Mercedes Citaros

[BN]

The demonstrator has turned up at Coventry depot last friday.

[BN]

Tony

10 new Citaro's have now entered service at the NEC for Travel de Courcey.

Fleet numbers 2001-2010, reg's to follow when I can get them all together.

Regards

[BN]

Tony,

Citaro's as follows

2001 BD12OVF
2002 BD12OVG
2003 BD12OVH
2004 BD12OVJ
2005 BD12OVK
2006 BD12OVL
2007 BD12OVM
2008 BD12OVN
2009 BD12OVO
2010 BD12OVP

Regards.

[Tony]

Tony,

Citaro's as follows

2001 BD12OVF
2002 BD12OVG
2003 BD12OVH
2004 BD12OVJ
2005 BD12OVK
2006 BD12OVL
2007 BD12OVM
2008 BD12OVN
2009 BD12OVO
2010 BD12OVP

Regards.

Thanks Rob, Ben at Coventry sent me them earlier, along with a photo of 2008 and they will appear on the main site in the next couple of minutes

[monkeyjoe]

Article in the evening mail has stated they have invested £1.7m in 10 low emission single deckers for the NEC shuttle bus service contract. Fair play to them.

[winston]

Article in the evening mail has stated they have invested £1.7m in 10 low emission single deckers for the NEC shuttle bus service contract. Fair play to them.

They were delivered during August, see Tony's photos for 2001-2010

http://wmbusphotos.com/DeCourcey/2001.html

[Kevin]

Seems the logical thread to post this......

Was at the NEC for the Model Railway show this morning, and thought afterwards I'll have a quick mooch at the shuttle buses because I never really see them (always go by train or bus). Have to say, it does seem a bit of a waste having such ace buses as the Citaros plodding along at 10mph on such a short journey. I know it's a bit of a prestige contract for them and they have invested in it and all, but when the buses on Coventry routes are older, less comfortable and generally travelled on for much longer distances....?
I know they are a fairly well respected operator in cov and have no problems with patronage, but I can't help but feel if they used newer buses even more people would use their services.

[bwsau cymru]

citaros are excellent for the nec because they can carry a large load like the 507 in London. they are also excellent at acceleration so can get around pretty quick. for me the citaro was a logical choice. what would you say would be more suited?

[Tony]

citaros are excellent for the nec because they can carry a large load like the 507 in London. they are also excellent at acceleration so can get around pretty quick. for me the citaro was a logical choice. what would you say would be more suited?

I would also imagine the NEC put some of the spec for the vehicles in the contract. Knackered MCV bodied single door MANs need not apply!

[Kevin]

Not saying they're not suited to the job, just a bit of a shame having nice new buses there when the older less comfortable buses are used more in the public eye

[BU07 LGO]

I would have chosen ex-London Citaro artics, can be picked up for around £5,000 and can seat loads!

[Tony]

I would have chosen ex-London Citaro artics, can be picked up for around £5,000 and can seat loads!

Again, see my comment above. The NEC would have said what they wanted and I would imagine insisted on brand new vehicles. DeCourcey didn't just buy 10 Citaros and start running them around the NEC

[Tony]

citaros are excellent for the nec because they can carry a large load like the 507 in London. they are also excellent at acceleration so can get around pretty quick. for me the citaro was a logical choice. what would you say would be more suited?

I would also imagine the NEC put some of the spec for the vehicles in the contract. Knackered MCV bodied single door MANs need not apply!

I now have a copy of the tender document. It includes this paragraph

   OUR CURRENT SHUTTLE BUS FLEET
   
The NEC currently rent from our incumbent 10 shuttle buses which are parked on site. This fleet albeit well maintained are now over fifteen years old and they are not portraying the image that the NEC aspires to. As part of this tender process we are expecting a new supplier to provide replacement buses for this fleet.


In other words they were happy with the way Rotala were maintaining the darts, but they wanted replacement vehicles.

[winston]

citaros are excellent for the nec because they can carry a large load like the 507 in London. they are also excellent at acceleration so can get around pretty quick. for me the citaro was a logical choice. what would you say would be more suited?

I would also imagine the NEC put some of the spec for the vehicles in the contract. Knackered MCV bodied single door MANs need not apply!

I now have a copy of the tender document. It includes this paragraph

   OUR CURRENT SHUTTLE BUS FLEET
   
The NEC currently rent from our incumbent 10 shuttle buses which are parked on site. This fleet albeit well maintained are now over fifteen years old and they are not portraying the image that the NEC aspires to. As part of this tender process we are expecting a new supplier to provide replacement buses for this fleet.


In other words they were happy with the way Rotala were maintaining the darts, but they wanted replacement vehicles.

Tony,

Just to play devils advocate........

The tender spec asks for replacement buses, it doesn't state brand new buses,  therefore older used/refurbished buses could have also have met that criteria

[gac_uk]

If I recall correctly, NECs minimum spec was for at least two brand new vehicles. The remaining had to be at least X years old at start of contract and refurbished to showroom condition