TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
The dual door nature of them signifies they were originally ordered for metrobus services due to the dual door layout. Other than the Bristol Park & Ride services and Bath/Bristol Unibus services, the infrastructure is not there for dual door usage.
Quite, which is why they haven't been specifying dual doors for the standard city services, despite the benefits for dwell times etc. When I caught one on the 75, the dual doors were only used from Bemmie into town because of the metrobus stops.
Having had the Streetlites that were quickly overloaded and then the tired and increasingly unreliable B9s, these should be a welcome improvement as is the marketing. Of course, there are plenty of stops along the Upper Bristol Road, through Saltford, and then down Bath Road where dual doors may be an issue (and that's without the 39 via Keynsham). Certainly will transform the route.I reckon they are now used on the Bath corridor is they are indeed a massive upgrade on the B9s and to save them having to order more new buses.
Don't disagree with that. The former Plymouth 33411-9 have been good buses and were lightly used (relatively) in their early years but they are showing the strain now. The ex London/Leicester ones aren't much newer and they're quite gloomy. Perhaps some of the 2015/6 e400mmcs might head there eventually?Personally, I think the excel network is due an upgrade as most of the excel E400s are older than the B7s, are not native to the area and have been used all over the place particularly the 335**s (which are horrible) and are getting on a bit and some are struggling. The only E400s brand new to the area are 33825-30 which were delivered new to Weston.