Drivers - Bus Reviews & Opinions

[2900]

4109 Plaxton President

recent transfer to West Brom. took it out this morning on the 5. all i can say is.....

WHAT A BUS! nice and quick, absloutly flew up the Newton Road. very comfortable cab seat with an old ALX 400 wheel instead of a massive one.
The only problem is it looks a bit old and tatty bodywork wise.

@2900 you will love this bus. keep an eye out for it.

Totally agree, I would gladly buy this for my collection if I had space no problem, exceptional bus to drive, chassis is very tight no slack any where, love the whistle from the turbo adds character, getting to 30 mph no effort at all, pulls very hard up hills, great to have the power, from the cab it still has the correct small steering wheel which makes a lot of difference to the driving experience, decent drivers seat too a lot of movement to get comfortable, most of the cab still in decent condition making it a nice place to be.

Engine: pulls hard plenty of power revs willingly, sounds in good shape
Gearbox: in great shape no clonking of gears all smooth
Retarder: all good nicely balanced no drama
Suspension: great ride quality sadly lacking in modern buses
Body : pretty quite considering its age quite easily embrass some of these new buses only creaking on very bad roads.
17 years old and going strong somebody will get a bargain with this one when the time comes to move on.
Could some one photo shop this into Crimson or platinum livery I think it would look great.

[B.C Driver]

Totally agree, I would gladly buy this for my collection if I had space no problem, exceptional bus to drive, chassis is very tight no slack any where, love the whistle from the turbo adds character, getting to 30 mph no effort at all, pulls very hard up hills, great to have the power, from the cab it still has the correct small steering wheel which makes a lot of difference to the driving experience, decent drivers seat too a lot of movement to get comfortable, most of the cab still in decent condition making it a nice place to be.

Engine: pulls hard plenty of power revs willingly, sounds in good shape
Gearbox: in great shape no clonking of gears all smooth
Retarder: all good nicely balanced no drama
Suspension: great ride quality sadly lacking in modern buses
Body : pretty quite considering its age quite easily embrass some of these new buses only creaking on very bad roads.
17 years old and going strong somebody will get a bargain with this one when the time comes to move on.
Could some one photo shop this into Crimson or platinum livery I think it would look great.

Was always a good un even when it was at BC

[MW]

4508, probably a boring bus to an enthusiast nothing to pick up on, from drivers point of view great bus to drive excellent chassis engine/ box smooth picks speed nicely , excellent brakes, so is the suspension , takes corners well, buses like this helps to make light work of crap dutys. Feels as though the bus is doing the work not you many Alexander's b7s leave you feeling infuriated, Body refurbed still in good condition , interior grey cushions, not much rattling either. 8/10

Was just reading through this thread. This review is very accurate of 4508. It doesn't feel like a chore to drive.

[John]

Had my first spin in an ex Coventry Gemini yesterday, 4687 on a School and 907 afternoon board. Nicer to drive than the other Geminis, seemed smoother, but a bit more sluggish like the ALX400s. Lovely paintjob except for the remains of Coventry blue around the battery flap and the doors. Hardly rattles over bumps, a pleasure to drive.

[2900]

1941 scania single deck

Well what can i say about these,  this is the first one I,ve driven since 09/10 , well in the cab is spacious the quality of materials is much better than most buses I,ve driven, it's completely alien when compared to any double decker I,m use to the pedals that are floor mounted not suspended type takes some getting use to, brakes are incredibly sharp if you apply the same force as I would in a decker, you have to be very subtle with them , the handbrake mounted to far away I have reach over to use it just a pain hate it. acceleration or should I say the lack of it not good at all takes for ever to get to 30mph , i guess it's fitted with the zf Eco box feels very similar to one used on the ADL E40D deckers, basically horrible box,hate it. Suspension not bad quite comfortable can be spongy bouncy on the rough stuff. The radio, destination controls mounted on the ceiling so I have to stand to make changes just crap, the cctv monitor that's a joke no point in trying look at it in that position high in the heavens. There is some rattling going not as bad the e200s. It's safe to say I,m not a fan of these they are crap IMO , Mercedes 0405n would murder these scanias in most departments, so would a leyland Lynx with the cummins/zf combo.
ADL e200 top on my list of all time crap bus list , scania not far behind.
Overall score 3/10 think I,m being generous here

[2900]

Dudley rd timetable changes.
Tony could you send a message to the powers that be who are responsible for making timetable amendments,I don't know them.  I and the rest of the late night crew would like to thank you for the new timing points square peg, colmore row, springhill tesco island,grove lane, and for taking the slack out of the journey times from city, it's speeded up the journey no end, now punters are looking at me with smile and saying thank you, city to cape hill less than 20 minutes the way it use to be, before we were waiting at new hall st and summer field park 2/3 minutes dawdling getting grief/ hassle from passengers constant bell ringing. Certain rds you need keep the bus rolling, people on these routes not interested timing points and the fact you have to wait. You don't get these issues on the 127/8/9 clientele seem appreciate driver is operating to the timetable. Where as on Dudley rd its like driver you taking the piss bredrin you making me late etc etc

[John]

First impressions of the Enviro400MMCs are very good

6797 didn't rattle anything like the old Enviro400s, and it was a lot better over bumps in the road

The cab and the seat are very comfortable

The only bad point I can find if pulling away, the bus seemed to think about wanting to accelerate and then picks up speed a second or two later. Acceleration is a lot better once up to speed, after the bus gets into either 2nd or 3rd gear, better than the old buses

The brakes seemed more spongey though, but I don't know if this is because the buses are new still. Soon got used to them though

[2900]

Ex PB Sutton lines enviro 400s 63 plates, on the whole they seem faster than  WB 14/64 plates
4925 great fun when empty fly,s up hills 28 mph up portway hill that's insane you,re grinning ear to ear, 4921 gearbox all over the shop, brakes not pleasant too, rattles a fair bit.
I,ve been told I think it's fleet numbers 4916/17 or 18 are well rapid look forward to these coming my way.

[John]

Ex PB Sutton lines enviro 400s 63 plates, on the whole they seem faster than  WB 14/64 plates
4925 great fun when empty fly,s up hills 28 mph up portway hill that's insane you,re grinning ear to ear, 4921 gearbox all over the shop, brakes not pleasant too, rattles a fair bit.
I,ve been told I think it's fleet numbers 4916/17 or 18 are well rapid look forward to these coming my way.

I'm glad you like them @2900!

[2900]

The £1.50 short hop is well and truly misused, quite a few  travel blackheath to Dudley with it, don't know why but when someone pays the short hop £1.50 you remember the face, when it was £1.90 I don't remember who payed what, strange that. I do feel like I should say something but do I need the verbal not really ,silence is golden. Any way revenue squad made £700.000 last year in standard fares issued, that,ll pay for 2 and half platinum spec buses.

[2900]

4919 quite simply a terrible bus to drive the gearbox is all over shop, rattles a fair bit to  2/10 overall bag of shite

4231 terrible from the cab it rattles,shakes ,noisey, just awful, real bad body, the chassis is the complete opposite engine,gearbox,suspension,brakes retarder all in good order. Has been refurbed at some point stills looks tidy, 1/10 for body , 7/10 chassis

4257 this bus has never seen a refurb looks terrible inside ,looks well tired from outside too, but to drive it's very good in all departments no complaints a nice drive in all fairness, this will be bargain for some one when it's released for sale , 7/10 for the way it drives

[2900]

4926 ADL ENVIRO 400 E40D

This bus does drive very well indeed very similar to 4925 in most areas , no issues with gearbox nicely balanced with the engine , it seems to me these Rev a little higher 200-300rpm extra  upto 1500-1600 rpm before changing gear depending on how much gas is applied makes all the difference none of that annoying labouring in gear which can't be good, I wonder then does 4925/4926 have different gearbox ecu programme,mapping etc. If so may be the rest of the E40D,s should get the same treatment, 4919 shockingly bad by comparison.

Engine all good plenty of power
Gearbox all good nicely balanced
Brakes/ retarder nicely balanced
Suspension still it's week point still better than some trident2 examples
Body few general rattles here and there nothing like 4919, overall still a tidy bus
8.5/10

[2900]

4273 ADL ALX400 B7TL

Still drives great for a 15 year old bus, engine,gearbox,brakes,retarder, suspension all working as they should nice and smoothly, body not to many rattles from cab either bonus for one these ALX400s, has been refurbed at some point still looking tidy overall, very nice cruiser I,d say most definitely.
Probably a very boring bus to the enthusiasts

Engine all good
Gearbox smooth changes all good
Brakes/retarder nice and smooth
Suspension very Volvo all very good and comfortable
Body all good
8/10

[2900]

Drivers rumours, April changes to certain Sandwell Dudley  bus routes no specific routes mentioned, there were plans/changes  for October/Nov 2016 nothing materialised.

[2900]

Drivers rumours, April changes to certain Sandwell Dudley  bus routes no specific routes mentioned, there were plans/changes  for October/Nov 2016 nothing materialised.

rumours, gossip call it  what you will, 83/89 moving to Liverpool st BC and 120 moving back to  West Bromwich in the spring, if it materialises then all good I won't miss the 83/89 good riddance.
May be pensnett will get the 99 from BC