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Which bus will take the Dundee cake?

2nd August 1980, Page 32
2nd August 1980
Page 32
Page 33
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Page 32, 2nd August 1980 — Which bus will take the Dundee cake?
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Two Volvos, an MCW, and a Dennis Dominator are undergoing the third degree in an effort to find -ne most cosi effective way of getting Dundee's bus passengers about. Noel Millier reports on the current state of play

SINCE early autumn last year, Tayside Regional Council's Dundee City bus fleet has been the scene of an extended evaluation programme to assess the performance of four different types of new-generation double-deck buses in normal operating service conditions.

The bus evaluation programme was set up in cooperation with CM and the progress of the buses has been regularly reported. The programme was initially designed to take into consideration all facets of bus operation including initial vehicle cost, delivery time, fuel and oil consumption, brake life, tyre life, unit charges and replacement costs, as well as passenger and crew reaction, vehicle performance, ride and handling, and manufacturers' back-up service.

The four vehicles carry a poster which tells passengers they're using a bus under evaluation, aimed at finding out which vehicle can best supply the future psv needs of Dundee.

That city has a bus fleet of just under 200 vehicles, of which approximately 90 are Ailsa (Volvo B55) Alexander double-deckers.

One of the evaluation buses, vehicle number 273, is a, standard Mark 2 Volvo B55 with SCG semi-automatic transmission and CAV511 fully automatic control system.

This bus is similar to many others in the fleet except that it has recently been fitted with Mecafluid automatic chassis lubrication equipment.

Another variation on the 'Nike is Tayside bus number 276. Outwardly similar to 273, this. bus is, however, fitted with the Voith D851 fully automatic gearbox with its built-in retarder. This vehicle entered service several months later than 273 as it was exhibited by Volvo at the UITP Congress in Helsinki during the summer of 1979.

Bus 278 is a MCW Metrobus. This is the only semiintegral vehicle being evaluated with the body and chassis from the same manufacturer, and is powered by a Gardner 6 LXB engine through the Voith D851 transmission.

Finally, bus number 279 is a Dennis Dominator fitted with East Lancs bodywork. Like the Metrobus and Volvo 276, the Dennis has the Voith D851 transmission and, like the Metrobus, is powered by a Gardner 6 LXB engine.

Passenger reaction to the evaluation has not been particularly enlightening so far, since their main yardstick for successful bus service is reliability. None of the buses had any particular fault that was bad enough to attract the passengers' attention.

On a recent visit to Dundee I rode on all four of the evaluation buses and spoke to a number of the drivers. When the buses originally entered service, they ran on route 15/17 but since early spring they have been transferred to service 20/22, a busy and hilly route that takes in the city centre and ends at Dundee's Ninewells Hospital at the top of a hill. All of the buses are oneman operated and use an exact fare box collection system.

The MCW Metrobus seemed comfortable, but was a little disconcerting in its ride characteristics. The bus seemed very quiet from the outside but noisy for passengers seated near the rear of the lower deck.

The body appeared to sway and bounce in all directions and this movement, although gentle, made it fairly difficult to walk from the top deck while the bus was moving.

The next bus I sampled was the standard Volvo Ause 273. This I found bumpier than the Metrobus, but the ride was predictable and body sway was not noticeable.

The Voith-transmission option Volvo didn't seem much Jifferent to the ride in the standard bus, although gear changes were hardly perceptible except when the driver lifted his foot from the accelerator just

before the gear changed. When he accelerated again the gear went in with a noticeable jolt.

On both Alexander-bodied Volvos' I found a shortage of handrails and stanchions on the upper deck.

As a bus passenger, I found the ride on the Dennis Domina tor best of the four. The Dennis was not noticeably noisier than the Metrobus from the inside, but did seem a little noisier from the outside and the two frontengined Volvos both seemed noticeably noisier than the rearengined Dennis and MCWs. All of the drivers I spoke to were enthusiastic about the Volvos and all preferred the semi-automatic controls to either the CAV511-controlled or the Voith bus_ The Dennis was more popular with the drivers than the Metrobus which they were not particularly enthusiastic about.

One point to emerge from the drivers comments was that some of them may not have been completely familiar with the use of the retarder incorporated in the Voith gearbox which is operated by initial pressure on the footbrake.

Alt four buses have been operating satisfactorily and no major unit failures have been reported. The standard Volvo bus 273 has suffered a few minor electrical failures from flasher units and the like, and the rear offside drop gears on the back axle were overhauled in May due to a failed oil seal,.

But the bus has been equally reliable and has returned an average fuel consumption of 51.27 lit /100Km (5,51 mpg) and covered 7942 Km (4936 miles) per gallon of oil since the start of the evaluation.

The other Volvo. number 276, has also proved reliable, apart from sirnitiar minor electrical faults to its SCGgearboxed sister. This vehicle was experimentally fitted with an Evershed electric destination display • which at one time needed a panel replaced, and which since has been removed and replaced with the standard display. Due to the considerable heat generated by the Voith retarder, this bus is fitted with a six-core radiator instead of the standard four core which failed and was repfaced in lat..? May. This bus has returned an average 48.3 lit / 100Km(5.85 mpg) and covered 5000Km (3108 miles) per gallon of oil Tayside operating general manager Sandy Strachan told me that the brake lining life of this bus looks like being a tenfold improvement on the standard bus.

It is also surprising that the fuel consumption from the fully automatic bus is better than that returned by the automatically controlled • SCG-equipped vehicle.

The Metro-CammellVVeymann Metrobus has also performed well with all repairs of a minor nature. Like the two Volvo buses, this bus has suffered a number of minor electrical faults but no major unit •failures.

Metro-Cammell-VVeymann has incorporated a number of changes, such as the top suspension bellow gland plates, and still has to carry out a frontaxle change and replace the rear suspension H-frame.

The Tayside Metrobus is fitted with air brakes and has so far returned the best fuel consumption with an average 44.4 lit/ 100Km (6.36mpg) and has covered 3218Km (2000 miles) per gallon of oil.

The Dennis Dominator with its East Lancs body has also performed well and has suffered no major defects. One persistent fault, though,concerned exhaust system failures but this has since been recti lied by an improved mount ing .

The Dennis fuel consumption at 48.2 lit/100Km (5.86mpg) was disappointing, but has improved dramatically since the engine was derated from 180bhp to 170bhp and the bus is now returning well over 47Iit/ per 100Km (6mpg), and the engine derating does not seem to have affected performance. The Dennis has been covering 2327Km (1746 mile) per gallon of oil since April 6.

The Tayside evaluation has so far not proved conclusive, and the deciding factor will surely be initial vehicle price and projected total life cost based on the cost of maintenance and experience gained during the evaluation.

It is a pity that Leyland's Park Royal production problems stopped them from being able to supply the Council with its own Leyland Titan to complete the range of buses.

After a previous bus evaluation exercise carried out by South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive in 1978 including an MCW Metrobus, Foden NC, Dennis Dominator, Ailsa Voith and Leyland Titan, South Yorkshire engineers and operating staff concluded that the Dennis Dominator best suited their needs.

Whether the Tayside evalua tion will come to the same conclusion is a matter of conjectureat thisstage, but given the notdissimilar operating conditions and the overall vehicle cost con. siderations this does not seen beyond the realms o possibility.

Local authority spendinc costs and the current financia restrictions are likely to mear that Britain's bus operators may have to extend vehicle life.

A bus evaluation using one bus of each type may not give z totally fair impression of thai particular vehicle's characteristics, as individual vehicles ol each type can vary. But it does, allow an operator to gain firsthand experience of the behaviour pattern of each type and allow him to work out informed estimates of engines gearbox, rear-axle, brake lining, and tyre life and unit accessibility during routine maintenances so that future maintenance costs can be calculated.

The Tayside evaluation has already shown dramatic savings in brake lining life that more than justify the extra cost involved in specifying the Voith D851 automatic gearbox with its built-in retarder.

As it says on the posters, the Tayside evaluation should find the bus most suitable to provide cost-effective future public transport for the Dundee area.

We will be making a final report on the Tayside bus evaluation towards the end of the year.


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