Jottings from Euro Bus Expo 2024

Thursday 14th November 2024

It’s Bus and Coach Show time again. Since Tuesday the NEC is playing host to the biennial exhibition that showcases shiny new buses, coaches, minibuses and mini coaches and a whole host of suppliers to the industry. There’s around 200 exhibitors to see so it would be impossible to cover all that’s on offer in this short synopsis so here’s a taste of things that attracted my attention.

You can’t miss the Irizar ie Tram on display immediately as you enter Hall 18. It’s rather ironic that two years ago the Irizar stand showed off the same model of vehicle destined for Go-Ahead London’s route 358 but as reported in recent blogs haven’t turned a wheel in service since then, and here we are again with the same ie Tram but this time destined for Fastrack as featured in Tuesday’s blog.

I remain sceptical about the practicalities of this bus, including the rather narrow entrance…

… and gangway at the front of the bus…

… but the area to accommodate two wheelchairs by the centre door offers more space albeit passengers using wheelchairs as well as those with large buggies and shopping trolleys won’t pass the ticket machine on boarding.

Those using wheelchairs will obviously stay put and their concessionary passes remain unregistered but large buggy users will have to make their way to the front through the narrow gangway, potentially in conflict with passengers who’ve boarded through the front door – something that already happens in London, but here they’ll then need to pay a fare rather than just tap an Oyster.

Bearing in mind the space constraints and 32 seat capacity I’m surprised two tables have even added in the rear section, especially as there’s barely enough room for four pairs of knees and legs in the space underneath …

…. and the leg room in the seats behind those is rather tight…

… and of course there’s the practicality of the lower glass panels which I’m unconvinced by.

Let’s hope it’s not too long before these buses are introduced into service and we can all see how they get on in busy urban operating conditions rather than my pessimistic speculation which I hope will be misplaced.

Over on the Pelican stand the company has two of Yutong’s electric buses on display. An E12 single deck destined for Stagecoach…

… and a U11DD double deck for First Bus in the company’s new corporate livery…

… except it’s displaying the old style logo as the new one, already launched internally, is still top secret for the public until officially launched later this month. I’d have thought the Show would have been an ideal place and time to launch it, but that’s PR people for you. Just as a reminder, here it is…

BYD are displaying both a single deck and double deck – the latter (“All New BD11”) destined for Go-Ahead London with a rather unusual front design …

… and I see Go-Ahead London is now a thing with a logo rather than using its constituent parts (London General, London Central, Blue Triangle etc).

I was interested to see the first double seats on the nearside aren’t marked as priority seats…

… and the rear twelve seats look rather crammed, presumably to give more space for the wheelchair area.

The single deck (B12) with a more futuristic shape is destined for UNO.

ADL are displaying a new Enviro 100EV destined for London with its single door…

… and therefore, unusually for a London bus, has the space for wheelchair users at the front nearside…

… but undoubtedly the star of the Show is the ADL Enviro400EV for Transdev Blazefield’s route 36.

The route has seen incremental improvements to vehicle quality over the years introduced by the company working collaboratively with Best Impressions and ADL.

This latest iteration takes interior design standards to another new level…

… with a great colour scheme for the furnishings and flooring and the usual attention to detail…

… we’ve now come to expect from Ray Stenning and his design team.

There’s no doubt these buses ooze quality with their parquet style flooring …

… and you really feel you’re travelling first class.

Even the much sought after front offside seats on the upper deck have great leg room and are as comfortable as all the other seats rather than sitting on top of a box.

I thought for a moment (see photo below) this was a large sized toaster for extra thick bread (placed under the book shelf) but it’s for litter (with one section for recyclable waste). There’s another one at the top of the stairs and have yet to have stickers attached.

Ray has his usual stand displaying the Best Impressions portfolio…

… as has Andi North and colleague Luke promoting his design agency, The Fruit Bowl, which also includes Scenic Buses which Andi was telling me he hopes to expand to also include rail.

Other vehicles which caught my eye are minibuses on both the Mellor…

… and Ilesbus stands.

It’s great to see interior specifications for this size of vehicle have come on leaps and bounds in recent years…

… such the vehicles are a million miles away from a standard bus or a welfare vehicle of old.

The Show also features many coaches from a whole host of manufacturers but I’ll leave the vehicle stands here other than to show it wasn’t all modern ‘state-of-the-art’ vehicles. A nod to nostalgia sees Stratford Blue Leyland Tiger PS2/3 from the Transport Museum Wythall on display…

… with its fascinating history explained.

Elsewhere this 1950 Duple bodied Bedford OB new to Safeway Services in Somerset is attracting attention on the RHA stand.

Of course, these days the bus industry has a whole host of suppliers delivering tech based solutions, many of which are 21st Century additions to the Bus Show scene. Here’s just a selection from those displaying their wares….

…. and not forgetting old favourites including destination sign manufacturers and refurbishment experts

It’s not easy for these companies to display their products in an eye catching way, especially if its software they’re flogging, but full marks to Ticketer which, as usual, has an eye catching stand to attract attention.

It’s not just exhibits either, there’s a Masterclass theatre area where you can listen to experts speak on a whole variety of subjects.

Euro Bus Expo is at the NEC until today (Thursday 14th) so if you’re reading this early in the morning, there might still be time to pay a visit.

Roger French

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