YW Presidents

[Trident 4609]

4001/2 were new with dark blue seats. 4003-22 were new with the light blue style. The Optare buses all seemed to be the first with this new style. Spectra, Excel and Solo, with the Mercs from 1628 following after.
There may be the odd one or two seats retrimmed in the older moquette, but if you are used to that style on Spectras, you must catch 4001/2 a lot.

4001 has been out of action for ages so impossible to catch and Matt actully caught his first rife of 4002 on Thursday Night on the 59.

Also 4001/2 have different seats to each other and to 4003-22

They also have darker grey interiors And a different cab door.

one spectra i think has had the 3 pull down seats behind the stairs retrimmed in 3 moquettes using Blue/Orange, TWM Light Blue Twin Peaks design and The dark Blue TWM/NXWM design (B7RLE's at WA, Earlier Omnilinks/E400's)

[John]

4001/2 were new with dark blue seats. 4003-22 were new with the light blue style. The Optare buses all seemed to be the first with this new style. Spectra, Excel and Solo, with the Mercs from 1628 following after.
There may be the odd one or two seats retrimmed in the older moquette, but if you are used to that style on Spectras, you must catch 4001/2 a lot.

4001 has been out of action for ages so impossible to catch and Matt actully caught his first rife of 4002 on Thursday Night on the 59.

Also 4001/2 have different seats to each other and to 4003-22

They also have darker grey interiors And a different cab door.

one spectra i think has had the 3 pull down seats behind the stairs retrimmed in 3 moquettes using Blue/Orange, TWM Light Blue Twin Peaks design and The dark Blue TWM/NXWM design (B7RLE's at WA, Earlier Omnilinks/E400's)

4001 and 4002 are also not as tall as 4003-4021.

[nitromatt1]

I don't know where I got that impression from then! Perhaps it's because I 'notice' the Metrobus style seats more than the light blue style seats, being a big Metrobus fan. Sorry :)

[Gareth]

Amusing to some of us older folks, that these seats are now associated with Metrobuses. Understandable as they were more numerous, but first seen in 1989 on Lynxs and Merc Mini buses 701-20, followed by Scania double deckers, Dennis Darts and even Fleetlines got a look in before the Metrobuses.
I was always a fan of this design, It seemed to last longer and aged better than other designs. The fleet looked smart all in a standard design too.

[winston]

Amusing to some of us older folks, that these seats are now associated with Metrobuses. Understandable as they were more numerous, but first seen in 1989 on Lynxs and Merc Mini buses 701-20, followed by Scania double deckers, Dennis Darts and even Fleetlines got a look in before the Metrobuses.
I was always a fan of this design, It seemed to last longer and aged better than other designs. The fleet looked smart all in a standard design too.

I agree Gareth, the dark blue with red fleck moquette didn't fade as quickly & I don't ever recall seeing any threadbare seats even after years in service

[Gareth]

They didn't seem to go threadbare on proper bus seats, ie anything before the B10Bs. The later  generation of seats where there was hardly any kind of decent padding tended to look a little threadbare in later life.

[andy]

The problem with modern moquette is they go for a smoother finish and concentrate too much on the pattern and colouring, plus as you say seats are not as padded which stretches the fabric a lot more. The blue and red fleck stuff had a much rougher finish but this made it much more hardwearing. I don't know why manufacturers moved away from this as it was not uncomfortable and was also harder to stain or absorb liquids into. Also aided with grip on the seat. The modern stuff doesn't seem to last 5 minutes.