Scnias 3201-3247

[danny]

I remember these buses from being younger arround but never actually rode on one, branded for bristol road, were they any good? Is their a reason WMT only recieved one batch and were they any better to drive then the buses of their day and their replacements. Apologies if thos has already been discussed.

[Tony]

I remember these buses from being younger arround but never actually rode on one, branded for bristol road, were they any good? Is their a reason WMT only recieved one batch and were they any better to drive then the buses of their day and their replacements. Apologies if thos has already been discussed.

When they were new on the 50 route they were fast, as they got older they generally gave around the same performance as a Metrobus. Like most Scanias I found they didn't seem to age well.
I presume no more came as nor more double decks were ordered by TWM of any make until Low Floor deckers appeared and Scania didn't do a low floor decker at the time

[B.C Driver]

Ask any old school BC driver and they will tell you 3246 went like a rocket. It would actually pull away at traffic lights and keep up with the cars! It accelerated faster than any bus I've drove.
3226 was another fast one. Most of the staff drivers would try and request 3226. On the back of an old wooden clip board that the running board is attached to somebody had wrote a staff drivers name saying 3226 was his bus!

On the other hand 3221 was diobolically slow. And many would roll back if pulling away on a hill. The brakes always screamed, the dashboards were falling apart. One good thing was that you could lock the doors by pushing down on the foot pedal, to prevent people from letting themselves off. Also the steering wheel would adjust.

On the whole they felt lighter to drive than the Metros, and faster..... most drivers would delight at seeing a scania pull up for their duty, but personally I prefered the Metros!

[D10]

I remember these buses from being younger arround but never actually rode on one, branded for bristol road, were they any good? Is their a reason WMT only recieved one batch and were they any better to drive then the buses of their day and their replacements. Apologies if thos has already been discussed.

I think the fact that WMT was being prepared for privatisation following delivery of this batch stopped any new buses let alone Scanias coming into the fleet for years. Perhaps if that hadn't have happened then new vehicles would have continued to be delivered through the early 1990's?