Most Hated Bus

[Peter Mugridge]

Most hated bus

Anything operated by Buses Excertera.....

 

[RJ]

Mostly scrapped now but Plymouth Citybus had a few that really struggled up some of the steeper hills on many of the routes. The slow climb from the Lord Luis to Chaddlewood deserves a particular mention. Haven't been on one attempting church hill mind. Rare but a few also had the pleasure on the 5A when turning right from Holmwood Avenue up the steep bit of Goosewell Road.

The last route I saw them running is the 34 and 27 & 28s but think their days are numbered.

They turn up everywhere - when I moved from South London to Loughborough, a load of them turned up on the local routes to Leicester, replacing the Olympians . I wouldn't have thought such gutless buses would be much cop on hilly provincial routes down in Devon - they must have been going really cheap!

Dislike the MCV Evolution buses, mostly because lack of leg room, & a local bus company in my area Avon Buses allocate these to a route that takes 2 hours, & knees & other muscle joints start aching after 50 minutes, that you get so relieved when you get off, annoying thing is the route itself 22 Chester-West Kirby-Moreton is one of those underrated scenic routes in the area.

Can imagine that 2 hours on a Dart probably isn't most desirable - the ride quality isn't great. I've driven a few MCV Evolutions - but with a MAN chassis. I'd have thought they'd be more suited to provincial operations - smoother with an insane BHP rating. Although I liked them overall (second to none in terms of agility), the cab felt strange - the driver's seats were so high up that my line of sight wasn't far off being above the windscreen .

 

[61653 HTAFC]

of the buses that run in Huddersfield:
TLC Travel Solo SRs (they all have the extremely basic interior and God-awful rock hard seats)
Arriva Yorks Lowlanders (somewhat ugly IMO; from what ive seen, generally scabby)
Yorks Tiger's MCV Evolutions (generally horrid; the bell is basically a fire alarm sounder)
Streamline's ex Lothian Dart (woefully sluggish and somewhat unsuitable for the 370/1 routes Streamline operate)
certain First Hudds ALX400s (rock hard seats and some are somewhat rickety I find)

You mention the Tiger Evos, but from my experience no two are the same! Some have almost no legroom and rattle like Ledley King's knees, whereas others seem pretty solid and are quite comfortable.

 

[GusB]

Can imagine that 2 hours on a Dart probably isn't most desirable - the ride quality isn't great. I've driven a few MCV Evolutions - but with a MAN chassis. I'd have thought they'd be more suited to provincial operations - smoother with an insane BHP rating. Although I liked them overall (second to none in terms of agility), the cab felt strange - the driver's seats were so high up that my line of sight wasn't far off being above the windscreen .

The thought of two hours on a Dart fills me with horror. Stagecoach introduced Darts to my local route back in J-Reg days, and I've never forgiven them for it. I moan about the elderly E200s that still ply the same route, but they're still a massive improvement on what went before!

 

[Rich McLean]

They turn up everywhere - when I moved from South London to Loughborough, a load of them turned up on the local routes to Leicester, replacing the Olympians . I wouldn't have thought such gutless buses would be much cop on hilly provincial routes down in Devon - they must have been going really cheap!

They were cascaded from Go-ahead London with a mixture of DAF engined and Volvo engined examples so yes on that respect. They were admittedly 4 speed versions. According to the fleetlist there are still a few struggling on but a big cascade is due to happen following delivery of new E400 MMCs for the 21/21A. That should see the remaining ones gone.

 

[BestWestern]

Sh@gged ex-London Dart that topped out at 14mph on a busy main road up a hill comes to mind! Also the later Vario spec Merc minibuses, particularly with Plaxton bodywork, and particularly in automatic form. Awful combination of poor suspension and handling, nasty gearchanges and badly built, relentlessy rattling bodywork. They'd find every ripple in the road and send it straight up everyone's spines. You could feel the things slowly shaking themselves to bits as they shuddered along the highway, pitching and rolling like it was in a force 9 gale! The earlier 709s/811s etc with the previous Beaver bodies were much nicer to drive. Northern Counties Paladin on step entrance Darts (ex Manchester) had the most cramped cab I've ever sat in, seat jammed hard up against the rear partition with minimal legroom - if you were anything above averagely tall you'd have had to find yourself another bus!

Optare Solos tend to be unpopular, however I found them a pleasure to drive! I also much preferred the often criticised Marshall Capital bodywork on Darts to the supposedly superior Pointer 2.

 

[Statto]

It was Northern Counties that built the Paladin, i did dislike the short wheelbase Paladins First Manchester had them & allocated some the long then 10 Manchester-Warrington think it was one of those built on the Volvo B6 chassis.

 

[BestWestern]

It was Northern Counties that built the Paladin, i did dislike the short wheelbase Paladins First Manchester had them & allocated some the long then 10 Manchester-Warrington think it was one of those built on the Volvo B6 chassis.

Of course it was! Apologies, I don't know where I got East Lancs from!

 

[Statto]

On the other hand Northern Counties did build some of the best deckers, including Manchester standard Atlanteans & Fleetlines, plus the deckers from mid 80s to early 90s & Palatine I & II.

 

[175mph]

I don't have a particular type of business that I hate as such but know of some drivers who hate all low floor buses and wish we could go back to the 'good old days' of step entrance only buses.

 

[Dentonian]

Anything with moulded plastic bum perches instead of cushioned seats.

 

[MotCO]

Anything with no legroom. (I'm well over 6 ft, and find most seats have insufficient legroom. I found the Leyland Nationals in London good in this respect, and the old 'bread vans' terrible.)

 

[Non Multi]

All garbage: Wright Nimbus Renault S75 (bouncy castle ride), Volvo 7900 hybrids (irritatingly loud stop start), rattling Plaxton Pointer Darts, rattling Mk1 Optare Solos, rattling Wright Streetlites, anything fitted with thinly padded seats.

 

[dz888]

worst bus is the wright streetlite

 

[boeing737229]

defingely the Street****e, period.
Baseline spec Solo SR's come close second for me if they have those nasty cheap seats

 

[Bletchleyite]

Doubt there are many left now but the low floor Marshall bodied Dart is the epitome of cheap rubbish. Looks cheap, feels cheap. Nasty thing.

 

[goldisgood]

Streetlites. Had a ride on close to new London examples and was scared it was about to fall apart (17 and 67 plates on the 39 back in October).
Compare this to Arriva Wrexham's Enviro 400 City buses, which are quite honestly the best buses I have ever ridden, so much for my mum and gran to comment on how great the ride quality was.

 

[Jordan Adam]

I can't think of one East Lancs bus i'd regard as "not ugly".

Streetlites are god awful though...

Our 63194 is notorious with local spotters/enthusiasts for being the worst bus in Aberdeen.

It's sisters ain't any better either

 

[Bletchleyite]

Streetlites. Had a ride on close to new London examples and was scared it was about to fall apart (17 and 67 plates on the 39 back in October).
Compare this to Arriva Wrexham's Enviro 400 City buses, which are quite honestly the best buses I have ever ridden, so much for my mum and gran to comment on how great the ride quality was.

I don't think the small Streetlites are terrible; they aren't hugely dissimilar to Solos. The problem is that someone has tried to turn a minibus into a proper sized bus just by inserting a couple more bays, and it doesn't work.

 

[Surreyman]

The Streetlite. Just horrible, makes an E200MMC look & feel like a Rolls Royce.
Will be interesting to see whether Arriva/Go Ahead/First order any this year?
Some have been going into London, maybe down to quick build/availability.
I wonder if Wright now has to compete heavily on price in order to win orders?

 

[Statto]

Wrightbus have been a mixed bag over the years, the current stable from Ballymena are dreadful as well as ugly, yet the Endurance [especially on a Volvo B10B chassis which were beasts], & low floor stock of similar design plus Geminis were some of the best they've designed, on the other hand the Pathfinder 320s were dreadful, i don't dislike them but not too fussy on the Pulsars, & Eclipses of various names.

 

[SCH117X]

The first vehicles Rosso are getting under Transdev Blazefield are second hand Streetlights from Burnley which are being replaced by previously withdrawn Endurance B10BLEs!

 

[TheICTardis]

The pacer bus

 

[hexagon789]

The older style of single-deck bus First Glasgow use. Talk about shake, rattle and roll!

 

[AJW12]

• MPDs. Rattly, noisy and about as unreliable as they come.
• B7L / Wright Eclipse. The ones we have in York are down right dreadful. Ridiculously noisy and underpowered and the seats are hideous
• Some of the Volvo 7900s - the early ones in Edinburgh (13 plate) rattle like hell, rock hard seats and rather noisy when the diesel engine kicks in.
• Some B7TLs - it's hit and miss - but the older Lothian examples are very sluggish

 

[hexagon789]

Also, I would like to add, any bus on rails! Basically Classes 140-144.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

• MPDs. Rattly, noisy and about as unreliable as they come.
• B7L / Wright Eclipse. The ones we have in York are down right dreadful. Ridiculously noisy and underpowered and the seats are hideous
• Some of the Volvo 7900s - the early ones in Edinburgh (13 plate) rattle like hell, rock hard seats and rather noisy when the diesel engine kicks in.
• Some B7TLs - it's hit and miss - but the older Lothian examples are very sluggish

B7Ls can be absolute flying machines and not underpowered. I'd imagine after 16 years of abuse that they're knackered. I'd agree about the seats though.

Same issue with B7TLs though always depends on the drivetrain spec and set up.

For those Streetlite haters, some of the issues are down to incorrect set up so the gearboxes need to be remapped. Had a few ones recently in the West for First and they seem to be ok now (i.e. not forever changing up and down).

I do find it moderately amusing that Streetlites draw such ire. This from someone who was raised on a diet of Bristol LHs and Mk 1 Nationals..... You don't know you're born

 

[J-2739]

Good to see this thread still going on strong

 

[90019]

• Some B7TLs - it's hit and miss - but the older Lothian examples are very sluggish

Depends which one you're on.
The ones which have had the turbo and/or intercooler reconditioned/replaced are generally pretty good.

I'd much rather have any B7TL than one of the 11 plate B9TLs, which have excellent engines but are strangled by the gearbox for emissions regulations, so are fairly gutless because they change up just as you get into the power band and tend to struggle on hills.

 

[Bungle965]

Depends which one you're on.
The ones which have had the turbo and/or intercooler reconditioned/replaced are generally pretty good.

I'd much rather have any B7TL than one of the 11 plate B9TLs, which have excellent engines but are strangled by the gearbox for emissions regulations, so are fairly gutless because they change up just as you get into the power band and tend to struggle on hills.

No option to hold gears I imagine either.
Sam