Lowest capacity service bus?

[scosutsut]

Here's the challenge - the lowest seated capacity vehicle capable of "normal service" on a publicly accessible route. Can be modern day or historic.

I'm going to define the qualifying criteria as:
* Proper fitted destination blind/display
* Power door(s)
* Ticket machine fitted

Question prompted by stumbling across this 12 seater conversion by Strathclyde that I'd never seen before:

Strathclyde Buses

Strathclyde Buses can trace its roots back to the tram services provided by Glasgow Corporation, which started running buses in 1924 as a more cost-effective way of reaching the new, large council housing schemes on the outskirts of the city. Operating within the city of Glasgow and to locations...

books.google.co.uk

 

[route101]

Wee marshall darts that First Glasgow used to have didnt have many seats , mostly standing space

 

[Bletchleyite]

Merseytravel for a bit operated some electric buses (lead acid batteries - near enough a converted milk float) which seated either 6 or 8, I forget. Of course that is not legally a bus at all, but rather a class B or C1 vehicle depending on weight - which means if it was over 3500kg you'd need a van driver, not a bus driver, to drive it!

 

[RHolmes]

Merseytravel for a bit operated some electric buses (lead acid batteries - near enough a converted milk float) which seated either 6 or 8, I forget. Of course that is not legally a bus at all, but rather a class B or C1 vehicle depending on weight - which means if it was over 3500kg you'd need a van driver, not a bus driver, to drive it!

They original 1998 batch of Technobus Gulivers had 9 seats but they didn’t have a ticket machine so can’t be counted here

 

[Eyersey468]

The Transit minibuses that were bought by the National Bus Company in 1985/6 were 16 seaters.

 

[co-tr-paul]

Techno bus 8 seaters for Bristol Cityline late 90s. LHD, electric.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Techno bus 8 seaters for Bristol Cityline late 90s. LHD, electric.

That's them:

Technobus in Merseytravel livery - not my photo

 

[delt1c]

That's them:

Technobus in Merseytravel livery - not my photo

On one my visits to Italy, think it was Bologna but could be wrong they had a fleet of buses slightly smaller than these (2 axle) but what shocked me most they were 2 doors so very little room for seats.

 

[randyrippley]

As far as I can remember Lancaster City Transport in the 1980s had a nine seater Ford Transit which was normally used as a crew shuttle / schoolbus but did go out on stage a few times with a hand-held ticket machine when they were short of minibuses

==edit==
thinking about it, it may have been a Sherpa. Everything else in the fleet came from Leyland...

 

[jammy36]

Truronian had three of these Volkswagen van-based Devon Conversions minibuses, which if I recall had around 10 high-backed (including some longitudinal) seats. They were used in regular service. They were new to Plymouth Citybus, but I'm not sure if they were used in service there.

... and at t' other end of the scale...

.... from the massive bulk of the 'Mancunian' 'decker, was this little motor in the opposite corner of the Truronian yard. I've never really had any interest at all in minibuses, but C918 DFJ was trying hard to look like the real thing with it's over-scale destination indicator. I don't know...

www.flickr.com

 

[CraigLockhart]

I remember the Seddon midibuses that Edinburgh transport had in the 70s. They used to run on the 60 round dumbiedykes. Think they were 25 seats

 

[AM9]

One of the most 'exhilarating' journeys on a bus that I've experienced was on the 481 Polperro to Polraun about 5 years ago. I can't remember what it was but it wasn't much bigger than a transit. The drop into Polraun was a bit white knuckle.

 

[overthewater]

What was the point in two door mini buses?

Stagecoach 332 M191HTT

Stagecoach Devon 332 M191HTT at Paris Street Bus Station in Exeter on 12th October 2002. F46-09

flic.kr

DevonGeneral-1027-M630HDV-Exeter-191194a

Devon General no 1027 (M630 HDV) Iveco 59.12 / Wadham Stringer Exeter coach station 19th November 1994

flic.kr

Look inside:

Walker Group, Barrhead - M193HTT - UK-Independents20060962

Iveco 59:12 - Wadham Stringer Walker Group, Barrhead

flic.kr

Converted to single door

46331, Newton Abbot, June 2003

Explore aecregent's 50773 photos on Flickr!

flic.kr

 

[MotCO]

What was the seating capacity of Optare Aleros?

 

[RHolmes]

What was the seating capacity of Optare Aleros?

12 to 13 seats

 

[SCH117X]

What was the point in two door mini buses?

Bus station / stands set out for two door vehicles? Does seem slightly barking.

 

[Tetchytyke]

What was the seating capacity of Optare Aleros?

I was going to suggest the Optare Alero too.

Some of the Dormobile Sherpas Yorkshire Rider had can't have been much bigger.

 

[GusB]

What was the point in two door mini buses?

Stagecoach 332 M191HTT

Stagecoach Devon 332 M191HTT at Paris Street Bus Station in Exeter on 12th October 2002. F46-09

flic.kr

DevonGeneral-1027-M630HDV-Exeter-191194a

Devon General no 1027 (M630 HDV) Iveco 59.12 / Wadham Stringer Exeter coach station 19th November 1994

flic.kr

Look inside:

Walker Group, Barrhead - M193HTT - UK-Independents20060962

Iveco 59:12 - Wadham Stringer Walker Group, Barrhead

flic.kr

Converted to single door

46331, Newton Abbot, June 2003

Explore aecregent's 50773 photos on Flickr!

flic.kr

Same purpose as dual-door big buses, I suppose - to speed up boarding and alighting in town/city centres.

 

[PG]

What was the point in two door mini buses?

I believe that they were the brainchild of the late Harry Blundred who was responsible for the minibus boom in the mid eighties. Some interesting reading on Harry in this article. (Apologies for not quoting as it's too long)

As @GusB has mentioned IIRC it was to speed up time spent stationary which Harry realised wasn't profitable.

As an aside it seems from the photo captions that a dual door minibus only cost 2 seats capacity wise so I guess it wasn't that big a deal bar it made them look odd!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Bus station / stands set out for two door vehicles? Does seem slightly barking.

Agreed. German ones do though as I mentioned on another thread recently, I believe it's a legal requirement there.

 

[awsnews]

I would have suggested something used on the old Post Bus network but they don't quite meet the criteria.

 

[W-on-Sea]

Into Italy: These small electric buses, which serve the narrow streets of the historic centre of Rome, have the grand total of eight seats

Mini electric buses back in Rome | electrive.com

www.electrive.com

 

[alangla]

For current vehicles this is pushing it a bit, but NCP have some Sprinters at Edinburgh airport with destination screens, power doors and very few seats due to the large luggage racks. Don’t have ticket machines as far as I’m aware though. In terms of things that do, the various accessible Sprinter conversions operated by McGills and others must be pretty small. The Ducatos before them had 2+1 seats IIRC.

 

[Flange Squeal]

Carlone Buses operate a trio of EVM-bodied Mercedes-Benz Sprinters on normal public stage carriage services. All are fully PSVAR compliant with front entrance rather than rear wheelchair lift, and the smallest is 16 seats + 9 standees. Some photos can be found at https://www.carlonelimited.co.uk/442

Bread van? You decide

• Entry height 27 cm
• 120 cm door rapid sliding with main door wheelchair access in seconds
• 16 seats most fitted with three point seat belts + 9 standees
• Air conditioning front and rear
• Heating front and rear
• Double glazed windows
• USB charging ports
• Full size destination equipment
• Low floor section seating 6 passengers
• Luggage space
• Stop buttons
• Assistance call buttons inside and out

We must thank Heathrow Airport and Surrey County Council for giving us the opportunity to run this route. Since we began in December 2016 we have seen three brand new vehicles enter service and a huge growth in passenger numbers, our 442 & x442 fleet consists of three EVM Low floor Mercedes-Benz Sprinters all three are Euro 6 and conform to DDA compliance just the same as a "Big Bus".

There are a few differences though we get 24 mpg and have a considerably lower impact on the Environment not just with emissions, noise pollution and road wear which are all huge factors, we can also nip through residential and narrow roads without fuss or causing congestion or nuisance and all without compromise on specification, we are also able to provide services where other vehicles just cannot access safely and this can be accomplished at a lower overall cost.

So should all bus routes have small buses? Of course not but we have proved they have a place and in many cases could well be the best option.

 

[LiviCrazy]

What about the Bluebird Tucana? Have seen those driving about Glasgow.

SPT Bus

 

[_toommm_]

The Enviro 200 Darts didn’t have many seats, especially the 8.9m??? version. I remember being thoroughly unimpressed by them when states Travel had them in Barnsley on the Stocksbridge buses.

 

[RHolmes]

The Enviro 200 Darts didn’t have many seats, especially the 8.9m??? version. I remember being thoroughly unimpressed by them when states Travel had them in Barnsley on the Stocksbridge buses.

They have 29 as standard, Same as the earlier MPD

 

[PG]

The Enviro 200 Darts didn’t have many seats, especially the 8.9m??? version. I remember being thoroughly unimpressed by them when states Travel had them in Barnsley on the Stocksbridge buses.

This problem (lack of seats) is the essence of a modern DDA compliant bus - wheelchair user has to be able to get in the entrance, past the front axle (except for the likes of a Solo), have a space to park in and be able to manoeuvre into that space. This removes a good few seats compared to a pre DDA spec bus of equivalent length.

I'll admit bias here (my avatar pic kind of gives it away) but the Leyland National was (originally) 11.3m of which 1.2m was the front door. So for a fraction over 10m it had 52 seats (plus another 20 odd standees), I reckon a low floor DDA version would only have managed about 37 seats.

 

[RustySpoons]

'sgi', I believe they were a community bus operator in and around Leeds/Huddersfield. I seem to remember they had a few Wright Crusader Dennis Darts but with most of the seats removed to comply with the regulations at the time which stated community operators couldn't operate vehicles with more than 16 seats.... or something along those lines!

 

[co-tr-paul]

The Bristol Cityline 8 seat Technobuses. Borrowed shot but think I'm driving it !