........ Electric buses. On 31st May 2014, four brand new electric Optare Metrocities were delivered to Hounslow (AV) garage for use on route H98. They were chosen for this route, because it is very overcrowded, and the 4 Optare's should provide additional capacity on the route. They are numbered OCE1-4, and have yellow blinds, which wasn't expected. London United put them out on a regular basis, and the charging point is inside the garage itself. They have high-back seats, with leather head-rests, which are a tad unnecessary seeing as no other London buses have them. The interior is spacious and bright, and although I haven't ridden them, they seem like promising buses and I hope they are ordered in quantity. Annoyingly, there were none out on the day I tried to ride them, although I did manage to get a couple of pictures of OCE1 at the charging station, and the interior and front of OCE3 on Regent Street, at the bus cavalcade.
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| The rear of OCE1, at the charging station. |
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| The front of OCE1, at Hounslow Bus Garage. |
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| The Metrocities, like the BYD's at Waterloo garage, have branding on them. |
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| The front of OCE3, at the Regent Street YOTB event. Sorry about the poor quality of the picture, there were crowds everywhere preventing me from getting a decent picture. |
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| Interior of OCE3, showing the leather headrests. |
Thanks for reading!
