In message , Ross
writes
On Sat, 12 Jun 2004 11:34:26 +0000 (UTC), Graham Harrison wrote in
, seen in uk.transport.buses:

[...] I know there were
some "issues" with single artics when they first appeared (something about
couldn't charge fares on them).

That must have been a long time back, as I recall Midland Red (North)
and later Midland Red (West) charging (and collecting) fares on the
artics they got from South Yorks PTE, and I don't recall SYPTE or its
successors *not* charging (or collecting) fares on their original
artics (or their replacements).
I'm pretty sure that Graham was right, though and that when they were
introduced in Sheffield SYPTE were indeed unable to charge fares. (I
think that they ran on something called the "City Clipper" service in
Sheffield, a bit akin to WMPTE's "Centrebus".)

I also have a vague recollection of something similar happening in
Nottingham?

I'm trying to remember exactly when it was SYPTE bought its first
artics, but I can't. MR(N) had ex-SYPTE artics by the mid 80's - I
remember them appearing at Birmingham's Bull Ring Bus Station from
Cannock in the days when I was a schoolkid moonlighting in the MRN
travel centre there!

Ah, the old 853/854, ex Harper Brothers routes? :-) Didn't some of
those vehicles end up in Sydney?

Incidentally, on the earlier subject of trolleybuses reaching high
speeds, I travelled once on a trolleybus in the Czech Republic (in
Chomulotov, on the route to "Jerkov", would you believe?!) which ran on
a *motorway* for part of its length. Trying to imagine trolleybuses
taking to the Aston Expressway in Birmingham or the M32 in Bristol is
interesting!

--
Ian Jelf, MITG, Birmingham, UK
Registered "Blue Badge" Tourist Guide for
London & the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk