67 Left Hook Trucks, busses, a rail engine an bike

-b

JBlair,

Thanks for that, learn something new every day.

well i was thinking that if you were about to get run over by the bus u pull the yellow handle and the bar flick s you on to the kerb .Well looks like i was wrong

What a wonderful selection: something of everything (including a train). Those midibuses are distinctively USA, and are very common. Nearly everything urban which I saw last year had a bike rack on the front, capable of holding two. They were getting frequent use too.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

Ta Roderick,
As to those midibuses,
It sort of struck me that as they are clearly truck chassis, (and all the driver controls look to be totally truck too) the manufacturer gets to build one basic thing with a million variants which would give them a cheaper unit cost to build.

So, the question is, if passenger safety and vehicle durability is equal to a bus chassis coach/ Coaster style bus, why don't we see more of them here in Oz?

Is there some ADR reason that prevents our coach builders from using a high volume truck chassis?

-b

Great photos love the GM coach Murray's buses in Canberra used to run them fantastic sound brings back my school days

Not only did those GMs look good and sound good, they were an absolute delight to drive.

Hi Bobsboy,

There are some smaller bonnetted buses running around Doncaster etc in Victoria that appear to be on a truck chassis.
However I think the use of a special chassis these days is to be able to make them low floor so access for the disabled, elderly or prams is easier given the discrimination laws and political promises.

Also a specific chassis can be designed to allow maximum carrying capacity for a given length. The closest truck equivalent would be a long tom.

Blink,
Ah, of course.
Obviouse to me now.

While traveling on Vancouver's RPT busses, I do now recall that they did infact, all have flat floor entry and space for prams and such (along with preferential seating for "the elderly").

Not being wheelchair "en-abled" myself, I did not (naturally and wrongly) observe the lack of "universal" wheelchair access on the truck chassis coaches.

While some of the truck coaches did have chair lifters (a practical work around but not a best first solution), they do indeed all have step entry.

Thanks for pointing out to me what should have been obvious.

ta,
-b

The Melbourne ones, formerly operated by National Bus, were nicknamed 'breadbaskets'.
IIRC they were not flat floor. Their reason for existing was to wander off main roads and through modern subdivisions, with narrow and curved roads, and parking congestion. That style of route is being phased out. AFAIK all have been withdrawn. My memory is that the were not popular with drivers, and they weren't popular with management (the same labour cost for less revenue). I can't find a photo of one in my collection fast; I'll have to rely on others, or find a link.

In USA, I have experienced kneeling buses, buses with roll-out ramps and buses with lifts. In Melbourne, Crown specialises in buses for various forms of disability, and has many vehicles with lifts.

I have had to skip MSTEC's 50th anniversary today, so have the benefit with a USA photo.

121029M Denver Colorado, bus wheelchair lift R Smith

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor