Hmm if it's only going to be with the company for six weeks, it shouldn't be transferred around so much! Although, there are a good mix of routes between the garages that it could be allocated to.

In Cork, I would put it on the 207 without question, because the route is well loaded and has lots of hills. Despite the fact that these things have a tiny engine (4.5 litres compared to 8.9 in an SL or 9.4 in a VWD), in the right spec these things will go up hills like a proper full size single deck bus with a big engine (although not quite as quickly as an SL, but definitely up to the VWLs or VWDs), so I'd be very keen to see how it does.

In Waterford, I would assign it to the 360, to see how it copes with more demanding suburban work, with higher speeds. With only a four speed Voith gearbox, it could struggle (although Voith maintains that its four speed gearbox is the equivalent of a five speed from ZF or Allison, which is why it feels like they go up about two gears when they go from first to second when they are compared to a standard bus) on higher speed sections.

In Galway, the 404 would be a good candidate, it's not an especially well used service, is very flat and undemanding. I would be interested to see what the fuel economy is like on a lightly used service - I reckon it would cost a lot less to run than a VWL.

In Limerick, the 304 would be a good route to put it on, in order to see how it deals with a heavily used service. I think it would struggle on such a route, because although it is almost as big as a VWL, and is claimed to carry nearly as many people (71 for a Max vs 77 for a VWL), it certainly feels a lot smaller than this.

With First South Yorkshire StreetLite Maxs have replaced B7Ls (Mk3 VWLs) on rather hilly routes (similar enough to Cork's 207 in ways), and they are doing 9 mpg, compared to the 3 mpg the B7Ls were doing. Yes, you read that correctly, these things do triple the mpg of a Mk3 VWL! A Mk3 VWL only carries four more than a Max, but again, because they are about 50 cm longer, and a little wider, it feels like more than this. Let's see how they do with Bus Éireann. Certainly, on less well used routes, there is a case to be made for looking at slightly smaller buses like the StreetLite Maxs if the fuel savings materialise, and the quality is up to standard. I'm told the First spec StreetLite Maxs use all big bus components underneath, and thus is expected to last as long as a proper full size single deck bus.

Apparently First's StreetLites use over 100 litres less diesel per day than a VWL. So, if these buses used 100 litres less fuel per day than a VWL, then over a week that's a saving of about 650 litres (since the bus won't be as busy on Sunday), and 650 litres at €1.40 a litre is €910 a week. Over a year (49 weeks on the road) that's a saving of almost €44,600, so even a fleet of 10 of them would save the company €446,000 on fuel costs alonesmiley: eek! Even if they only used 50 litres less per day than a VWL, a fleet of 10 of them would still save €223,000 a year on fuel, a saving of well over €2 million over the entire lifetime of the buses.

Although I like the idea of the fuel savings, because they are smaller than a VWL and only have a four speed gearbox, they certainly couldn't be considered as VWL/SL replacements everywhere. Certainly I wouldn't like to see them being used on the 202 for example, they're too small. Even though the 215 probably doesn't need deckers, I think they would be too small for that as well. But definitely less well used services in Cork, such as the 207 could take them, and all the Waterford city services could as well. There are also routes in Galway where they could be used without problems, the 404, 405 and 407 don't need VWLs.

Also, if they were ordered, it would be a case of history repeating itself, the KC class were somewhat smaller than the full size single deck buses of today (11.0 m, a StreetLite Max is 11.5 m, a VWL is 12.0 m or 12.15 m depending on year), was Irish built and had a Cummins engine and Voith gearbox, was highly innovative and an integral product. The StreetLite is all of these things too!

Edited 1 time by VWL119 01/03/2014 11:37:49.