Drivers - Bus Reviews & Opinions

[2900]

4267: recent reburb so looks good from outside, inside grey moquette  covered seats, not to grubby
          either.
         Volvo chassis very good decent ride from suspension dept, brakes and retarder well balanced,
          Gearbox on the whole decent occasional jolt, engine smooth no drama, it's not too bad on
          Speed not a complete slug like some.
          Body alexander alx 400 not bad at all on the smooth stuff hardly any rattles at all, on the rough
           It's does start getting a bit vocal but no where near as bad as some of the others in this
           batch. Cab does feature a new small steering wheel all good I say.  7/10




           

[2900]

4513: Early repaint looking a bit tired now, original light blue twm moquette seats looking tired.
          Volvo b7tl chassis, decent ride from suspension, brakes not good at all, all ways stops harsh,ly
          With a jolt from the gearbox, very annoying problem. The more effort you put in to stop smoothly the worse it got. Engine all good no issues.
           Body, no problems  pretty solid, no excessive rattling going on. 5/10
         

[2900]

819: first drive of an enviro 200, to be brutally honest what crap compared to a merc 0405n
        Smooth engine and gearbox, bit slow on pick up, not much power either.
        Suspension hopeless front axle already feels detached on rough roads speed bumps quite
        Alarming the impression I got.
        Brakes pretty decent.
        Cab: most things rattle, cab door various panels not good. Cab seat nice comfortable as with 
        Steering wheel, cab quite roomy.
        Salloon still in good condition and clean.
        Body still tidy.
         3/10 for this example

[2900]

Sunday 26th  every bus on 83/89 was the enviro 200 I,m thinking this will be the norm for Sunday operations.

[Liberator9]

Well they sound pretty poor to drive - yet to hear much good about the Enviro 200s. Really wish NX had gone with Wrights - they make pretty good buses.

2900 - have you ever driven any of the Scanias? - most drivers I have spoken to like them in terms of driving.

[Sh4318]

Sunday 26th  every bus on 83/89 was the enviro 200 I,m thinking this will be the norm for Sunday operations.

Hope not. Whenever I've got the 89 to Birmingham on a Sunday the loadings justified deckers

[2900]

Liberator9, back when the 404 upgraded I think 09 I was given a branded scania to use on the 88E service with no running card, which had been robbed off the 404E in oldbury by the inspector, city had become gridlocked if I remember rite, I do recall it being a smooth drive  spacious cab, nice heaters, the used ticket bin rattled away annoyingly,the saloon doors were incredibly slow absolutely use less on the 88E with its fast running time I was never on time the whole duty, running  20 mins down all evening. Passengers did enjoy the posh bus as they put it, I told them make the most of it you won't see it again on this service.

[Liberator9]

Thanks 2900 - wish they'd remove the used ticket bin on them now actually. No one I see actually uses the thing (the bus floor is a more preferred method of disposal) - on 1912 it used to squeak like mad - fortunately YW engineers fixed it - doesn't rattle nearly as much now. Do like the Scanias (except 7023 - absolutely shed of a bus) - although as you say, the doors on some of them are very, very slow. Useless if you are running late. I'm sure most drivers would love to see the door interlock removed! Why can't they get a setting where you can move off with the doors open, but they automatically close above 5mph.

[2900]

It's all about health safety very annoying at first like every thing once you,ve adapted you don't notice any more. When I had 819 I thought doors would be really slow they weren't  at all, i was told during type training they were and it would make you late.

[2900]

1695, it's like meeting an old friend Remember these delivered brand new to Hockley, re furbed a while back now paint work all faded now, interior cushions retrimed to dark blue twm spec moquette. Salloon could do with a clean looking manky.
It's been a while since I last drove a bus with a proper big engine it feels could knowing when you press the gas pedal it's gona shift, good solid engine in this one. No substitute for capacity.
Gearbox on the whole smooth occasional jolt.
Brakes nice and smooth no issues, suspension merc,s weak spot, mercs have a tendency to sink while driving along, what really helps is pressing the red platform lowering switch to raise it, makes a huge difference, even though on really rough roads no where as good as a Volvo b7 tl.
There was the usual merc rattle from around the cab and platform but no worse than new enviro 200,not bad considering it's 15 years old. 7/10 one of the few better ones that remain.

[2900]

753: oh dear what crap to drive seriously annoying piece of shite, so disappointing
        Engine/ gearbox nice and smooth but got no guts not too different to volvo b7tl/voith combo
        Thinking the voith box saps power.
        Rear suspension seems ok, front oh dear feels exactly like a dart bouncing about, feels detached
        making the steering feel all weird on rough roads, on even roads steering is sharp so need to go
        easy with it. I wonder if zf axles are used I doubt it.
        Brakes requires effort to be put in stop smoothly so constantly thinking about how much
        pressure to apply so not good.
        Cab some rattling from behind driver seat, very good heaters, it's a comfortable place shame it's
        all let down by the way it drives.
        IMO this bus will be utter crap in every dept in a few short years, oh what joy for us drivers.
        3/10 think I,m being generous

[Liverpool Street]

753: oh dear what crap to drive seriously annoying piece of shite, so disappointing
        Engine/ gearbox nice and smooth but got no guts not too different to volvo b7tl/voith combo
        Thinking the voith box saps power.
        Rear suspension seems ok, front oh dear feels exactly like a dart bouncing about, feels detached
        making the steering feel all weird on rough roads, on even roads steering is sharp so need to go
        easy with it. I wonder if zf axles are used I doubt it.
        Brakes requires effort to be put in stop smoothly so constantly thinking about how much
        pressure to apply so not good.
        Cab some rattling from behind driver seat, very good heaters, it's a comfortable place shame it's
        all let down by the way it drives.
        IMO this bus will be utter crap in every dept in a few short years, oh what joy for us drivers.
        3/10 think I,m being generous

Should be 0/10. They're the worst incarnation of a Dart yet.

[Ashley]

Well they sound pretty poor to drive - yet to hear much good about the Enviro 200s. Really wish NX had gone with Wrights - they make pretty good buses.

2900 - have you ever driven any of the Scanias? - most drivers I have spoken to like them in terms of driving.

I think the Walsall drivers would be chuffed if they lost their Scanias tomorrow. I would be too

[Tony]

Well they sound pretty poor to drive - yet to hear much good about the Enviro 200s. Really wish NX had gone with Wrights - they make pretty good buses.

2900 - have you ever driven any of the Scanias? - most drivers I have spoken to like them in terms of driving.

I think the Walsall drivers would be chuffed if they lost their Scanias tomorrow. I would be too

Scanias are actually really nice vehicles to drive. The main critisism they get is the doors which can be slower than other makes, but also they were the first big batch of buses with the interlock on that meant they had to be shut before you pulled away which made them seem even slower. Now every bus has the interlock the slow doors do not seem as bad

[2900]

4229 recent rebfurb  still very shiny, seats retrimmed in grey moquette, Floors manky
Body, cab rattles squeaks away on poor road surfaces not too loudly as to piss you off.
Chassis, probably one of the best b7 volvo/voith combos this sucker goes , flyes  up hill, got the ability
to accelerate as well, strong smooth engine/ box all good, brakes/retarder well balanced and smooth,
suspension all good. Enjoyed driving this about entertaining , 8/10 for the it drives and I also got a green light from data log.