For Preservation (in due course)

Some of England’s most unusual buses have recently turned up at the Stafford Bus Centre (dealers). These are the 11 surviving 12m 39-seat Neoplan N4016 integrals previously operated by Arriva North West & Wales on the 18A Liverpool–Croxteths.

Aside from there being the only buses of their type in Engalnd (plus three sister but shorter N4009 versions operated by ANWW that always looked a little awkward), they are also Britain’s first ever super low floor buses.

The former MTL bought the vehicles in 1993 for use on the Merseytravel PTE SMART demonstration bus service contracts, roughly comparable to the current 1s and 4s now operated commercialised by successor Arriva. The project was to convince the sceptical bus industry at the time that low floor products were both workable and justifiable in terms of the additional investment. The choice of the Neoplans followed a Liverpool beauty contest of suitable SLF vehicles from the continent. None was manufactured in Britain at the time.

The vehicles’ original livery was Merseytravel yellow and white. This SMART livery suited the angular yet stylish Germans, creating something bold, pleasing, distinct and special. Dressed in standard Arriva livery, they did loose some of their original cachet, partly because British designs were moving on, but were nonetheless sufficiently different to stand out among an otherwise conventional fleet.

That they are feeding into the second hand bus market shows how long we’ve had SLFs (Wrightbus wasn't far behind in bring out a native SLF product). The Stafford Bus Centre is advertising the Neoplans as “the cheapest usable SLFs you will find” as an "ideal SLF spare".

They remain a strong candidate for eventual preservation, when the time comes, as a suitably historic and pioneering class of vehicles.

Additional information from Omnibuses2.0’s Northern Correspondent