.