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“The passengers like them, the drivers like them and the engineers like them.” That’s how Philip Baker, managing director of Bakerbus, describes his experience of introducing a fleet of three Plaxton Primos to the improved Congleton local services, launched in August. In just six weeks of operation the use of modern low-floor buses to provide an attractive and reliable service has also seen rapid growth in passenger numbers.

The new services are marketed under the Beartown Bus brand, recognising Congleton’s association with bears at the town’s annual fairs.

“The Primos and the revised service network have brought a step change in what customers receive on the town service in Congleton,” Philip Baker adds. “These are the first new vehicles and the first low-floor vehicles for town services in Congleton, and they have brought new standards of accessibility and reliability.”

To attract car users on to buses, reliability and ease of use are key factors, and this the Primos have brought to the Beartown Bus operation.

“They are customer-friendly, which is why we chose them,” says Philip Baker. “They feel like big buses, and having the entrance ahead of the front axle makes life easier for the driver and for passengers. I’m very pleased with them.”

The 28-seat Plaxton Primo is just 7.9m long and with its short wheelbase and front entrance offers unrivalled manoeuvrability. It has a welded stainless steel structure, building on Plaxton’s considerable expertise in using stainless steel on its coach range.

Plaxton Bus Sales Manager, Matt Shenton, believes that Primo is now well on the way to becoming established as a mainstream product in a sector of the market where there are still substantial numbers of step entrance mini-buses to be replaced in the next seven or eight years, “When we launched Primo, it was a revolution in terms of practicality and style in this sector of the market and invariably when you produce something this different, you expect to have to convince the sceptics it’s going to work. Whilst we’ve clearly had to overcome a few setbacks, we’ve worked closely with customers to keep their vehicles on the road and minimise any disruption. We’ve also taken their views on improvements on board and in it’s latest Euro 4 variant, Primo is a very different animal to that launched at the outset and with vastly improved reliability.”

Since its launch in 2006 Plaxton has delivered over 100 Primos to operators throughout Britain, from Cornwall to Scotland.

Caption to ribbon cutting: Councillor Steve Wilkinson, Vice Chairman of Cheshire County Council and Bakerbus Managing Director Phil Baker cut the ribbon to launch ‘Beartown Bus’. The Bear, alias Bakerbus team member Lesley Jukes, looks on!

TWO DOZEN BEAVERS FOR LEWISHAM

Lewisham is the latest London Borough to recognise the benefits of the Plaxton Beaver 3 accessible minibus. The borough has just taken delivery of 24 examples of the third generation of Plaxton’s venerable mobility vehicle for it’s ‘door2door’ services in a move which is destined to take a significant  step forward in enhancing the quality and environmental performance of the operation. “This is a red letter day for Lewisham” enthused ‘door2door’ Service Group Manager Martyn Champkins, at the formal handover to mark the official handover of the first half of the order, “the new vehicles are already proving popular with staff and customers and represent a significant reduction of our environmental impact.”

The Lewisham Beaver 3s feature the latest generation of styling for Beaver, a model which was first launched over 20 years ago and sales of which are estimated at well over 5,000 in bus, coach and mobility configurations. The current range continues to offer all three configurations but it is the mobility variant which dominates the build programme at the Anston plant, Beaver’s home since 1994. Just as the body has evolved, so too has the Mercedes Benz chassis which has been the preferred platform for countless numbers of customers. The latest generation is the Mercedes-Benz Vario 0813 chassis, powered by the 130bhp 4.25-litre OM904LA BlueTec engine, an advanced unit employing SCR technology with Ad-Blue to achieve exceptional environmental performance.

Lewisham Fleet Manager Noel Everest, responsible for managing the Borough’s vehicle assets, confirmed that the additional activities associated with Ad-Blue filling and digital tachograph management would present no difficulty since the Borough already had a fleet of refuse collection vehicles so equipped.

The Beaver 3 was specifically intended to take social needs travel to a new level, escaping from the utilitarian appearance, often derived from ambulances, so often associated with such vehicles and the Lewisham vehicles are a classic case study in achieving these aims. The eye catching interior is to a specification designed by Plaxton jointly with the Lewisham team and meets Martyn’s desire for a bright stimulating environment for customers. “We wanted to get away from the greys and browns so often associated with social needs transport and go for something that was different enough to provide stimulation for a wide spectrum of customers”. The result is a blue and yellow colour co-ordinated interior featuring easy clean Richards and Shaw Urban seats with three point belts and polycarbonate backs. These are floor mounted using NMI tracks and fixings and complimented by blue Altro floor coverings. Grey net roller blinds provided shade at the bonded side windows. Additional features include a one piece power operated door, a CD Radio system and Eberspacher climatic control for both the passenger and driver areas.

The Beaver 3s have a design capacity between two seats plus 11 wheelchairs to 32 all seated although in practice all but one fully seated vehicle are being delivered with 18 seats. Wheelchair access is achieved with an underfloor cassette mounted Access lift leading to wide double doors with highly reflective red edging to warn approaching drivers when the doors are in the open position. Externally, the new buses are finished in white with the simple but effective Lewisham branding on a dark blue band.

Lewisham ‘door2door’ operates 62 vehicles providing services for around 500 special needs children and 400 adults on a daily basis. The Beaver 3s will replace most of the refurbished Leyland Swift buses which, when new, had inaugurated Lewisham’s integrated transport system from September 1990, Lewisham being the first Borough to achieve integration of education and social services transport needs after the dissolution of the Inner London Education Authority. The Borough has often received acclaim for its transport operation, culminating in the award of ‘Beacon Status’ in 2003 and participation in the development of dial-a-ride in London. The arrival of the new environmentally friendly Plaxton Beaver 3 fleet will further enhance the Borough’s standing and provide the reliability to undertake more curriculum work with schools during the day.

In a short ceremony in Beckenham Place Park, the first twelve Beaver 3s were formally handed over by Plaxton’s Stuart Smith to the Deputy Mayor of Lewisham, Cllr Heidi Alexander in the presence of the Deputy Young Mayor, Dami Benbow. The latter role is unique in London to Lewisham and has proved a major success in getting young people involved across a wide range of activities in the Borough, not least in the provision of attractive vehicles for its transport services.

The Lewisham Plaxton Beaver 3s were supplied ready for the road by Plaxton’s Anston operation.

Picture:
From left to right : Martyn Champkins (Group Service Manager LB of Lewisham), Heidi Alexander (Deputy Mayor of Lewisham), Stuart Smith (Plaxton), Dami Benbow (Deputy Young Mayor of Lewisham)