I always thought the Wright StreetCars looked quite cool, but was disappointed to see them go from pretty much everywhere in the UK. Are there any still in use, both here and internationally? And what happened to the withdrawn ones?
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StreetCar - Still Used Anywhere?
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busesrusuk
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There is/was one used by Go Ahead on the Luton Airport Parkway - Airport shuttle. This route came with the Thameslink franchise. I assume the bus is still around but this particular route may not be around for much longer as it presumably will be withdrawn once the people mover system is up and running.
There are also the batch that went to Las Vegas used on the "SDX" route linking "The Strip" with Fremont and the Premium shopping Mall North. Here are a couple of pics of the Vegas buses for those interested:
RTC 013 Oct 19 | Wright Streetcar passing the Cleveland Clin… | Flickr
RTC 041 July 14 | South Strip Transit Center, Las Vegas | Keith Wood | Flickr
RTC Nevada 041 Jul14 | Passing the Venetian with Caesars Pal… | Flickr
They have been around for some time now having been built in 2009 so it will be interesting to see how much longer they will stay in service. I understand that the initial batch of E500's which were delivered in 2005 are now being withdrawn but happy to be corrected on that last point.
There are also the batch that went to Las Vegas used on the "SDX" route linking "The Strip" with Fremont and the Premium shopping Mall North. Here are a couple of pics of the Vegas buses for those interested:
RTC 013 Oct 19 | Wright Streetcar passing the Cleveland Clin… | Flickr
RTC 041 July 14 | South Strip Transit Center, Las Vegas | Keith Wood | Flickr
RTC Nevada 041 Jul14 | Passing the Venetian with Caesars Pal… | Flickr
They have been around for some time now having been built in 2009 so it will be interesting to see how much longer they will stay in service. I understand that the initial batch of E500's which were delivered in 2005 are now being withdrawn but happy to be corrected on that last point.
cnjb8
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The GoAhead one at Luton has now been sold to Ensign, who sold it for scrap unsurprisingly.
Robertj21a
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I went on one when it was doing the Leeds-Bradford route (72?). Quite memorable for being fairly rubbish and terribly wasteful with a conductor.
I used them regularly when they were first introduced in York in 2006. As the first to enter service, they were fitted with an on-board ticket machine. The machines were very temperamental, rejecting perfectly valid £1 coins, seemingly at random! They were also coin only, although they did give change. The machines were also very slow, by the time a queue of 10 people had managed to board and buy tickets, the following bus had usually caught up and overtaken - on a 10 minute interval service! At the University Library stop, a bus could be sitting there for up to 20 minutes at certain times of day, as around 60-70 people boarded and attempted to buy tickets.
After a couple of months and numerous complaints from the travelling public (and the drivers), the ticket machines were taken out of use "temporarily" and conductors employed to sell tickets instead, thus improving the late running problem. The fTr was quite popular with the passengers in York for the ability to hoover up a large crowd at a bus stop in the peak hours.
Sadly, as a Lib-Dem council initiated project, as soon as Labour took over the council in 2011(?) they immediately got rid of the Lib-Dem's prize transport project, promising to replace them with brand new, state of the art double deck buses. In fact they were replaced with crappy, 3rd-hand double and single deck buses from South Yorkshire...
the street cars that were employed in the Leeds/Bradford area had a thing for breaking down with high engine temp. it got to the point the drivers and conductors could pretty much tell you what time it would happen.
as far as im aware street cars have made a return under a different name in Belfast - known now as Gliders
as far as im aware street cars have made a return under a different name in Belfast - known now as Gliders
Bristol LH
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The 10 StreetCars that First Cymru used in Swansea entered service in 2009, a couple of years later than originally planned, with conductors from the onset. They lasted until late August 2015, when replaced by StreetLites, and were placed mostly in open storage. Nine were sold for scrap in 2019 and 2020, but 19000, the first example, was sold for preservation:
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Bristol LH
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In the UK, former First 19000 seems to be the only survivor, unless anybody knows different.
ANDREW_D_WEBB
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The Belfast Gliders are Van Hool buses. The concept is very similar, but Wright’s have nothing to do with it.
Sorry if it’s a daft question, but if they were self-service machines why did the bus have to remain at the stop until everyone had bought a ticket?
Because the driver wouldn't move off until they were sure everyone had a ticket. The potential for people just getting on without paying is extremely high otherwise, especially in the areas of York that the number 4 route ran/runs. Also, the queue would be out of the door, there was nowhere inside to stand and queue as the machine was just inside the door.
Of course York could have re-introduced ticket inspectors, but if you're going to do that you may as well call them conductors and have them sell the tickets in the first place! A lot more reliable than the ticket machines that were getting shaken to pieces by a combination of very firm suspension and badly patched roads/speed cushions.
Oddly, I recall a number of them in open storage at Thingley Junction for a while - I'm not sure of their ownership status but they were all up for sale.The 10 StreetCars that First Cymru used in Swansea entered service in 2009, a couple of years later than originally planned, with conductors from the onset. They lasted until late August 2015, when replaced by StreetLites, and were placed mostly in open storage. Nine were sold for scrap in 2019 and 2020, but 19000, the first example, was sold for preservation:
They were all in a yard near the Severn Beach, with the batch of former CT Plus Bristol P&R Citaros, but that was a year or so back.
Las Vegas could be a good bet still if you really want a ride, although I’d heard they were being withdrawn there as well?
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
I considered them a prime example of turd-polishing. The problem with buses in the UK is not that they don't look like fake trams, it is that they are not operated properly.
The way to improve the efficiency of urban buses is off-bus ticketing/contactless and multi-door. Not a bodykit.
They were very much a product of the Firstbus of that era, who seemed to be all about sometimes slightly off-the-wall innovation, but sadly without the focus on quality of delivery that was needed to back it up.
I recall their campaign to rid themselves of double deckers, which they were very keen to suggest were 'unsafe' for those travelling upstairs at certain times of day, with a big - and unsuccessful - push for bendybuses across the UK. Most of which ended up living short service lives before being scrapped well ahead of their time. Overground was the next big idea, a valid concept but again not operated to its full potential.
I recall their campaign to rid themselves of double deckers, which they were very keen to suggest were 'unsafe' for those travelling upstairs at certain times of day, with a big - and unsuccessful - push for bendybuses across the UK. Most of which ended up living short service lives before being scrapped well ahead of their time. Overground was the next big idea, a valid concept but again not operated to its full potential.
M803UYA
Member
It's one of the sadder things about First really. There were a lot of really good ideas (like the FTR) but the will and enthusiasm to implement them was never there - so you have things like this, and Greyhound UK, which got diluted down and the direction changed away from it's original concept.
Caboose Class
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Wright StreetCars? I had to Google that one. Oh yes, I remember - in York we used to call them "bendy" buses. They only lasted a few years.
For some reason they liked to use them on route 4 in whichever city they were in.
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