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Most Hated Bus

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Observer

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The Optare Excel. Horrible things, they always break down. Seemingly Optare managed to improve on their offerings after that mess.

Also, the Plaxton Primo. It's impossible for any of them to work without falling apart easily, that's why when they get sold so cheaply on the market.
 
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TheGrandWazoo

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The Optare Excel. Horrible things, they always break down. Seemingly Optare managed to improve on their offerings after that mess.

Also, the Plaxton Primo. It's impossible for any of them to work without falling apart easily, that's why when they get sold so cheaply on the market.

The Plaxton Primo is a very good shout. Suspension bushes are not very durable - life measured in weeks not months
 

Teflon Lettuce

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despite all the worthy candidates cited so far surely the most hated bus has to be the articulated Mercedes Benz Citaro otherwise known as Hendy's Bendies... at least if you're BoJo or an Evening Standard reader....
 

Urobach

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The Optare Tempo SR is probably the worst I drove, I'm sure the driver was an afterthought when designed
 
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J-2739

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despite all the worthy candidates cited so far surely the most hated bus has to be the articulated Mercedes Benz Citaro otherwise known as Hendy's Bendies... at least if you're BoJo or an Evening Standard reader....

I don't know, I actually like the bendies, but that's probably down to nostalgia...
I remember the first time taking one, around 2005/06, when my familly went down to London to visit my cousins. I was at Rye Lane when I saw a bunch of them crossing each other and a bell struck me. I started to beg to take them. My first journey was a few minutes later, on the 12...
Such a lovely bus. The engine noise? Perfect! The speed? Lovely! The best feature though were the, wait for it...

Doors
Such fast, loud and glorious feature to witness!!:D:D:D

Such a strong Nostalgia I can never acess again...:cry::cry:
 

Robertj21a

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despite all the worthy candidates cited so far surely the most hated bus has to be the articulated Mercedes Benz Citaro otherwise known as Hendy's Bendies... at least if you're BoJo or an Evening Standard reader....

Totally disagree, but, as GW suggests, we don't need to reignite that debate !
 

Teflon Lettuce

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Actually I can't stand ANY type of articulated bus... they are the ONLY form of transport that makes me feel travel sick... I think it's the see saw motion induced by the rear section only have one axle...

apart from that I think the most dire vehicles to travel on have to be anything bodied by Caetano... I'm sure their seats were designed by prim and proper Victorian ladies... certainly being in one for more than a few minutes induces chronic back and neck pain from sitting bolt upright.. and as for the electronic "bell" on these contraptions... well any torturer would be pleased to be armed with one of those!
 

J-2739

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Actually I can't stand ANY type of articulated bus... they are the ONLY form of transport that makes me feel travel sick... I think it's the see saw motion induced by the rear section only have one axle...

apart from that I think the most dire vehicles to travel on have to be anything bodied by Caetano... I'm sure their seats were designed by prim and proper Victorian ladies... certainly being in one for more than a few minutes induces chronic back and neck pain from sitting bolt upright.. and as for the electronic "bell" on these contraptions... well any torturer would be pleased to be armed with one of those!

The only articulated bus I like are the Citaros. The others can go do one.

I'm curious, what does the bells sound like?
 

507021

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Another one I've thought of is the Marshall Capital, absolutely awful buses in my opinion.

On saying that though, I do like the Alexander, East Lancs and Plaxton bodied Dennis Darts.
 

TheGrandWazoo

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Another one I've thought of is the Marshall Capital, absolutely awful buses in my opinion.

On saying that though, I do like the Alexander, East Lancs and Plaxton bodied Dennis Darts.

The Marshall was mentioned above in the thread. That said, there has been quite a bit of anti-Marshall sentiment (though being from the North East originally, I liked the single deck Dominators they bodied for Darlington Corporation).

However, I always have struggled with East Lancs who veered from competent to jaw droppingly awful that looked like they were scavenged from the parts bin. I posted the link to the Dodge S56's they bodied and the Flyte/Spryte bodies were aesthetically challenging but here's another classic from the past (and yes, that back end was like that)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/emdjt...wCi-7snhak-6hurMT-ENwqdH-5xK23y-CNxw3D-CNxhWZ
https://www.flickr.com/photos/80503...wCi-7snhak-6hurMT-ENwqdH-5xK23y-CNxw3D-CNxhWZ
 

Ian Hardy

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The one thing I hate about the new ADL MMC vehicles is the bell, you can just about hear it when you are aware of your surroundings, how most people will hear them being away with the fairies plugged into their phones etc.

Another hate of mine is the offside opaque panel behind the glass staircase on the top deck Borismaster and the ADL E400 City, it should be glass like the the Lothian 4xx Wright Gemini3 bodies which is wholly glass.

Ian Hardy
 

MotCO

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I don't know, I actually like the bendies, but that's probably down to nostalgia...
I remember the first time taking one, around 2005/06, when my familly went down to London to visit my cousins. I was at Rye Lane when I saw a bunch of them crossing each other and a bell struck me. I started to beg to take them. My first journey was a few minutes later, on the 12...
Such a lovely bus. The engine noise? Perfect! The speed? Lovely! The best feature though were the, wait for it...

Doors
Such fast, loud and glorious feature to witness!!:D:D:D

Such a strong Nostalgia I can never acess again...:cry::cry:

You may be interested to learn that the Bromley Bus Preservation Group are in the process of preserving one!
 

J-2739

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You may be interested to learn that the Bromley Bus Preservation Group are in the process of preserving one!

Really? That's great! :D
Sadly, I don't live anywhere near London but that being said, its nice that some other group likes them and are not in the process of dumping then in a scrap yard, leaving them to rot, turning them into baked bean cans, etcetera...

Do you know which one they're keeping?
 

Alex 2901

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Going from the NXWM fleet, my least favourite would have to be the Enviro400 Mk2 (61, 13, 63, 14, 64 plate examples) which are just dull, and so boring it's actually depressing.

One of the few novelties round here I grew to like, but only after hating them, Mercedes O405Ns, with the integral bodywork, some were awful though, 1591 especially, any imperfect road surface, and bye bye spine! Whereas others, 1613 & 1677 would fly if you gave them a section of straight road! On the X51 for example...
The one thing I never liked about them (other than looks! Hideous buses to look at, I'll agree there!) was the fiery nature of them, literally! See also, 1688, which caught fire on the M6 and was gutted! Still remember fearing having one, the Txxx FOB ones especially!
 

MotCO

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Do you know which one they're keeping?

Yes, it's former Go Ahead Red Arrow MAL15, currently in Bournemouth University colours. The BBPG have their own Facebook page.
 
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Was that done after a bridge strike? I've seen photos of a similarly treated Atlantean with SELNEC. I don't think it looks that bad myself...

There's a special class of ugly / bizarre for things done by company workshops following crash damage / because certain parts aren't available any more ( that said some can be quite elegant like the mouldings for Leyland Nationals to fit ECW type side and indicator light units instead ofthe styled original units)
 
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TheGrandWazoo

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there;s a special class of ugly / bizarre for things done by company workshops following crash damage / because certain parts aren;t available any more ( that said some can be quite elegant like the mouldings for Layland Nationals to fit ECW type side and indicator light units instead ofthe styled original units)

Like this. Difficult to make a Willowbrook body look worse but grafting part of an ECW LH body managed it https://flic.kr/p/azHDka
 
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My vote goes for the Scania Omnicity particularly the single deck version, hard suspension, hard seats (those with the standard Scania seats anyway), claustrophic interior layout with poor forward vision - seats, luggage pens and tv screen in the way.

A quick mention of the Volvo B6 midibus, terrible vibration or at least that's when it was running because it hadn't overheated. Also the new Routemaster - dark interior even on a bright day and I really dislike those LED lights above each seat, I wear rimless glasses it's headache inducing with the reflections from the light.
 

Robertj21a

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I think the 'Borismaster' is going to go down in history as one of the most disliked buses of recent times.
 

6Gman

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The Marshall was mentioned above in the thread. That said, there has been quite a bit of anti-Marshall sentiment (though being from the North East originally, I liked the single deck Dominators they bodied for Darlington Corporation).

However, I always have struggled with East Lancs who veered from competent to jaw droppingly awful that looked like they were scavenged from the parts bin. I posted the link to the Dodge S56's they bodied and the Flyte/Spryte bodies were aesthetically challenging but here's another classic from the past (and yes, that back end was like that)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/emdjt...wCi-7snhak-6hurMT-ENwqdH-5xK23y-CNxw3D-CNxhWZ
https://www.flickr.com/photos/80503...wCi-7snhak-6hurMT-ENwqdH-5xK23y-CNxw3D-CNxhWZ

I always assumed that the designer of the East Lancs Dart body of c.1995 had previously worked on bin lorry design.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I forgot to mention the Borismaster with its witless smiling face.

It has a face? :o

Seriously, I used one from Pimlico to the Euston Road (best part of an hour).

Quiet, smooth ride; coped well with crowds of passengers.

Good bus.
 

jaig

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For me, it has to be Metroline's SELs because of bad vibration, hard seats, gloomy atmosphere, broken air con. Also, a more recent bus, the YY64's running on the 201 or any e200 with zf gearbox - the gear shifts are horrendously uncomfortable and slow

Sent from my SM-J500FN using Tapatalk
 

Busaholic

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I forgot to mention the Borismaster with its witless smiling face.

I think the outward appearance of the bus is the least objectionable part of it: I actually quite like the rear offside, which is damning with faint praise.:)
 

Ianno87

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I think the outward appearance of the bus is the least objectionable part of it: I actually quite like the rear offside, which is damning with faint praise.:)

I do enjoy the view out of the large rear window next to the rear staircase; looking backwards at The City coming across London Bridge on a 149 was rather special.
 
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