Lowest capacity service bus?

[High Dyke]

Thank you for the explanation @High Dyke every day is a school day as they say.

No problem. My wife's also a qualified bus driver, but she only has a licence for driving semi-automatic/automatic buses. When she started, that was the only type of buses the company had in service; they'd dispensed with manual gearbox vehicles by then.

 

[Observer]

No problem. My wife's also a qualified bus driver, but she only has a licence for driving semi-automatic/automatic buses. When she started, that was the only type of buses the company had in service; they'd dispensed with manual gearbox vehicles by then.

You can easily apply to have the manual endorsement without having to take another test now. Good if you end up going to a company that ends up having some manual gearboxes...

 

[High Dyke]

You can easily apply to have the manual endorsement without having to take another test now. Good if you end up going to a company that ends up having some manual gearboxes...

That may be useful, when I get my preserved bus back on the road. For our current employment neither of us need the licence at the moment.

 

[Stan Drews]

Sureprised nobody has so far mentioned this wee Fiat!

 

[F Great Eastern]

That really operated in service? Or was it just for a rally?

 

[Stan Drews]

That really operated in service? Or was it just for a rally?

Is this the world's smallest bus?

A man from Durham has transformed his Fiat Seicento into a miniature school bus. Chris Atkinson, a bus driver for Arriva, will travel from Scotland to Cornwall to help raise vital funds for The Special Care Baby Unit at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary. The ‘bus’ is painted Arriva blue...

www.itv.com

 

[Eyersey468]

No problem. My wife's also a qualified bus driver, but she only has a licence for driving semi-automatic/automatic buses. When she started, that was the only type of buses the company had in service; they'd dispensed with manual gearbox vehicles by then.

I took my bus test in an automatic too in 2007, it was automatically upgraded to manual when I passed my Class 2 HGV test in 2017, though the pass date changed to 2017.

 

[Flange Squeal]

That may be useful, when I get my preserved bus back on the road. For our current employment neither of us need the licence at the moment.

Just to add, you must have manual Category B (car) to get the manual Category D (bus) upgrade. If you have an automatic car licence, your bus remains automatic too.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Lincolnshire Road Car had a batch of 12-seat Freight Rover minibuses.

That answers that question, Im glad my memory didn't deceive me, Yorkshire Rider had some of those too in Bradford. I've seen bigger milk floats. They literally had two windows down the side.

The smallest bus I've been on is the micro bus they use on the Calais free town bus. No ticket machine- its a free bus- so doesn't fit the OP's criteria. Here's a PR video from the manufacturer.

 

[GusB]

I'm fairly sure I can recall Strathclyde PTE running "microbuses" (I think they were branded as such) which were Volkswagen LTs. This was before the Metrorider "Wee happy bus" fleet came along. @Strathclyder - would you be able to confirm, or am I just havering?

 

[awsnews]

I'm fairly sure I can recall Strathclyde PTE running "microbuses" (I think they were branded as such) which were Volkswagen LTs. This was before the Metrorider "Wee happy bus" fleet came along. @Strathclyder - would you be able to confirm, or am I just havering?

These?

Strathclyde VW LT Devon A764 THS

Strathclyde PTE started some innovative local services using small vehicles and rapidly built up a fleet of 'Microbuses'. Microbus M16 was a 12-seat Devon Conversions VW LT31D registered A764 THS which had an unusually decent entrance compared to many psv minibuses. It is seen with a similar...

flic.kr

 

[GusB]

These?

Strathclyde VW LT Devon A764 THS

Strathclyde PTE started some innovative local services using small vehicles and rapidly built up a fleet of 'Microbuses'. Microbus M16 was a 12-seat Devon Conversions VW LT31D registered A764 THS which had an unusually decent entrance compared to many psv minibuses. It is seen with a similar...

flic.kr

Yes - thanks for posting the photo link as well. That's exactly what I was looking for, and my memory does serve me correctly, right down to the "Microbus" branding on the front.

 

[Aaron Ashton]

Pilkingtonbus, Accrington have this running around in Clitheroe... https://flic.kr/p/2fWMaS6 19 seats and it's only 19 due to the style of seating too!

 

[MotCO]

Pilkingtonbus, Accrington have this running around in Clitheroe... https://flic.kr/p/2fWMaS6 19 seats and it's only 19 due to the style of seating too!

But how many passengers in the current Covid-19 environment are allowed? 3 or 4?

 

[AndyW33]

Just checked the Mountain Goat website, their original Transits for use on the Kirkstone pass were 12-seaters.
Begs the question of what did Ribble use previously?

A mix of the original Olympians (the 1950 vintage single deckers), Tiger Cubs, and 30ft Leopard saloons. They had nothing smaller in the area at the time.

 

[Statto]

Delete seen the post abovr.

 

[Geordie driver]

Interesting thread and I hadn't realised how many freaky buses there are out there. The smallest I have ever driven were the excerable Shepas, forget the exact capacity.

One of Northumbria's old Sherpas turned up on Emmerdale, the TV soap, being used in service by the Dingle family which is about the right level for these vehicles.

 

[Whisky Papa]

I was going to suggest the Optare Alero too.

Some of the Dormobile Sherpas Yorkshire Rider had can't have been much bigger.

I seem to recall the fleet at Todmorden when I started in 1988 was mostly Dormobile-converted Sherpas (1791-6?), along with two others (1923/4) that were less popular because they didn't have a sliding offside driver's door. I suspect these two were Carlyle versions - they were very similar to what I had just escaped from at Bee Line Buzz Company. I think all these had 20 seats in five rows, but possibly some had a luggage rack replacing the first pair of seats? I may have details in old Buses magazines when I get time to look.

There was one further vehicle which was sometimes allocated to Todmorden in my early days that had a row less, so 16 seats or only 14 if there was a luggage rack. The fleet number 1917 is in my mind, which would suggest it was also Carlyle bodied. It proved less than useful on market days or a school times, and it fortunately seemed to disappear after a few months.

Luckily I had left just before the Alero saga kicked in...

 

[shopbford]

Could the old postbuses be considered for this:

Oh, to Have Ridden England's Forgotten Post Bus

I never knew the post bus existed. I grew up in England's capital, but never in my 25 years of living there did I ever see or hear of these delightful red buses that both delivered mail and served as the only public transport in some of the UK's most remote areas. Then again, until the other day, ne

www.messynessychic.com

Last Postbus reaches the end of the road

She has carried dogs, bikes, tourists and many a local over one of the Highlands' remotest routes as part of an operation stretching back 50 years.

www.scotsman.com

 

[Tetchytyke]

There was one further vehicle which was sometimes allocated to Todmorden in my early days that had a row less, so 16 seats or only 14 if there was a luggage rack.

In Bradford there were two sorts of Sherpa conversions, one had square windows in the saloon and one had rounded windows. I honestly forget which was Dormobile and which was Carlyle, but I thought the rounded windows were Dormobile. I'm sure someone who has an encyclopaedic knowledge of bread vans can tell me.

Some of the Bradford Sherpas with the rounded windows had one small window and one big window in the saloon, and some had two small and one big window. The smaller ones must have had 14 seats- 4x4 but with one row missing for the luggage rack. My abiding memory as a kid is the whole bus tipping to one side when someone got on; well, that and them being like sweatboxes every time it was a sunny day, because the windows didn't open.

 

[Whisky Papa]

In Bradford there were two sorts of Sherpa conversions, one had square windows in the saloon and one had rounded windows. I honestly forget which was Dormobile and which was Carlyle, but I thought the rounded windows were Dormobile. I'm sure someone who has an encyclopaedic knowledge of bread vans can tell me.

Some of the Bradford Sherpas with the rounded windows had one small window and one big window in the saloon, and some had two small and one big window. The smaller ones must have had 14 seats- 4x4 but with one row missing for the luggage rack. My abiding memory as a kid is the whole bus tipping to one side when someone got on; well, that and them being like sweatboxes every time it was a sunny day, because the windows didn't open.

I can't claim encyclopaedic knowledge (on anything!) but the square window variety were the Dormobile ones. I agree with your description of the window layout on the Carlyle-converted Sherpas, but there was also a third variety. I recall seeing one in Halifax garage that was the longer length but had two long windows each side rather than short-long-short. It looked very distinctive, but I can't recall a fleet number nor have any idea of its provenance.

I recalled after my earlier post that we often used a short-length version (quite possibly the one that later turned up at Todmorden) in the training school at Halifax. My co-trainee, who unlike me didn't already have a licence, asked why the rear light clusters were built out from the bodywork and had a hefty protective grille that projected even further. The answer given was that it was needed to increase the vehicle length to the minimum stipulated for the PSV Class III test - whether this was true or not I never investigated.

 

[Tetchytyke]

It looked very distinctive, but I can't recall a fleet number nor have any idea of its provenance.

A google, trying to refresh my memory, shows a Sherpa bodied by Optare with that layout.

Transport Yorkshire Preservation Group

Website of the Transport Yorkshire Preservation Group which restores and conserves historic West Yorkshire buses.

www.typg.org.uk

I just remember when MicroRider was first launched in Shipley they had some poor sap dressed up as a wizard handing out treats to kids on the bus. As a nerdy 6yo I loved it

I look back at those bread vans and think a Solo is the height of luxury.

 

[Strathclyder]

I'm fairly sure I can recall Strathclyde PTE running "microbuses" (I think they were branded as such) which were Volkswagen LTs. This was before the Metrorider "Wee happy bus" fleet came along. @Strathclyder - would you be able to confirm, or am I just havering?

@awsnews beat me to the punch, but they did indeed. Other similarly sized vehicles operated in the 80s by Strathclyde were 4 Dormobile-bodied Bedford CFLs, at least 4 Renault Master TD35s converted to PSV standards, 6 Reeves Burgess-bodied Mercedes-Benz L608Ds, plus 4 ex-SELNEC Seddon Pennine IVs, the last of these were used on the Station Link service (between Central, Buchanan & Queen St stations) to begin with before their usage spread further. All were supplanted and later withdrawn entirely by the early 90s in favour of Metroriders however, as you correctly point out.

 

[Whisky Papa]

A google, trying to refresh my memory, shows a Sherpa bodied by Optare with that layout.

Transport Yorkshire Preservation Group

Website of the Transport Yorkshire Preservation Group which restores and conserves historic West Yorkshire buses.

www.typg.org.uk

I just remember when MicroRider was first launched in Shipley they had some poor sap dressed up as a wizard handing out treats to kids on the bus. As a nerdy 6yo I loved it

I look back at those bread vans and think a Solo is the height of luxury.

Sorry, that wasn't what I was referring to, and I must admit I'd overlooked the Optare-bodied ones. I can only recall seeing them occasionally, I always thought they looked a cut above the usual "breadvan". I'm not 100% sure I ever rode on one, although I have a vague memory that one was used on a CAMRA branch trip to a beer festival in Bury. Most of the participants had not been on a "breadvan" minibus before, and I remember there were many comments about the carpet on the ceiling, but that applied to virtually all minibuses at that time.

No, the oddity I saw had the same radiused windows of the Carlyle style, just arranged differently.