Oldest buses in service

SpeedbirdA350 · 8 Jul 2019

What are the oldest buses you have seen still in current service? I am not talking about special runs or school runs but actual in service.

Lothian have 04 B7RLEs but I am sure there are many out there running much older buses than this.

There was a topic on this back in 2014 but it's locked and it's now 5 years later.

RailUK Forums

90sWereBetter · 8 Jul 2019

Oldest with First Eastern Counties are about 12 W-reg B7TLs with ALX400 bodies which are looking extremely tired but still see daily service on Yarmouth and Lowestoft routes. Most of them won't make it to 2020 though. Various cascades are planned once the new Excel fleet enters service which'll see most of them off.

GaryMcEwan · 8 Jul 2019

SpeedbirdA350 said:
What are the oldest buses you have seen still in current service? I am not talking about special runs or school runs but actual in service.

Lothian have 04 B7RLEs but I am sure there are many out there running much older buses than this.

There was a topic on this back in 2014 but it's locked and it's now 5 years later.

Stagecoach Perth still have 53 Plate ALX400 Tridents still in service. Still in good nick for vehicles that are approaching 16 years old.

6Gman · 8 Jul 2019

Doesn't match the W-reg First buses upthread, but Arriva Midlands 4803 - new in May 2001 - was still in use in Oswestry a few weeks ago.

Bus Lightyear · 8 Jul 2019

There could be at least one Y---RTD Volvo B10BLEs running out of First Dumbarton Depot. Probably some running in Aberdeen of the same age.

cnjb8 · 8 Jul 2019

Littles Travel operate V/W/51 plate Solo's on services around Matlock.

Hophead · 8 Jul 2019

Is TfL's 15H a "special run"? Runs Weekends & Holidays March - October. The Routemasters used are around 60 years old (well, most of the vehicle dates back to the 1950s).

Bus Lightyear · 8 Jul 2019

Buses don't last as long these days especially with the big groups.

The last of the huge fleet of Glasgow Atlanteans were finally withdrawn in 1999. There was also an X-reg Ailsa which came off in 2005 making it 24 years old.

Lots of Y-type Leopards lasted well into the 90s with Clydeside, Kelvin Central and Midland Bluebird.

Jordan Adam · 8 Jul 2019

First Aberdeen's B10BLE 62149 X621NSS is numerically the oldest in their fleet.
Stagecoach North Scotland have P569MSX in service at Aviemore until June 2018.

In terms of historically, some of Grampian's A reg Olympian's lasted not far off 30 years.

The now defunct company ScotBus based up in the Highlands had some Atlantean's until around 2012/13.

507021 · 8 Jul 2019

Arriva North West still has a few DAF DB250s and one Volvo B7TL which are 51-reg.

Arriva Buses Wales has two Y-reg DAF DB250s at Chester.

Busaholic · 8 Jul 2019

Legislation is not the friend of old buses in regular service, is it? The oldest of the low floor buses have now all but disappeared, particularly the single deckers, and I have serious doubts as to the projected longevity of most of the hybrid/electric vehicles in service given the cost of battery replacement.

Jordan Adam · 8 Jul 2019

Busaholic said:
Legislation is not the friend of old buses in regular service, is it? The oldest of the low floor buses have now all but disappeared, particularly the single deckers, and I have serious doubts as to the projected longevity of most of the hybrid/electric vehicles in service given the cost of battery replacement.

It was PSVAR that killed off many low floors. Now i suspect it'll be LEZ, however that'll have a lesser impact on the whole.

Andyh82 · 8 Jul 2019

First West Yorks have W/Y/51 plate ALX400s and Wright eclipses

Transdev have lots of Y reg vehicles - presidents and renown’s.

TheGrandWazoo · 8 Jul 2019

90sWereBetter said:
Oldest with First Eastern Counties are about 12 W-reg B7TLs with ALX400 bodies which are looking extremely tired but still see daily service on Yarmouth and Lowestoft routes. Most of them won't make it to 2020 though. Various cascades are planned once the new Excel fleet enters service which'll see most of them off.

First West of England also have a number of 2000 vintage W reg B7TL/ALX400 and even grabbed some more that were due for disposal from First Kernow.

bussnapperwm · 8 Jul 2019

NX still have a few Y×××TOH in service, including one in Travel West Midlands "Low Floor" Heritage livery (WA4125)

Andyh82 said:
Transdev have lots of Y reg vehicles - presidents and renown’s.

Haven't they still got the ex NXWM Presidents?

DunsBus · 8 Jul 2019

I saw an 07-plate Solo (12 years old) in use today with Borders Buses in Berwick.

alangla · 8 Jul 2019

Bus Lightyear said:
There could be at least one Y---RTD Volvo B10BLEs running out of First Dumbarton Depot. Probably some running in Aberdeen of the same age.

Saw one of these on the M8 tonight so definitely still about. Struggling to think of any independent operators running anything that old, pretty much everything is on a new style reg nowadays.

LukeCymru · 8 Jul 2019

Stagecoach Wales have a 51 plate running around alongside a 53 plate and two 04 plate Solos.

woodhouse122 · 8 Jul 2019

First south yorkshire have a large selection of accient buses including R reg B10bles and 02 plate eclipse single deckers

Flange Squeal · 8 Jul 2019

Among their fleet of Optare Tempos, Versas and Metrocities, Safeguard Coaches of Guildford still have a pair of X-reg (2000) Optare Excels - X307/8 CBT. These were acquired at just a year old, have received DDA mods (and even some mod-cons such as Wi-Fi fitted!), and continue to work on town circulars 4/5 like they have for the last 18 years! They also have an 03-plate that was new to them.

Wessexbuses · 8 Jul 2019

Oldest buses in Weymouth with first are 3 Volvo B7tl alx400s. W801/3/6 EOW

alex397 · 8 Jul 2019

In Kent, there isn't a huge amount of 'old' stuff on the roads, apart from some of the small coach operators.

Go-Ahead owned Metrobus still allocate a 2003 Dart to the 231/232 service in west Kent (at least they did a few months ago), which is surprising considering their generally very modern fleet.

Regent Coaches, who generally operate a fleet of relatively modern Enviro200s and StreetLites, also have a spare X-reg Dart MPD (ex-Go North East), but this seems to see fairly regular service. Recently it has been on their route 36 (Margate-Herne Bay), which includes a long fast run down a dual carriageway, and I saw it on this route when it was almost 30 degrees - that run must have put it through its paces!
It was also recently on their Sunday route 5, the only public bus they run on Sundays, so i'm going to presume one of their drivers is a fan

Alex 2901 · 8 Jul 2019

Oldest vehicle in the West Midlands would have to be Travel Express's T580 JTD (new in 1998, so 21 years old) and still in daily use, even being used on Sundays occasionally.

Other than that, the oldest vehicles would be either Bangas V reg Solos (V253 JRR, V258 DRB, V261-264 DRC, if any are still left in use) or Travel Express's ragtag collection of X (X312 KRX, X703 UKS) and Y (Y184 KNB, Y244/8/252 FJN, Y854/64 TGH) reg Darts.

Eyersey468 · 8 Jul 2019

The company I drive for still has a W reg Plaxton bodied Volvo B7TL in service although all the remaining Presidents are meant to be going over the next 18 months.

christopher · 8 Jul 2019

Would the Epping Ongar Railways 339 service count as a special run even though its a registered service? If so it must be the winner using RTs and RMs

TheGrandWazoo · 9 Jul 2019

Wessexbuses said:
Oldest buses in Weymouth with first are 3 Volvo B7tl alx400s. W801/3/6 EOW

Think the OP was referring to special runs and so open toppers would be excluded.

MrTurbostar170 · 9 Jul 2019

Some of the open toppers in Skegness are now 20 years old.

Beemax · 9 Jul 2019

Reading has a V reg open top Trident which is regularly used on the cross-town 17 service in summer (including yesterday)

jp4712 · 9 Jul 2019

Confidence of Leicester has a menagerie of older vehicles in daily use - I think their current oldest is B187BLG, an Olympian new to Crosville in December 1984. Their fleet list is at https://www.confidencebus.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/fleet-list-2019.pdf

F262YTJ · 9 Jul 2019

Even older bus 46 UWW8X new to West Yorkshire PTE in is still showing as in service. Bet there aren't many more Roe bodied buses remaining in service in 2019!

Oldest buses in service

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