Reading orders Optare MetroDeckers
As reported on other threads, Reading Transport has ordered 5 Optare Metrodeckers for Green Line route 702 (and 703?). http://www.route-one.net/articles/Contract_win/The_wait_is_over__Optare_wins_debut_order_for_Metrodecker Whilst I am glad that an order has at last been won, what I am...
www.railforums.co.uk
This thread has sparked a fair bit of debate, and I wanted to divert focus away from Reading's orders and ask whether or not we feel that Optare has any real kind of future.
My first encounter with any Optare vehicle was when a Delta demonstrator did the rounds in the late 1980s. Compared to what was on the road at the time, it looked very modern. It was only a couple of years later that the Vecta and Spectra came along, each built on a different manufacturers' platform. When the Solo came along, I thought it was a good product and was delighted that I no longer had to put up with rattly Mercs, but the evening bus services came to an end soon afterwards.
At what point do you think they went wrong? Was it when they decided to go all integral and move away from the "body-on-underframe/chassis" model which they seemed to do quite well for a time?