What A Grey Day!

I have been looking forward to today for sometime. Back in Februrary I rode a batttery powered train and a Mercedes Citaro demonstrator that Ipswich Buses had on trial (see here). In that review I stated that I was so impressed with the Merc I emailed the then Managing Director of Ipswich Buses, Malcolm Robson, with one word - invest. Well invest they have and this week the three brand new Citaros entered service. It takes a lot to drag me to Ipswich these days but the prospect of spending a few hours riding around on these impressive looking buses was enough to brave the pouring rain for.

Ipswich Buses 154 Mercedes Citaro BF65 HVU at a wet Tower Ramparts

Now it must be said that from the outside these buses looked exactly as I expected them to - attractive and enticing. I like IB's modern livery and think it suits everything it has gone on. I let 154 go as it was already full so of course the next two buses were the two Scania Olympus deckers. Eventually, though, 155 rolled in and I boarded full of anticipation.

Immediately my vision changed from colour to black and white. Everything is grey. The seats are grey and grey, the floor is grey, the side panels and window surrounds are grey, the poles and grab handles are grey, the roof panels are light grey. It has truly got to be the most depressing and drab bus interior I have ever seen. Ever. But never mind I settled into my sumptuous seat to enjoy the journey. Oh hang on that's wrong I don't mean sumptuous do I. I mean rock hard. I have sat on softer wood. On the demonstrator I said the seats looked threadbare but were comfortable. These seats are not comfortable. Anything but. A complete disappointment in fact. When will operators learn that if people are going to leave their cars at home then the least they expect is a comfortable seat. You don't expect car passengers to sit on seats like that and they haven't waited 20 mins in the rain. Ipswich Buses have decent seats on all their other buses but these seats on the Mercs are appalling.

For those of you watching in black and white you're missing nothing. Nothing at all.

And then as we pulled away it rattled. I could see a loose roof panel and it wasn't just that I could hear rattling. Having said that the Citaro's suspension is awesome and speed bumps are effectively flattened - you cannot fault the ride in anyway.. But the engine seemed louder than the two demonstrators and sounded like a truck. I compared the demonstrator to the gas buses but not this one. One thing that was as quiet as a mouse though was the bell. In fact it's inaudible and passengers were checking the screen at the front to make sure it said "bus stopping". My intention was to do a rounder on all three of the Mercs but I ended up getting off 155 in Whitton, doing some shopping and catching 153 back to Ipswich. That was it.

Ipswich Buses 155 Mercedes Citaro BF65 HVV at Whitton

153 was a lot better in that it didn't rattle at all. However, it took ages to board with my shopping due to a buggy jam. The 9/10 serve a part of Ipswich that to put it mildly has a few buggies. A lot of buggies actually, so you would have thought the design of the interior would have taken that into account. Not so. Even one buggy intrudes onto the aisle and I can see a lot of time being lost purely through buggy problems. In fact they may not last too long on the route.

Ipswich Buses 153 Mercedes Citaro BF65 HVT

So to conclude: They look great but only from the outside. They are German so the engineers will love them as they will be extremely reliable. The ride is superb. But the interiors let them down badly. Colour, design and comfort are all lacking in imagination and with the customer in mind. The bell is silent yet the engine was louder than I expected. One is already rattling. In short they give the impression that the cheapest possible options in every area were chosen. I seriously thought they would be favourites for my "Bus Of The Year" award, but no. Had one of these been the demonstrator my email to Malcolm Robson would have contained two words not one - don't bother.