Optare Excel

[don]

Aw thanks Kay P - a positive comment about Excels  :)

Peter123 and Michael - call yourselves bus enthusiasts  ;D  even the most unsuccessful buses need a good send off! And these are the nicest looking even if some of the staff hate em (BTW how do you get Karma/Caldmore of  -27  ??? )

[SMK]

How about we push the last one off a cliff. Commemorative enough.

If it's one of ex-Dundee ones I'll join you lol

[MW]

The Metrobuses were significant because they were 'built by the people for the people' in Birmingham and lasted 30 years. These only 14 years and nobody likes them and they aren't Brummie built. They basically do not matter.

[wilmotm (Matt Wilmot)]

Seen Merc's today on the 27 and 27A,  Merc's on the 297 moving onto previously B6 operated routes but bizarelly a couple of B6's on the 246 full to the brim, makes no sense whatsoever!

[4006]

'PUSH' off the cliff exactly it would probably break down before it even reached the cliff on its own! :P

[4006]

As discussed earlier Excells are still running regular on 25 28 27 and sometimes on other routes like 11/81/2 and are being used as 'spares' so they pop up on things like 59, 1 even 79 many of them are still running or are at the garage. 686/94/8/702/ and 7208 (Accident Damage) are in the yard at Wolves some in various stages of dismantlement along with 1544/1650/73 and one of the Solo's.

[Wolfman]

Send em all away. Yes, c'mon. Especially the ex-Dundee examples. Terrible. The seats are so close together plus catching them on peak hours of the day? Its the inconvenience of it all that will do your head in.

[don]

Send em all away. Yes, c'mon. Especially the ex-Dundee examples. Terrible. The seats are so close together plus catching them on peak hours of the day? Its the inconvenience of it all that will do your head in.

The Dundee/Travel London ones have already gone  ???

Any update.........are the remainder still going. A pic of 711 in NXWM livery appeared on Flickr the other day, so I'm guessing some are still running.

[John]

Any update.........are the remainder still going. A pic of 711 in NXWM livery appeared on Flickr the other day, so I'm guessing some are still running.

I saw 712 still in 1st livery on Friday on the 81

[4006]

Most are still running or at the garage parked up. They are still regular on 25/25A/27/28/81/82
Definately within the last week or so 687/93/99/700/03/05/11/14/15 have been in operation regularly

[4006]

Any update.........are the remainder still going. A pic of 711 in NXWM livery appeared on Flickr the other day, so I'm guessing some are still running.

Excells in service/due for service today:
684/7/93/9/700/1/3/4/6/8/10-12/14

[4504]

I think they're ok :), when are they expected to be withdrawn, as a lot of people have said they're still used

Aw thanks Kay P - a positive comment about Excels  :)

Peter123 and Michael - call yourselves bus enthusiasts  ;D  even the most unsuccessful buses need a good send off! And these are the nicest looking even if some of the staff hate em (BTW how do you get Karma/Caldmore of  -27  ??? )

[don]

I think all of the ex Travel London ones have been withdrawn and last month's fleet changes included a batch of the longer ones withdrawn. I'm guessing we'll see some more withdrawn possibly in this month's fleet changes imminently.

About 15/16 seem to be accounted for above, which suggests 20 have been withdrawn.

[don]

Another 6 gone this month  :'(  :'(

[4504]

Will there be a commemorative journey for Mercs, b10s and b6les when they leave, I mean, they have served over 10 years

That makes sense - not really an accessible bus then - well accessible but no where to go once you're on it. I always thought the short ones looked all front overhang and very little bus,  even more so in NXWM livery.

Will there be a commemorative journey for the last Excel in service..........