Bendy Buses

[Lickszz]

What is the story with them, didn't they run in Sheffield for a while and then took them out of service only to put them back in service and use them for the express service to meadowhall? anyways I used to love riding on them, always used to try to get on the middle bits where there was lots of movement. Great stuff. I was only little but when I got on the bus it always seems a mile long walking all the way towards th back...and all those doors with loads of bells to press

[Sidla]

What were they?

[Andy]

They were single deck buses, which were about twice the length of normal buses. They had a bendy bit in the middle so that they could go around corners.

[zeke]

They were magic, I could've rode on them all day if I hadn't been working at the time!

I like to sit in the middle too!!

[metaframe]

Just to be anal, bendy buses were actually introduced in Sheffield twice. We used to have them back in the 80s, and then they reintroduced them again in the early 90s.

 

These buses are quite common on the continent, and were German, I believe.

 

They were all named after famous ships, too. And each had a plaque just behind the driver.

 

Now HOW sad am I?

[fronbow]

@metaframe: I remember they were free the first time round - summat to do with em being an experiement or summat and they weren't allowed to charge ppl to use em?!!

 

The route used to be called the City Clipper, and it used to run to the S&E which later got pulled down to make way for Safeways

[andy1702]

The first Sheffield bendy-bus appeared in either 1980 or 81. I don't quite remember. The first batch (which consisted of around 10-12 vehicles I believe) were sourced from two different manufacturers. One was the german firm of MAN who had much experience in producing similar buses for the continent, while the other firm was Leyland. The Leyland buses looked very like the integrally constructed Leyland National which South Yorkshire PTE had in service at the time, although they were actually Leyland DAB chassis built in Germany and bodied using many of the Leyland National's components.

 

At the time operation of vehicles with passenger carrying trailers in Britain was not permitted, but a loophole in the law allowed them if they were not operating for 'Hire or reward' (ie taking fares).

 

The passengers loved them and as a small boy I was taken by my grandmother form Shuttlewood near Chesterfield just to see them. At one point being put in the driver's seat of one of them so she could take a picture which I still have somewhere.

 

By the mid-80's all these buses had gone. I don't know the reason, but the city clipper was by this time operated by ordinary rigid Leyland Nationals, one of which was a specially adapted 'kneeling bus'.

 

However it wasn't long before the need for high capacity bendy-buses was realised once again, and so an order was placed with Leyland DAB in Germany for 13 new vehicles as the originals had all been sold.

 

10 of this second batch were of the three door type destined for the famous City Clipper route and were named after famous clipper sailing ships such as 'Pegasus' and 'The Great Republic'. The other three went to Rotherham depot for fastline work, had coach seats and only two doors.

 

The work these buses did varied over the years and for a while they were indeed painted blue and used on the Meadowhall Shuttle.

 

They were all taken out of service a couple of years ago, once again for no apparent reason.

 

Of the first batch from the early 80s, the MAN examples were eventually sold to an operator in Australia while at least two of the Leyland ones are said to be preserved. One (so I'm told) is with a private owner while another is in the care of the Keighley Bus Museum.

 

Meanwhile, I have one of the rigid Leyland Nationals AAK111T which I hope to restore to it's original condition soon.

 

I hope this answers your questions.

 

Andy.

[Guest rosie]

 

They have had bendy buses in Germany for ages used to take my son on one when I lived over there and they were brilliant, special places for big prams not just pushchairs which meant you did not have to fold everything up and this was over 20 years ago.

 

I hate the new smiley buses Sheffield has there is no room at the back and they put them on at rush hours so the bus fills up quicker than the normal old type of busses.

[Chris]

Do the new double-deckers have cameras on the top deck? I noticed they don't have the old busses mirrors - I'd think the new ones will get vandalised quickly if there's no way of identifying the vandals (not that having the driver able to see upstairs stopped the old ones from being damaged)

[Lickszz]

Originally posted by "Chris"

 

Do the new double-deckers have cameras on the top deck? I noticed they don't have the old busses mirrors - I'd think the new ones will get vandalised quickly if there's no way of identifying the vandals (not that having the driver able to see upstairs stopped the old ones from being damaged)

 

I not been on a bus for quite a long time but I heard there was now cameras in place. However, the driver does still need to keep an eye on what's happening upstairs so removing these doesn't seem like a great idea.