Smallest Bus

[deltic1989]

Ok, so we've had shortest bus routes etc, how about the smallest bus operated in the UK.

I found this http://www.flickr.com/photos/manarh/268171199/
But its not in the UK.

 

[90019]

Not including the ones based on vans, I'd say the Plaxton Primo is probably one of the smallest.

 

[Dennis]

I'd say that the old Trannies and Sherpas were quite small.

 

[YesToHS2]

Does any one know if Mersey travel still operate those little milk float looking buses around Woodside ferry/Birkenhead?
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The Optare Alero is a fairly small bus, considering it has full wheelchair access.

 

[deltic1989]

I'd say that the old Trannies and Sherpas were quite small.

I do remember (only just mind) Lincolnsire Roadcar and Lincoln City Transport (now both Stagecoach) in the early 90's operating sherpas and some converted Mercedes-Benz vans.


The sherpa http://www.flickr.com/photos/38163112@N06/4203162204/

Can't find any of the Mercs though.

 

[Oracle]

I was thinking about Post Buses if a point is stretched:
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usscotfax/travel/postbuses.html

http://www.showbus.com/gallery/gpo.htm

 

[deltic1989]

I was thinking about Post Buses if a point is stretched:
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usscotfax/travel/postbuses.html

http://www.showbus.com/gallery/gpo.htm

You know I'd forgotten about them.

 

[Dennis]

Yes - I had forgotten about them as well, but that prompted me into a vague recollection of having seen a postcard showing a Royal Mail Ford Escort estate (similar to this) somewhere in the highlands on postbus services. The postcard was one of a series produced by Royal Mail, probably around 1983 depicting all their modes of transport. Have to dig around the parents attic to see if they are still around.

 

[90019]

Yes - I had forgotten about them as well, but that prompted me into a vague recollection of having seen a postcard showing a Royal Mail Ford Escort estate (similar to this) somewhere in the highlands on postbus services.

I believe they've used (Still use?) Vauxhall Combos for post buses.

 

[Dennis]

Well, you can't get much smaller than that.

 

[Oracle]

Also Ford Transit Connect vans. The reason that I thought of them is that we featured Commer PB then Dodge Spacevan Post Buses in Vintage Roadscene.

I have a photo of CWO 516K that was one of two short Morrison-Electricar electric buses that were sponsored by the DTI and used on shoppers services.

These are two shots of an earlier M-E electric bus that is pretty small!

These two views are of a Morrison Electricar, one of two vehicles supplied to the order of the National Agricultural Centre, at Stoneleigh in Warwickshire. They used the FL36/40 chassis (long wheelbase), with a glass fibre body (don't recall if the bodies were made at the works). One of the vehicles was loaned by the Centre and transported back to Tredegar, for the official opening ceremony in 1968. Later, many pictures were taken when one of the vehicles was used to transport the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, around the Stoneleigh site, in the 1970's.
says Keith Roberts

 

[W-on-Sea]

Not quite as small as the post-buses, but another very small "bus" operating stage services in Harlow (route ZIP1) is the 8-seater Mercedes Vito - a van conversion, essentially.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ABn-ravPkHA/S4UVLOK00KI/AAAAAAAAAd8/wC34hGi0w5E/s320/44780.JPG

 

[Oracle]

If you want to go historic, General Motors Limited offered a 7-seat Rural Bus from about 1924. This is the 1925 Superior K bus built in Hendon Plant. A more bus-like body was used on similar chassis by the Great Western Railway; the 14-seater version is on the right.

 

[Greenback]

There are some very small buses in Rome, designed to travel through the side streets. Haven't we got any like that anywhere in Britain?

 

[W-on-Sea]

Oracle, that is considerably more elegant that today's mini-mini-bus options!

Greenback, I know the ones you mean. Can't say I've seen anything like them anywhere in the UK (and can't immediately think of anywhere that would dictate the need for such a thing in quite the same way that Rome's <i>centro storico</i> does. I guess in the UK the most likely use for something similar might be on very sparsely-used rural routes, rather than historic town centre ones.

 

[Oracle]

Note the interior with real leather!

 

[westcoaster]

I remember these rumbaing in Manchester. http://markamis.fotopic.net/p25439177.html

 

[route101]

Saw a post bus at Lairg Station last Saturday . I saw a really small bus in Dijon , dont know what type.

 

[Joe Strummer]

Route 395 in London used Mercedes Minibuses, Could seat no more than about 12 people and a wheelchair

 

[OMGitsDAVE]

I managed to find this:
http://www.ugoto.com/picture_theworldssmallestbusoratleastoneofthesmallest.html
Looks like a coach just chopped.

+ I believe this is the same as the first.
http://acidcow.com/pics/690-the-worlds-smallest-bus-10-pics.html

 

[Oracle]

In Hamburg, with two entrances!

 

[OMGitsDAVE]

In Hamburg, with two entrances!

Well, they need to stop overcrowding on that route! its the most used in Hamburg!

 

[Oracle]

Perhaps they could use one of these mini coaches! This was taken at a Brighton Coach Rally.

BUT the prize for the cutest small bus/coach goes to this Ford? in Royal Blue colours in Bristol. Rego records show it was a 10hp Y van

BUO 809 Y103024 regd. 29/11/35 AE Greedy, Bampton

 

[PaulLothian]

We used to enjoy Lothian Regional Transport's short-wheelbase midi-buses (I now believe these to be Seddon Pennine IV-236s). When seen from the Castle, scurrying through the steep downhill bends of the Mound, they looked very much like clockwork mice, which became our children's nickname for them!

Picture here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27204054@N07/4934782129/in/pool-1472206@N21
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And, by the way, my last vehicle was a retired post-bus - an LDV Pilot, last used in the Highlands. Fitted in a car-parking space easily!

 

[WatcherZero]

A lot of 12 seater buses for Ring & Ride type services are built on van chassis, but then whats the point of reinventing the wheel?
Shortest ive actually ridden on would be the Metrorider at something like 7m? was used on a semi-rural suburban route which had a steep hill, low bridge and tight corners meaning a longer or taller bus couldnt be used.

 

[Heinz57]

The Mercadies Vario is quite small

http://matthew9559.fotopic.net/p11878246.html

 

[mbonwick]

Compared to what's been posted, Varios are huge!

Typically they seat 27-31 people. The Mercedes Vito, for example, seats 8, as does an Optare Alero.

That's almost 4 times smaller!

 

[starrymarkb]

not really - used to have these in Devon

http://www.flickr.com/photos/benbeaver95/5481553138/

and for busier routes http://www.flickr.com/photos/30461364@N04/3779616225/

 

[ChrisCooper]

I do remember (only just mind) Lincolnsire Roadcar and Lincoln City Transport (now both Stagecoach) in the early 90's operating sherpas and some converted Mercedes-Benz vans.


The sherpa http://www.flickr.com/photos/38163112@N06/4203162204/

Can't find any of the Mercs though.

http://woollen797.fotopic.net/p43065159.html

There's one of the Mercs, now preserved at the East Anglia Transport Museum.

 

[anthony263]

Smallest bus i have driven was a 8/9 seater optare alero, mind you the baby optare solos as i have nicknamed them which are 16-22 seaters are also very small and fun to drive