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Post by ajw on Aug 29, 2009 11:59:20 GMT
In the UK and Ireland, double deckers are a pretty common sight, especially in London. Im just wondering why other countries don't really use double deckers. The only other places that use them i can think of are China (mostly Hong Kong), Japan, USA (but i have only seen them as sightseeing buses), Canada (sightseeing only) and South Africa (a pretty rare sighting). So why do you think double deckers are not a common sighting elsewhere in the world, and where else have you seen double deckers in operation? Often it is because there are far better buses suited to the job. The UK seems to be odd in that it seems to thimk you need a seat for everyone, which isn't the case or the need in this day and age, especially on short city type routes. In Sydney there was talk of the Hillbus operation getting deckers for their long distance runs, and some wanted the government operation the STA to buy some for their inner city routes. The Hillsbus ones made sense as they were long distance high capacity routes, but the STA ones didn't as they were inner city short distance routes, where other high capacity buses, such as artics and 14.5m rigids make more sense.
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Post by snowman on May 20, 2010 5:19:05 GMT
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Post by M1104 on May 20, 2010 11:18:55 GMT
I remember back in the mid 70's when Red London Transport RTs were in service near the Niagra Falls. They were still there several years ago, and probably still are. I've got a photo of some RT's, RTL's & Routemasters in 2002. WOW!! I didn't realise they were still active as recent as then. I know i'm almost a year late in replying i might add. ;D
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Post by M1104 on May 20, 2010 11:27:07 GMT
There is an article in route one magazine that says Wrightbus have won order for over 100 more 12m double deckers for Hong Kong, good news for Wrightbus, but not so good for any London Operators who want Gemini 2s as the production lines are going to be busy www.route-one.net/e-books/currentIssue/index.html#/12/Then again if operators like Arriva London are ordering for retained routes they can simply use their existing buses meanwhile. Or maybe Wrightbus's workforce could be increased to help relieve on such possible backlog of orders.
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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2010 11:47:36 GMT
Then again if operators like Arriva London are ordering for retained routes they can simply use their existing buses meanwhile. Or maybe Wrightbus's workforce could be increased to help relieve on such possible backlog of orders. These are for 2011 delivery, and totals 115. Increasing workforce is only any good if you have production line capacity. Given they only laid some people off last spring I doubt this would be an issue. You would only recruit staff if you thought the extra demand was sustainable long term... if thought it was only short term, it would be advisable to decline the business if strict time-scales could not be met.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 5, 2010 10:12:10 GMT
Yes, British double deckers built for export were pretty rare but much more prevalent these days for sightseeing. BERLIN is a good example. LISBON of course had its famous reverse half cab AECs, at least one preserved (and in UK). MADRID had a batch of AECs I think. I saw some way back in 1967, poss with Orion bodies. Some South African operators had some deckers, inc Jo'burg with its trolleybuses. BARCELONA had some curious d/d trolleys. GIBRALTAR had some ex-Berlin MANs, now withdrawn I believe. Today d/deckers can be found in MUMBAI, India. Plenty of exported stuff in Canada: Niagara Falls, Halifax, Montreal & Toronto(Routemasters), non-London Fleetline(s) in Ottawa and ex-London stuff dotted around as burger-bars etc.
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Post by snowman on Sept 14, 2010 14:56:38 GMT
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Post by snowman on Sept 14, 2010 19:57:43 GMT
Just had another thought, if this order runs into 2012, then Wrightbus will not have very long to produce any buses for the Olympics (assuming some are eventually ordered). With the Hong Kong orders next year as well, any London Operator is going to be struggling for production line space if they want Geminis I guess London operators could still order E400s, Omnicities, or the proposed Optare Olympus Intregal or proposed MCV double decker (if weight is cut) as alternatives.
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Post by snowman on Sept 3, 2011 6:55:04 GMT
ADL have issued a press release showing images of revised double deck range Looks like this is pitched a bit at USA and Canada market, but might also be coming our way Quite like the enviro 400 open topper (maybe the palm trees make it look better) or perhaps being yellow (with alloy rails) is reminding me of the Seafront service at Bournemouth I remember from the 1970s and 1980s www.alexander-dennis.com/media-details.php?s=47&subs=69&catID=1&itemID=122
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2011 16:34:32 GMT
There should still be double deckers (Routemasters) in Montreal & Toronto (open top), Halifax, Niagara Falls (Canadian side) and possibly Vancouver. Provincial buses also possibly in Vancouver, Toronto & Ottawa. Berlin had some non-British d/deckers in 2008 and Gibraltar some ex-Berlin deckers in 2000.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 14, 2011 15:00:27 GMT
I have photos of what I think were Leyland D/Ds in Madrid in the Fifties, with rhd but right-hand entrances! South Africa once had large numbers of D/Ds including from memory Guy Arabs.
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Post by John tuthill on Oct 14, 2011 15:02:25 GMT
I have photos of what I think were Leyland D/Ds in Madrid in the Fifties, with rhd but right-hand entrances! South Africa once had large numbers of D/Ds including from memory Guy Arabs. When I was out there in the 1970s, they had RTs, RTLs and RTWs in Cape Town, all pianted cream & green.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 14, 2011 16:29:28 GMT
By coincidence I found a shot of a lhd AEC Regent V at the 1958 Commercial Show that had been built for Tehran, Iran.
RT/RTL and RTW buses were of course sold to Ceylon, later Sri Lanka. There was also an RT in Dr No, filmed on Jamaica. Do they have newish D/Ds in the Windies?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 17, 2011 2:27:40 GMT
of course, another country to have DDs is Macedonia, with Skopje taking delivery of their modern half cabs built in China.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2011 18:57:48 GMT
Spent quite a lot of time in Jamaica in the late-1990's but never saw any deckers although it was where I saw my very first bendy bus winding its way through Trench Town - the last place on earth I'd expect to see one. It came down Penn Street and into Vernon Arnett Drive before turning into Ninth Street to join a dual carriageway type road down to Spanish Town Road.
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