I travelled to Secondary School for five years with Chiltern Queens, aboard a broad range of AEC Reliances (mainly), Leyland Leopards and Volvo B10Ms (when we were lucky), then again to sixth-form college. Horseman took over that contract in my second year. with more modern and better appointed vehicles - eg
D782VMO,
E682UNE,
F636OHD
My school was one of those with a 'bus bay' out the front and around eight buses would be parked up in the bay at the end of the day, so you would run to the front of the school at the end of the day to get desired seats. Unfortunately, in the early days, the oldest group of pupils (and anyone else who thought they were 'hard') would smoke at the back of the bus so you really wanted to be as far forward as possible. The worst thing in that period was when the disappointment when the bus was late and you were sent back into the central quadrangle of the school to await being called. That call was, unfortunately, in age order, Fifth Years, Bus 8, Fourth Years, Bus 8 etc, and it was those nights when as a First Year you didn't get a very good seat.
It got better in the later years (and the bus routes changed).
A few buses of character in the mix, ranging in age from almost new to nearly 25 years old, and there was no clear pattern as to which would be turned out. Some of the buses were quite dingy - I didn't much like
TYD122G which was a somewhat dinky 45-seat bus - the plaxton-bodied coaches were much preferable. I quite liked
591STT, a well presented 53-seat Plaxton Supreme IV Express-bodied Leopard with grant-type doors that carried the registration from an earlier vehicle, particularly when it had its seats retrimmed - the front of the Surpreme IV still looks attractive today. Later, they brought in former Oxford Leopard / Duple coaches such as RFC12T to replace the bus fleet which had comfortable coach seats.
BMO891T was 'the Army Bus", a late build AEC Reliance which had utilitarian green vinyl seats but quite good performance on the road.
Towards the end, the regular vehicle, particularly in the morning, was
TUD167G, a venerable 57-seat AEC Reliance which by 1993 was 25 years old.
There was always a lot more respect of the newer Plaxton Paramount bodied 'luxury' coaches when they were rostered, with their dedicated drivers, rather than the older coaches and buses. The coaches always had "Introducing your driver..." plates at the entrance. It did seem like coach drivers got promoted up a coach when a new one was brought in or someone retired.
The best journeys were the sunny days when you had one of the modern coaches - the worst were the dreary days when it was a old bus.