United Kingdom London Transport Metrobus MkI at Showbus 2022 in
St Albans The
London Transport Executive purchased 1,440 MkI examples between 1978 and 1985, numbering them M1 to M1440. Two MkII prototypes were delivered to London Transport for the Alternative Vehicle Evaluation programme in 1984, M1441 with a
Gardner engine and
Voith transmission and M1442 with a
Cummins engine and Maxwell transmission, however no orders resulted. •
London General withdrew its last Metrobuses in normal service at
Stockwell Garage in February 2003, leaving a handful of Metrobuses for special purposes; M1440 and open-top OM171 from the private hire fleet at Sutton and M1435, painted into a "spotted cow" livery for an art exhibition. The first order for five was placed upon the launch of the Metrobus in January 1977, with the first delivered in January 1978. Fifty dual-purpose Metrobuses with high-backed seats were also delivered to the PTE in 1986, branded for use on 'Timesaver' express services. In early 1995, West Midlands Travel's aging Metrobus fleet was suffering from severe
corrosion, resulting in bus body manufacturer
Marshall Bus of
Cambridge being contracted to overhaul all of WMT's Metrobuses. A production line costing £240,000 () overall was established in one of Marshall Bus' aircraft hangars and by early 1996, Marshall was completing five Metrobus overhauls per week. The catalogue of refurbishments made by Marshall Bus included replacement of damaged or corroded panels, new outriggers, flitch plates, crossmembers, sills, a new bulkhead and new stainless steel riser panels. Stress panels were also installed around the wheel arches and around the lower-deck interior, the floors on both decks were replaced, and a smaller rear window was installed alongside revised rear panelling. The refurbishments were aimed at making the buses capable of an extra ten years of service; A small number were retained in the company's driver training fleet until 2017, however, and one was purchased and restored by
Wolverhampton garage staff into 'Timesaver' livery in 2017.
Other PTEs The
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (GMPTE) initially ordered 190 MkI MCW Metrobuses which were delivered between 1979 and 1983, alongside an unfulfilled order of 15 out of 190
Leyland Titans. During 1986,
Northern Counties delivered 30 more MCW Metrobuses built with Manchester standard bodywork, intended for the 'Trans Lancs' 400 express service linking
Bolton with
Stockport. One MkII Metrobus was converted by Yorkshire Rider to operate as a demonstrator for a guided busway in Leeds, using parts supplied from WMT's
Tracline 65 Metrobuses. The
South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive purchased a total of 170 MkI and MkII Metrobuses following comparative trials in 1979, delivered across five batches from 1980 to 1985, some being specified in dual doors configuration. These were joined by ten MkII Metrobuses in 1986 that were delivered with coach-style seats for 'Fastline' express work. The
Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive bought five Metrobuses on evaluation in 1979, selling these to LRT in 1988, while fifteen Metrobuses, some with Alexander bodywork, were purchased by the
Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive; The
Greater Glasgow Passenger Transport Executive and its successor,
Strathclyde Buses, purchased 70 MkI, MkII and Alexander-bodied Metrobuses over from 1979 to the end of production in 1989.
Yorkshire Traction took delivery of twelve Metrobuses in late 1986, an order initially placed when the company was an NBC subsidiary. Most of these were transferred to
Kelvin Scottish following the reorganisation of the SBG. Other municipal bus operators who bought Metrobuses included
Kingston upon Hull City Transport,
Leicester City Transport,
Newport Transport and
Reading Transport.
1980s 3-axle Metrobus MkII in
Wong Nai Tau In 1981, MCW produced prototypes of 3-axle, 12-metre long "Super-Metrobuses". Two were purchased by CMB as ML1-ML2 and three by
Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB) as M1-M3, later renumbered 3M1-3M3. All were bodied with MCW MkII bodies. Between 1987 and 1989,
Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) also purchased 59 2-axle Metrobuses for their feeder bus services. 39 of them (101-139) were brand new with MkII bodies, while another 20 (140-159) were second-hand buses purchased from South Yorkshire PTE with MkI bodies, some of them with dual-doors. Argos Bus purchased 6 Metrobuses for their non-franchised routes and private hire services between 1988 and 1989. They were from the same batch as those bought second-hand by KCRC. KMB purchased eight further 2-axle Metrobuses (M81-M88) in 1989. These buses were fitted with Cummins LTA10-B282 (282 hp) engines and
Voith D864G 4-speed gearbox, and were used on the hilly
KMB Route 51 (between
Tsuen Wan and
Kam Tin, climbing
Tai Mo Shan along its way). Later,
KMB fitted some of its older Metrobuses with Cummins engines, in order to avoid excess damage to buses running the hilly route.
Withdrawal MCW Super Metrobus 12 m MkII in
London in June 2011 The MkI second-hand Metrobuses were the first to be withdrawn, and all of them have since been scrapped. Many of the KCRC Metrobuses were loaned to
Citybus for few years before final withdrawal. CMB removed its MC-class Metrobuses from the luxury routes after introducing
Dennis Darts for the service in 1991, preserving the seating layout. These Metrobuses were allocated to non-luxury routes in the
Southern District, Hong Kong, as well as
route 13 serving the "
Mid-levels". Although CMB was the first to introduce Metrobuses, it withdrew only 3 of them (all were accident victims) before the end of its franchise in August 1998. Its earliest Metrobuses were 20 years old at that time.
New World First Bus purchased all the remaining CMB Metrobuses and Super-Metrobuses when it took over most of the CMB routes, and converted 3 MC-class Metrobuses to training buses. In 2000, the last of the MCW Metrobuses were de-registered, briefly exported to
The Original Tour,
Big Bus Tours or to
Australia. Some of the MCW Metrobuses were brought back to The Original Tour in the year 2006. As of 2013, the last of the examples from United Kingdom were withdrawn. KMB allocated its 3 Super-Metrobuses to the
New Territories for many years. For example, they were serving on route 61A (which connected
Tuen Mun and
Yuen Long new towns) right before the
KCR Light Rail took over the services. After that, they were seen on route 36A (which connected a public housing estate in
Kwai Chung to a ferry pier) until the route's decline in the mid-1990s. They spent a few further years as spare buses before being withdrawn from passenger service in 1996 and converted to training buses. They were finally sold and scrapped in 2001. KMB started to withdraw its 2-axle Metrobuses in 1997. Some of them had their chassis damaged due to the
fatigue caused during their service on the
Tai Mo Shan KMB Route 51, which climbed to the highest altitude achievable by buses in Hong Kong. These were withdrawn by 2003. The 11-metre 3-axle Metrobuses in KMB were not withdrawn until summer 2002. KCRC also started to withdraw their Mark II Metrobuses in the early 2000s. The last 2-axle Metrobus in Hong Kong (KCRC 134) was withdrawn in October 2005. The last Metrobus in Hong Kong (fleet number S3M233, license no. EH8559) ceased operation on 8 May 2007. As of mid-2011, no more Metrobuses were licensed and in use in Hong Kong. == See also ==