On Saturday 18th September 2010 I went to Manchester to see the new hybrid buses running on service 42 to East Didsbury and 43 to
Manchester Airport. Both these services run along the Wilmslow Road through Rusholme which is a wonderful place for bus (and curry) enthusiasts
with buses literally every minute and an amazing selection of restaurants and shops. Nowadays Stagecoach and its subsidiary Magic Bus are
the dominant operators with Finglands the major competitor.
The new hybrid buses are designated ADL Enviro 400H and their appearance is very similar to standard Enviros – the main difference is the use
of the colour green instead of Stagecoach blue for the seats and some exterior paint. The engines and transmission are different with the engine
being used to generate electricity to charge the lithium ion batteries which in turn drive an electric motor. The braking system is similar to
a Telma retarder but using the drive motor to generate electricity which is stored in the batteries. This is how the energy savings are achieved.
I quite liked the new buses but the average passenger wouldn’t notice the difference. When stationary, the engine noise seemed marginally less
than on a standard Enviro, on drawing off, the engine noise increases slightly and is accompanied by a slight whining transmission/motor noise.
Braking seemed good and perhaps a little fierce sometimes. Acceleration seemed good but the busy roads gave no chance to see how these buses
would perform on an open road. Time will tell if the claimed fuel savings are achieved and if there are real problems with battery life or if
super capacitors (whatever they are) will come along next.
My guess is that this type of hybrid will succeed and that those which combine gear boxes and electrical drive will prove too complicated.
1 & 2 ABOVE & BELOW: Front and rear views of the new buses.
3 & 4 ABOVE & BELOW: Downstairs interior.
5. Old and new Enviros. Service 43 runs every 10 mins on Sat am and the front bus was taken out of service but I don’t know why.
6. On this driver change the relief driver was given a short briefing as to where the starter switch was etc. The parting comment was
that there are no gears – “it’s just like a milk float”.
7. A low floor Magic Bus in a new livery.
8. A traditional Magic Bus.
9. A hybrid on the road.
10. The remaining pictures were taken in central Manchester starting with one of the new yellow trams.
11. A couple of typical Finglands buses. They also had quite a few single deckers out.
12. First is the major operator in north Manchester with some ‘dangerous’ bendy buses but they are good at lifting crowds.
13. I had not seen ‘your167’ before and this bus incurred the wrath of a bendy driver for obstruction.
14. A typical First bus at the newish Shudehill Interchange.
15. Bluebird operates several services in north Manchester. This one has a multicoloured destination display.
16. Has the price been reduced? Is it now a short pound? Look at the happy chappy.
17. Shudehill Interchange again. 1021 is one of the first batch of trams which has been modified to have its couplers enclosed.
18. Terravision operates an express service to Liverpool Airport at just over hourly intervals – this one was about 20 mins late according
to the timetable on the stop.
19. This formed the 17:15 to London and was on the stand in plenty of time.
20. Back in Piccadilly. This picture gives an idea of the size of the high floor Manchester trams.
21. Buses queuing to get into Piccadilly bus station.
22, 23 & 24 ABOVE & TWO BELOW: The buses seemed to have got themselves jammed and the tram had to wait until they had sorted themselves out.
25. Another picture of trams and buses together.
26 & 27 ABOVE & BELOW: Is it the buses or the trams or, more likely a combination of both, that are destroying the road surface?
27. Magic Buses and Finglands.
28. The middle-aged and the new. Later the Enviro driver seemed to have some difficulty starting the engine.
29. I think that the 216 used to be operated by trolleybuses. I had thought that the hybrids might be a bit like trolleybuses but they weren’t.
30 & 31 ABOVE & BELOW: This company operate several services from many Polish towns to the UK, Ireland and Germany. Their web
site is entirely in Polish
HERE
but from what I could see this coach was about 4 hours late being due at 14:30 and photographed at 18:20.
32. A challenge for Oliver. Richard is referring to
HERE