Metrobus just ahead in the Dundee tests
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VITH all the buses involved in the joint CM-Tayside Regional• :ouncil bus evaluation in Dundee now in service, early results re encouraging, writes NOEL MILLIE% The Metro-Cammell Weymann Metrobus has been well ?ceived by drivers. Average fuel consumption so far is 6.4,mpg nd only a few teething troubles, such as speedometer failure, ave troubled it.
Most economic so far is the Dennis Dominator which is .eturning an astonishing '.42mpg. This bus too is also )opular with drivers, and has )een found to be generally -eliable although performance las been marred by such prob!ems as squeaky brakes, a broken exhaust pipe, and leaking heater pipes.
Of the two Volvos being evaluated, the Voith-geared version has only recently entered service and no figures are yet available. The bus was used for demonstration purposes at last year's Scottish Motor Show and has been fitted with a liquid crystal route number display.
The standard Volvo B55 under evaluation has already proved highly reliable, with only the minimum of downtime. It has been returning average fuel consumption figures of 5.57mpg.
The Leyland Titan demonstrator, which has operated alongside the evaluation buses, has not had a very happy time in Dundee and is soon to return to Leyland. The bus — not part of our evaluation — has been off the road since December 5. A spokesman told me: "It just won't go."
Problems with the Titan have been mainly electrical possibly due to the fact that the bus is a pre-production machine.
Drivers have been particularly critical of the Titan's brakes and on occasions have refused to drive it. Tayside engineers relined the brakes after only 15,000 miles.
Ironically, this Titan has proved far less reliable than first-generation rear-engined Daimler Fleetlines in the Dundee fleet.
CM will continue to report on the Tayside evaluation during the buses' first year in service.