What do you think are the ugliest buses ever built?

cnjb8 · 31 Jul 2020

I've always thought the Alexander/Transbus/Alexander-Dennis ALX200/300/400 doesn't look modern.

FIRST GLASGOW MV36 P516VOS

P516VOS was a Volvo B6LE-53 / Alexander ALX200 B35F new as Kelvin Central Buses number MV36 in July 1997. It is shown in "Barbie 2" livery, with route branding for the 201 service as it passes through Motherwell.

www.flickr.com

Stagecoach East Midlands SF55 RKK - Hull Paragon Interchange

Stagecoach East Midlands Alexander Dennis ALX300 bodied MAN 18.220 SF55 RKK departs Hull Paragon Interchange with a service 3 for Orchard Park. 13/08/2017.

www.flickr.com

Arriva North West 4029 S269JUA at Wigan bus station

24 April 2013

www.flickr.com

RailUK Forums

TheGrandWazoo · 31 Jul 2020

cnjb8 said:
I've always thought the Alexander/Transbus/Alexander-Dennis ALX200/200/400 doesn't look modern.

FIRST GLASGOW MV36 P516VOS

P516VOS was a Volvo B6LE-53 / Alexander ALX200 B35F new as Kelvin Central Buses number MV36 in July 1997. It is shown in "Barbie 2" livery, with route branding for the 201 service as it passes through Motherwell.

www.flickr.com

Stagecoach East Midlands SF55 RKK - Hull Paragon Interchange

Stagecoach East Midlands Alexander Dennis ALX300 bodied MAN 18.220 SF55 RKK departs Hull Paragon Interchange with a service 3 for Orchard Park. 13/08/2017.

www.flickr.com

Arriva North West 4029 S269JUA at Wigan bus station

24 April 2013

www.flickr.com

I always quite liked the ALXs esp the 200 and 400.

The ALX100 never looked too comfortable but then again, it was on a Vario chassis so it wasn't!!

scosutsut · 31 Jul 2020

TheGrandWazoo said:
I always quite liked the ALXs esp the 200 and 400.

The ALX100 never looked too comfortable but then again, it was on a Vario chassis so it wasn't!!

Agreed, preferred them over the Pointer and President alternatives for sure.

TheGrandWazoo · 31 Jul 2020

scosutsut said:
Agreed, preferred them over the Pointer and President alternatives for sure.

I always liked the Pointer - think it's a true classic design.

As for the President..... thought it ok with bonded glazing but not great with the gasket

ClydeCoaster · 31 Jul 2020

East Lancs did build their fare share of horrors, the National Greenway, especially the early models, were a travesty to the originals.

The Northern Counties bodied Dodge S56s always looked awkward, especially next to the Rebur and Alexander bodied examples.

338 Cleveland Transit F338VEF Renault-Dodge S56 Northern Counties. Stockton 9.8.94

flic.kr

10 Rossendale Transport D901MDB Renault-Dodge S56 Northern Counties ex GM Buses. Rawtenstall 8.8.94

flic.kr

The Pope-mobile like CVE Omni was an oddball

CVE Omni demonstrator, 1990

CVE Omni G645EVN was loaned to West Midlands Travel for demonstration purposes. The vehicle was never taken into stock, nor were there any purchases of the type by the company. The picture was take outside WMT's headquarters in Summer Lane, Birmingham on 31st July 1990.

flic.kr

Marshall-bodied Ailsas were never lookers

Untitled

Marshall didnt body too many double deckers and this combination with an Ailsa chassis was possibly unique to Strathclyde. Glasgow, August 1993

flic.kr

And I’ll second the Irish Bombardier/GAC monstrosities also!

hst43102 · 31 Jul 2020

Not a British bus but these things are very ugly...

Yutong ZK6125BEVGS (E12DD) | Land Transport Guru

landtransportguru.net

Ipswich's Dennis Falcons with East Lancs were also ugly, and had a very outdated design too.

Ipswich 103

Ipswich Buses 103 YDX103Y "Goshawk" Dennis Falcon; East Lancs New to Ipswich, March 1983 Ipswich, Tower Ramparts 21 April 1987

www.flickr.com

The Dennis Domino...

Motts Travel C52HDT

Optare bodied Dennis Domino C52 HDT had been new to South Yorkshire Transport and was later operated by Motts of Aylesbury. It is seen at their Stoke Mandeville premises. Scanned from an acquired, un-copyrighted print.

www.flickr.com

And then the ugliest bus of all time in my opinion - the Tecnobus Gulliver/Pantheon.

Eco friendly battery power

In the late 1990s Merseytravel introduced a free circular route around Birkenhead town centre operated by First Crosville using a fleet of 6 battery powered Tecnobus Gulliver U500EUKs, with a maximum capacity of 9. The Italian built buses were part funded by the European Unions JUPITER2 project...

www.flickr.com

JamesC357 · 31 Jul 2020

Has to be the Wright Streetdeck for me

Statto · 31 Jul 2020

JamesC357 said:
Has to be the Wright Streetdeck for me

Agreed, considering the Gemini that went before are nice buses, i loath the small windows on the Streetdeck, makes me feel claustrophobic when i'm on them

randyrippley · 31 Jul 2020

The two Jensens used by Hutchings & Cornelius in Somerset
They had a couple of older buses that were worse, locally rebodied post-war by parent company Vincents of Yeovil

see http://www.old-bus-photos.co.uk/?tag=jensen
and https://www.flickr.com/photos/jennyoverall/3196921287

scosutsut · 31 Jul 2020

Joel_F said:
Ipswich's Dennis Falcons with East Lancs were also ugly, and had a very outdated design too.

Ipswich 103

Ipswich Buses 103 YDX103Y "Goshawk" Dennis Falcon; East Lancs New to Ipswich, March 1983 Ipswich, Tower Ramparts 21 April 1987

www.flickr.com

My eyes. All that glazing! Mismatched doors! I think it's fair to say that if there was a Specsavers award for Ugly East Lancs would win it by a country mile, so many stinkers!!

hst43102 · 31 Jul 2020

scosutsut said:
My eyes. All that glazing! Mismatched doors! I think it's fair to say that if there was a Specsavers award for Ugly East Lancs would win it by a country mile, so many stinkers!!

The later batch of Ipswich Falcons with Northern Counties bodywork were a significant improvement in the design area - but still hardly good looking!

Ipswich comes to Northampton ( via Leicester ) .

629 C109SDX a not common Dennis Falcon HC , with a Northern Counties Dual Door body was new to Ipswich Borough Transport ( 109 ) in 1986 . By 1997 it had migrated west to Leicester , and was caught here working on Route 86 in Northampton . The Driver and photographer of this Bus may care to...

www.flickr.com

DunsBus · 31 Jul 2020

How about this from the East Lancs Hall of Shame. Absolutely horrendous!

Barrow 86 D457 BEO Depot 25/2/89

Barrow BT Dodge Minibus / East Lancs 86 (D457 BEO). Depot 25/2/89 BKP

flic.kr

And the one-off Iveco TurboCity 100 with Alexander R-type body. Equally urgh.

Filers of Ilfracombe J227 OKX Iveco Turbocity 100 480.12.21 Alexander RH ex Iveco-Ford demonstrator. Bideford 14.4.95

Explore TCD481J's 110965 photos on Flickr!

flic.kr

RustySpoons · 31 Jul 2020

DunsBus said:
How about this from the East Lancs Hall of Shame. Absolutely horrendous!

Barrow 86 D457 BEO Depot 25/2/89

Barrow BT Dodge Minibus / East Lancs 86 (D457 BEO). Depot 25/2/89 BKP

flic.kr

It doesn't help that the livery makes it look like the front end is falling in on itself.

mlambeuk · 31 Jul 2020

The transit van derivatives that were used during the mid to late 80's

Westcountryman · 31 Jul 2020

London LS (London Six,1927). Also the London CC, particularly the prototype in 1930. This has been described as 'supremely ugly'.

83G/84D · 31 Jul 2020

Statto said:
I quite liked the Northern Counties bodys

So do I but the rest on the page are truly awful.

83G/84D · 31 Jul 2020

TheGrandWazoo said:
I always liked the Pointer - think it's a true classic design.

As for the President..... thought it ok with bonded glazing but not great with the gasket

No criticism of the Pointer from me, I think in some of the images shown the colour schemes don't show off the bus in a positive light either.

scosutsut · 31 Jul 2020

Don't get me wrong, I didn't dislike the pointer, I just preferred the rarer Dash and subsequent ALX200s.

The President I had no time for whatsoever though, probably didn't help it's case that the ones I encountered were either owned by First (so wrecks) and/or were Tridents so I had two reasons to dislike them!

pdq · 31 Jul 2020

This might be a one-off but how about https://www.flickr.com/photos/37531500@N02/4365041829/in/photolist-7DHYRT-7QMvQb from Silcox Coaches (now extinct)

Jordan Adam · 31 Jul 2020

pdq said:
This might be a one-off but how about https://www.flickr.com/photos/37531500@N02/4365041829/in/photolist-7DHYRT-7QMvQb from Silcox Coaches (now extinct)
View attachment 81588

That's not ugly, there's nothing there to critique. :lol:

alex397 · 31 Jul 2020

cnjb8 said:
I've always thought the Alexander/Transbus/Alexander-Dennis ALX200/200/400 doesn't look modern.

FIRST GLASGOW MV36 P516VOS

P516VOS was a Volvo B6LE-53 / Alexander ALX200 B35F new as Kelvin Central Buses number MV36 in July 1997. It is shown in "Barbie 2" livery, with route branding for the 201 service as it passes through Motherwell.

www.flickr.com

Stagecoach East Midlands SF55 RKK - Hull Paragon Interchange

Stagecoach East Midlands Alexander Dennis ALX300 bodied MAN 18.220 SF55 RKK departs Hull Paragon Interchange with a service 3 for Orchard Park. 13/08/2017.

www.flickr.com

Arriva North West 4029 S269JUA at Wigan bus station

24 April 2013

www.flickr.com

The ALX range has to be one of my favourite modern bus designs, and still looks good now even though the design seems to be from about 1996 (There were some P-reg ALX200s delivered to Grey Green, which became Arriva London).

Not exactly ugly, but I always thought the original Enviro range looked rather cheap. But the MMC range has really improved that I think.

I definitely agree with most on this thread. Especially from some of the 80s/90s East Lancs range, many of them looking like a child's drawing of a bus. I'm glad things have moved on from such terrible designs. I think East Lancs did better in the low-floor era though, with some good designs - seems odd they ended up with their bodied vehicles in continental Europe.

With modern vehicles, I think things have improved a lot, but the Streetdeck is truly ugly. A huge contrast to the original Gemini design, which has worked really well, and still looks good but becoming rare.

37114 · 31 Jul 2020

The MAN/ East Lancs double decker that Reading had in 2008 was pretty ugly, not helped by being 4m high.

Tetchytyke · 31 Jul 2020

It's all so subjective, which is the fun. I liked the Designline Olymbus and quite liked the Flyte/Spryte.

Leaving aside the Irish Bombardiers, which win all ugly awards, I nominate:

The original Enviro300:

GX08AUT

The original Enviro 300 was never a great seller, but West Coast Motors bought a pair of old stock examples one of which is seen here on service in Oban.

www.flickr.com

The Wright Handybus:

Bouncy bus

A interesting little bus this originally operated in the Red Bus fleet as Devon Accessible Rural Transport (DART) Livery for Devon County Council services. Pictured here in Ilfracombe bus station this was in its final years with First, the Wright Handybus I found to be typically a bit of a jumpy...

www.flickr.com

The Leyland Lynx (with and without Go North East's "facelift"!)

4857 D340 LSD Go Wear Buses

Leyland Lynx MK1 is seen here at Sunderland Park Lane Interchange on service 161 to Low Moorsley.

www.flickr.com

Go Wear Buses 4728 (F728LRG) - 13-11-98

Leyland Lynx 4728 (F728LRG), pictured picking up passengers in Derwent Street, Sunderland on 13th November 1998. Photo Courtesy & Copyright John Barclay

www.flickr.com

And the East Lancs E type:

Arriva North East: 7425 M689HPF Volvo Olympian/East Lancs

Arriva Durham County's Volvo Olympian/East Lancs 7425 M689HPF is pictured on Newgate Street, Bishop Auckland, on a Service 8A, during 2007.

www.flickr.com

Jordan Adam · 31 Jul 2020

Tetchytyke said:
The original Enviro300:

GX08AUT

The original Enviro 300 was never a great seller, but West Coast Motors bought a pair of old stock examples one of which is seen here on service in Oban.

www.flickr.com

I don't mind the original E300, some of them, specifically the facelift examples can look quite good.

Ex Compass Bus

A year ago, I took Compass Bus Enviro 300 MX05 OTC for a test drive on behalf of an operator friend. It seems rather strange to see the same bus in Stirling yesterday, 3rd October, 2019, now a member of the First Midland Bluebird fleet.

www.flickr.com

DunsBus · 31 Jul 2020

Not built, but converted. Strathclyde's rebuilt Ailsa AS2 (MGE185P), cut down from AV10 after a bridge strike. It infamously became the subject of debate about its legality after Black Prince bought it from Strathclyde in 1994, which led to its withdrawal. In later years it developed a droop at the front due to the absence of the upper deck.

Strathclyde Volvo B55 AS2 MGE185P in 1985 - Jun - Geoffrey Morant

thetransportlibrary.co.uk

D2007wsm · 31 Jul 2020

PaulMc7 said:
I don't know why but there's just something about the Alexander Dennis E400s I just don't like at all. Don't know if the low height aspect of them plays a part in that though. I'm only 5 ft 10 and can't stand up fully upstairs on one without cracking my head off of the ceiling of 1. I'm also only 26 so I feel like all of my memories of buses and their designs are fairly limited. Only really learned to pay attention to bus types on here last year

It must be a low height version you travel on as I am 6ft and can standup fine on both decks on a standard height E400

PaulMc7 · 31 Jul 2020

D2007wsm said:
It must be a low height version you travel on as I am 6ft and can standup fine on both decks on a standard height E400

Yeah the ones we have in Glasgow are low height for First's 6 due to a low bridge at Busby. It's just unfortunate that the 6 is one of my local routes

Bletchleyite · 1 Aug 2020

The Marshall bodied Dart must surely win some sort of booby prize for looking cheap and nasty and being cheap and nasty.

e.g.:

X735HLF

First Essex 41735 - Marshall bodied Dart SLF, new to First Capital, and now seeing out its last days from Hadleigh Depot.

www.flickr.com

...looking particularly awful in that livery.

GusB · 1 Aug 2020

pdq said:
This might be a one-off but how about https://www.flickr.com/photos/37531500@N02/4365041829/in/photolist-7DHYRT-7QMvQb from Silcox Coaches (now extinct)
View attachment 81588

That looks like a MOD job to me, in which case it wouldn't have been a one-off. It does look like this example has had a bit of rebuilding around the front panel, though.

JamesC357 · 1 Aug 2020

Bletchleyite said:
The Marshall bodied Dart must surely win some sort of booby prize for looking cheap and nasty and being cheap and nasty.

e.g.:

X735HLF

First Essex 41735 - Marshall bodied Dart SLF, new to First Capital, and now seeing out its last days from Hadleigh Depot.

www.flickr.com

...looking particularly awful in that livery.

I don’t think they’re particularly bad looking, but you’re right about them being cheap and nasty. Pretty much every panel rattled like crazy, and the seats had virtually no padding. I travelled on this very vehicle in the picture many times, as well as others from the batch and it was never a comfortable experience. I wasn’t sad to see the back of them when they left.

What do you think are the ugliest buses ever built?

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