With all the excitement over the new X1 Enviros it's easy to forget that a year ago we were all getting excited over the iminent arrival of the much heralded MAN EcoCity gas buses that Anglian Bus launched on the now extinct 146. When I first went on one I was knocked for six at how quiet and smooth they were, but forecast that within a year they'd be rattling like old Darts and would be awful.
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| Anglian 106 passing Lowestoft Bus Station today en route to Kessingland |
I could not have been more wrong. Without being melodramatic I love those buses. The ride is still amazingly smooth and they are so quiet when stationary it's hard to tell if the engines are running or not. If I'm brutally honest they rattle less than the new Enviros!! The drivers tell me they are lethal in the wet but as an ex driver myself I can tell them that Leyland Nationals were the same.
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| Anglian 112 proclaiming its agricultural qualities |
When you really think about it field to fuel in 28 days is quite something - I mean a decent steak is hung for 28 days! What I can't understand is why there hasn't been a huge demand for them - who else has got them?
Well Arriva in Runcorn have 10 of them running on Runcorn's Busway but that's hardly the same as Gunton Estate. Apart from the Demonstrators that appears to be it in the UK so I consider myself pretty lucky to live so close to these pioneering vehicles.
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| An Olympian sandwich! Anglian 105 leads the way |
So the only thing remaining is for more companies to use these fantastic buses - why hasn't Boris Johnson jumped on the gaswagon - and for a double decker version to be created! Then we really would be cooking on gas!!
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