What do you think of Arriva's Darwen Olympus?

[jimbob90]

Now that the Volvo B9TL Darwen Olmpus have been in operation for a while at Belle Isle Depot, I was wondering what everyone thinks about them.

Do you think they are a good investment by the company for such a high frequency route as the 110? What do you think to the leather seats? Was it worth the extremely long wait for them to be delivered? Should they have purchased Wright Eclipse Geminis instead?

I personally wasn't a big fan of them originally, as I didn't find the leather seats to be too comfortable, although they are starting to wear in nicely. It also took a while for me to get use to the bodywork, but as most stuff grows on me over time, I have started to become a fan of them.

I think they could have picked a better design for the route branding, possibly using a Blue colour the same as the "Connecting Hemsworth" branding, but other than that it's not a bad bus at all.

[kendall17]

couldn't fault them, wasn't happy when i missed a peak time Frist B9 @ hunslet but was happy to ride the 110, they we're comfy, low sound and we're one of the best buses i have ridden on

[westyorkshirebus]

I don't think they should have purchased any Geminis. We already have First and Transdev having the Gemini as their double deck of choice, we don't need Arriva doing so as well

[mattyr88]

Aug 2, 2008 0:45:17 GMT 1 westyorkshirebus said:

I don't think they should have purchased any Geminis. We already have First and Transdev having the Gemini as their double deck of choice, we don't need Arriva doing so as well

a agree on that one, besides the wright gemminis are realy loosing their novelty now, time for a change!

[www.buseireann.ie]

They break too hard when coming to a halt. Also, 1805 has an irritating squeak coming somewhere near the front when moving over bumpy roads.

[jackh]

Something Darwen have got right is having openning windows at the front side windows on the upper deck so that part of the bus gets some air so it is more comfortable sitting at the front in weather at the present.

The windscreen upstairs with it been deep does make you feel rather exposed and with the hand rail been so low at the front too, it could quite potentially be quite dangerous for passengers sat at the front if the bus was to make head on impact with another vehicle or stationery object. There is nothing there to stop you from flying through the windscreen.

[jimbob90]

Apparantly 2 of the new Darwens have been involved in seperate incidents recently. One was in Wakefield Bus Station near the FCB Stand and one was at the top of The Springs, don't know any more details at the moment.

[olympian]

That will explain why there is always 2 1999 optare spectra's on the 110 at the moment.