A Busy Saturday Lunchtime At Victoria Coach Station
I went to Victoria Coach station at lunchtime today and took these pictures.
These are my thoughts.
Where Are The British Coaches?
The nearest I saw were the smart coaches of the Oxford Tube, which were built by Plaxtons on a Volvo chassis.
The National Express coaches were made by Caetano in Spain.
I can certainly understand, why Wrightbus’s first product of a new era of British coach-building is an affordable Chinese-built coach, that is fitted with a Cummins engine, that possibly can be converted to hydrogen, as is the case, with some Cummins diesel engines.
As the coach will have a delivery time of six months, I think we’ll see them on the road fairly soon.
There Were Several Three Axle Coaches
In fact, I didn’t know they were very common.
- I suspect that three axles is better for the weight.
- But then you don’t see too many coaches in Central London unless you go to Victoria.
Wrightbus are saying that their hydrogen coach will have three axles.
The Wrightbus Effect
This article on Route One, says of the new Wrightbus Contour coach.
- It will be released this year.
- It will be an affordable product and Chinese-built.
- It will be a 55-seat diesel coach.
- It will have a Cummins engine.
In Wrightbus StreetDeck Ultroliner Next-Gen To Get Cummins Power, I describe how Wrightbus’s new Cummins-powered double-deck bus will be able to be converted to hydrogen-power. I suspect the same option will be available with the Contour diesel coaches.
The article on Route One, says this about the availability of the new coaches.
The Contour’s “competitive price” and lead time of six months promises an edge over some current industry norms, the business says.
That fits with what my finance company found forty years ago, when it was leasing coaches. If there were more coaches, you could lease more.
It looks to me, that the Cummins-powered, Chinese-built Wrightbus Contour coach will be affordable, available and convertible to zero-carbon hydrogen power.
If the quality and reliability of the coaches are high, then these coaches should sell and more coach operators will be wanting to run services from Victoria coach station, with their new affordable Wrightbus Contour coaches.
After what I saw on Saturday, will Victoria coach station have the space to accommodate them?
Coaches To Attractions
I saw coaches to Harry Potter, Legoland and other attractions.
Will this be an area that develops, if there were to be a greater availability of coaches, which Wrightbus, appears to be offering?
FLiXBUS
This is the first paragraph of the Wikipedia entry for FLiXBUS.
FlixBus (styled FLiXBUS) is a German brand that offers low-cost intercity coach services in Europe, North America, South America, and Asia. It is owned by Flix SE , which also operates FlixTrain, FlixCar, Kâmil Koç, and Greyhound Lines. FlixBus operates buses or, in many cases, just handles marketing, pricing, and customer service for a commission, on behalf of bus operators. In 2023, FlixBus had revenues of €2 billion and carried 81 million passengers of which 55 million were in Europe, 14 million were in Turkey, and 12 million were in North America.
They certainly seem to be an ambitious low-cost company, who serve a lot of places in the UK.
As they are a German company and Wrightbus have sold scores of zero-carbon buses to Germany could Wrightbus and FLiXBUS have been talking about affordable, quality coaches?
The Anonymous Widower 