HOME | DD

Description
After fourteen years dutifully serving Londoners on a daily basis, a small number of former RATP London United Scania N230UD "OmniCity"double-deckers have been withdrawn, suitably converted for provincial use and sent to Dorset, taking up work with Go South Coast subsidiary "morebus" throughout the rest of Spring and Summer.

They form part of a still very mixed fleet necessitated by the need for extra vehicles in the Bournemouth and Poole areas, following the sudden and sad collapse of Yellow Buses last August. The combined network of the two operators is gradually being amalgamated, recent service changes in May 2023 have seen a lot of routes renumbered to suit the "morebus" system, whilst others have been rerouted to branch into new or previously un-served territory by "morebus".

One such corridor has seen an uprising in the form of competition by another operator, "Transpora". I won't go into too much detail, but as far as operators go, they're one to be well avoided. I hesitate to call them "cowboys" because there was at least a small amount of honesty in the wild west among thieves, murderers and the like. No, Transpora are more your bus company equivalent of a snake oil salesman. Anyway, they're not relevant here. Nor anywhere else for that matter.

Back to the Scanias, there's due to be a baker's dozen taking up work in the area before peak summer season begins. At the time of writing, all but two have entered service. Seven are in base pale yellow, three are still carrying London red, whilst at least one is in all white. All are due to go yellow at some point, albeit not likely during their time with "morebus".

Why yellow? Well it's kind of sad really. Sad and pathetic. These admittedly tired capital cascades may well be enjoying their last gasps of happiness in the beautiful surroundings of the Dorset coast, but come the autumn, all are being sent to Manchester, taking up work with Go North West. The insipid yellow livery being the result of the current Mayor of Greater Manchester's hard-on for London-style franchising and route tendering, something he calls "The Bee Network", all operator's buses bearing the same uninspiring and more than a little narcissistic livery, if one can call it that.

For now though, the OmniCity DDs in question are turning heads and putting smiles on the faces of the many locals and seasonal visitors they're likely to be transporting through the warmer months. With a large number of native and locally-sourced in-house transfer examples of the type already serving well with "morebus", I'm sure these Londoners will fit right in and unlike many other parts of England (notably those north of Watford) will be accepted.

Seen in the main working the colloquially known "Wimborne Flyer" is a plain but very smart No.1185 (YT59 SHJ), purring her way through the gorgeous village of Corfe Mullen, an area once famed for its colourful violet and lavender cultivation. The bus is something of a celebrity, particularly with Londoners. In it's previous incarnation as RATP London United SP40102, the bus was the recipient of a repaint into a rendition of the original privatisation livery of London United, as part of the TfL's 2014 "Year of the Bus" celebrations. It continued to wear this "heritage scheme" right up until withdrawal and conversion.

Description
After fourteen years dutifully serving Londoners on a daily basis, a small number of former RATP London United Scania N230UD "OmniCity"double-deckers have been withdrawn, suitably converted for provincial use and sent to Dorset, taking up work with Go South Coast subsidiary "morebus" throughout the rest of Spring and Summer.

They form part of a still very mixed fleet necessitated by the need for extra vehicles in the Bournemouth and Poole areas, following the sudden and sad collapse of Yellow Buses last August. The combined network of the two operators is gradually being amalgamated, recent service changes in May 2023 have seen a lot of routes renumbered to suit the "morebus" system, whilst others have been rerouted to branch into new or previously un-served territory by "morebus".

One such corridor has seen an uprising in the form of competition by another operator, "Transpora". I won't go into too much detail, but as far as operators go, they're one to be well avoided. I hesitate to call them "cowboys" because there was at least a small amount of honesty in the wild west among thieves, murderers and the like. No, Transpora are more your bus company equivalent of a snake oil salesman. Anyway, they're not relevant here. Nor anywhere else for that matter.

Back to the Scanias, there's due to be a baker's dozen taking up work in the area before peak summer season begins. At the time of writing, all but two have entered service. Seven are in base pale yellow, three are still carrying London red, whilst at least one is in all white. All are due to go yellow at some point, albeit not likely during their time with "morebus".

Why yellow? Well it's kind of sad really. Sad and pathetic. These admittedly tired capital cascades may well be enjoying their last gasps of happiness in the beautiful surroundings of the Dorset coast, but come the autumn, all are being sent to Manchester, taking up work with Go North West. The insipid yellow livery being the result of the current Mayor of Greater Manchester's hard-on for London-style franchising and route tendering, something he calls "The Bee Network", all operator's buses bearing the same uninspiring and more than a little narcissistic livery, if one can call it that.

For now though, the OmniCity DDs in question are turning heads and putting smiles on the faces of the many locals and seasonal visitors they're likely to be transporting through the warmer months. With a large number of native and locally-sourced in-house transfer examples of the type already serving well with "morebus", I'm sure these Londoners will fit right in and unlike many other parts of England (notably those north of Watford) will be accepted.

Seen in the main working the colloquially known "Wimborne Flyer" is a plain but very smart No.1185 (YT59 SHJ), purring her way through the gorgeous village of Corfe Mullen, an area once famed for its colourful violet and lavender cultivation. The bus is something of a celebrity, particularly with Londoners. In it's previous incarnation as RATP London United SP40102, the bus was the recipient of a repaint into a rendition of the original privatisation livery of London United, as part of the TfL's 2014 "Year of the Bus" celebrations. It continued to wear this "heritage scheme" right up until withdrawal and conversion.