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ADL Dart SLF / ADL Pointer #42559
Built: 2005
File size: 239.93kB
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In the UK nearly all buses outside of London have just one door. It dates back to the days when the industry needed to save money by removing conductors. Buses became rear-engined and doors moved to the front, so only one member of staff was needed - the driver. Drivers have to collect all fares and check ticket validity, and having one door forces every passenger to pass the driver.
I drive a double-decker bus every day which can carry 100 passengers when full, but the bus still only has one door. It is my opinion that this very British system, (derived from a very long history of bus operation and a local bus industry open to free competition between operators) is now outdated, but we do at least collect 100% of fares - no passenger can avoid paying this way.Thank you for your detailed answer. When were conductors removed and buses constructed as rear-engined?
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You are welcome. I hope it helps
The first rear-engined buses appeared in the late 1950`s. Leyland Atlantean, Daimler Fleetline and Bristol VR were the pioneers of the type. Of course, back then the industry was still under government control but the huge advantage of buses that cut the wage bill by 50% was obvious. They quickly became popular and "One man buses" became the usual standard by the early 1980s here.
In 1986, the UK bus industry changed completely when the government sold off all the bus companies to private companies, and the market was completely free for them to compete with each other. This of course meant that operators had to save and protect all the revenue they could - hence why things stayed the way they were in 1986. In terms of basic bus design anyway.
In Poland (when I am there) I notice there are more "inspectors", boarding buses and checking the tickets passengers have. Here in the UK, a driver might see an inspector just once every 2 months, and if anyone on the bus does not have a correct ticket, the company will blame the driver. When riding on ZTM buses in Kielce, I had my ticket checked almost once a day! So, here in the UK, bus companies depend much more on the driver to collect the money, which of course is impossible to do with people getting on and off through 2 or 3 doors. Thank you. It`s interesting to see that bus constructions developed in different way in UK because of fare collecting system.
We bought licence of Leyland 0.680 and Leylad 0.400 engines so some of buses like Jelcz PR110M and trucks Jelcz 315 have similiar sounds as Leyland Atlantean. Also during the licence pursue in early 1970s Leyland National bus was considered, but Berliet PR100 was eventually chosen.I had read that Leyland engines had been used under licence in Jelcz vehicles. Although I did not recognise the sound of them when I used them in Kielce - but my excuse is that when I was a child, I grew up with buses fitted with Gardner 6LXB engines.
I have since driven buses with the 0.680 engine, but with semi-automatic gears. I would really like to try such a vehicle with this engine and manual transmission to see what difference that makes.- +1
The difference is huge
We used them with manual and automatic transmissions as well (rare type of Jelcz 120M and 120M/3 from 1990s with SWT11 engine = upgraded, turbocharged, horizontal 0.680). 
SWT sounds totally different than 680... now it is very hard to find classic leyland on route in Poland.
Thanks to you both. This is very interesting - I did not know that the 0.680 was "developed" in that way. I`ve looked at the details of the Jelcz 120M`s I rode on in Kielce and it seems they have the SWT11. I was lucky to experience such a bus if they are rare. Shame I was only a passenger - I rarely get to use my manual licence in the UK!
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Honestly, the most important feature of 120M was SWT11 engine. And upgraded body structure. Now you may come across Polish SW680 engine only in few cities in Jelcz PR110M buses left (Skrażysko Kamienna, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski). The sound was interesting because these engines used to work with low rotational speed. They used to have many PR110M in Rzeszów but they had scrapped them recently.
I remember hearing the PR110M models in Kielce when I first visited, although I understand they are now all gone. I noticed the engine was revving at very low speeds, and the driver had to change through the gears very quickly when pulling away as the ratios were so short. When outside and hearing one pass, there was that unique sound that you mention - like the bus is in too low gear. That is how I did not recognise the 0.680 sound I guess.
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The drivers were told that the lower revs are, the lower fuel consumption is
And they were told to accelerate rapidly and then cruise in neutral gearbox position. Its only partly true as the fuel consumption has its minimum only in one determined point, which is also dependent on load of vehicle and acceleration rate. Do drivers really care about fuel consumption? In my experience, drivers will drive in whichever way is comfortable for them. Certainly, I would not `coast` in neutral gear under any circumstances, but that`s just the way I was trained here. How would a company check that drivers are driving the manual buses in that way, and would they penalise those who do not?
They do care. In many companies they get reduced salary if they exceed fuel consumption norms. And, what is more important, it is not uncommon in Poland to steal fuel for privat purposes. It was more common in previous age before 1989, but now still occures. Every driver at the end of the day fills the container to full state, so you know how many fuel does he consume every day. There are still comissions which analyse fuel consumption and reduce salaries...
Now, that is interesting, but each bus must have more than one driver every day, so it would be hard to work out which driver had incurred the higher consumption?
Here, we have a system of lights attached to the dashboard which measures how drivers accelerate, brake and corner. This encourages drivers to be more perceptive and reduce fuel consumption. However, most of the shifts I work will see me drive 3 or 4 different vehicles each day, so without that system it would be impossible to know which driver incurred the high fuel consumption.
I will say though, it is good that drivers there take pride in saving their company money - here it is not so common. Unless the salary was reduced, then they would care
haha- +1
In smaller companies drivers have "own" vehicles or vehicles are shared between maximum two persons. In Poland changing vehicles during shift is veeery rare (I don`t even know if it is really existing).
Very interesting indeed. A completely different way of working to what I am used to here in the UK. There are many differences in the details of how the British and Polish bus industries operate - obviously there are big difference in that the UK is a "free" industry, where in Poland there is still regulation, but smaller differences too like fare collection, vehicle design, driver allocation and so on. I would like to spend time with a Polish operator and look closer at how it works: maybe both British and Polish companies could learn from each other :P
I think that the biggest difference is that you drive on the wrong side of the road
HAHA! Are you sure it`s not everyone else on the wrong side?
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everything like in mirror. Doors on left side, wheel on right :P
Yeah, but driving on the wrong side is easy
I`ve driven the car from UK to PL many times, I`m used to it now
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