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SBG buys buses and coaches worth over £2m
Page 42
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SCOTLAND STILL FAITHFUL TO DOUBLE-DECKERS
by Derek Moses • Just announced by the Scottish Bus Group—the main p.s.v. operator of the new Scottish Transport Group—is the fleet renewal programme for 1970. A total of 275 vehicles have been ordered at an overall cost of £2,075,637, which means that in the past five years the Group has bought 1,270 new vehicles costing about £9m.
Unlike its counterpart in England and Wales, the State-owned SBG has remained faithful to double-deckers, with no fewer than 120 ordered—about 44 per cent of the new vehicles specified. Only W. Alexander and Sons (Northern) Ltd. and Highland Omnibuses Ltd. have restricted their orders to single-deckers, a policy •which has been employed in recent years.
All the double-deckers ordered are Daimler Fleetlines, and 93 will be fitted with 75-seat Eastern Coach Works' bodies (77 in the case of Central SMT). This rather suggests that the considerable teething troubles experienced with the Group's first Bristol VRT rear-engined double-deckers have discouraged the purchase of any further such models until these problems have been resolved. It is certainly a contrast with the 1969 programme when 84 VRT doubledeckers were specified.
The second most popular type ordered is the Leyland Leopard with a total of 71 chassis, all to be fitted with Alexander stage bus or dual-purpose bodies. Alexander bodies have also been specified for the 52 Bristol single-deckers ordered-27 LH models split between Alexander (Midland) and Eastern Scottish (11 41-seat and 16 38-seat coaches, respectively)—and 25 REMH 42-seat I2-metre coaches with toilets for the Eastern Scottish Edinburgh to London express service.
An interesting order is that placed by Highland Omnibuses Ltd. for another 12 Ford R192 coaches, with Duple/Willowbrook 45-seat bus bodies, which will be fitted with Ford turbo-charged engines.
If the SBG orders are added to those placed by the National Bus Company for its 1970 vehicle replacement policy in England and Wales, the leading makes on order by State-owned British operators (excluding London Transport) are 726 Bristol, 354 Daimler and 341 Leyland chassis. The NBC programme was published in CM August 8 and the full SBG 1970 programme (revised this month), is listed below.