Matthew Wharmby
Metroline Dennis Trident TP 23 (T73 KLD), Warren Street 21/01/2006
The early TPs are nearly done, only thirteen years after entering service (actually a little longer than some of the later models and contemporaries with other companies!)
Even though the Metrobuses that these Plaxton President-bodied 9.9m Tridents replaced were utterly exhausted, it didn't take long for Holloway to run the TPs into the ground in the same matter - to be fair, the territory the 17, 43 and 134 run through is as passenger-intensive as you can get. But the TPs just weren't particularly great buses - they were awkwardly laid-out, extremely noisy and their seats were so poor that I would avoid them if one appeared on the 134 if I had to take it - an hour on one of those bolt-upright rock-hard monstrosities and you'd need the wheelchair these things were designed to accommodate. Obliquely connected, I threw up in a TP once after a rough night of vile boxed wine that I never should have touched - the speckled floor hid it pretty well!
Still, they could be found on all HT's routes sooner or later, during which time they underwent three livery changes - just managing to sidestep MTL's drear red by being taken into stock by Metroline, their red and blue became dumbed-down red and blue (as here), then came a flirtation with the hideous pastel blue skirt of ComfortDelgro (isn't that some sort of fabric softener?) and finally to lifeless all-red. The registration blocks were a total mess, but vastly entertaining if you didn't have to identify them by sight (TP 23 being T73 KLD because you couldn't get 23, which unfortunately meant TA 73 having to take T43 KLD - confused?). Back when even low-floor buses had useful blinds and proper central staircases, TP 23 is heading south on the 134.
Metroline Dennis Trident TP 23 (T73 KLD), Warren Street 21/01/2006
The early TPs are nearly done, only thirteen years after entering service (actually a little longer than some of the later models and contemporaries with other companies!)
Even though the Metrobuses that these Plaxton President-bodied 9.9m Tridents replaced were utterly exhausted, it didn't take long for Holloway to run the TPs into the ground in the same matter - to be fair, the territory the 17, 43 and 134 run through is as passenger-intensive as you can get. But the TPs just weren't particularly great buses - they were awkwardly laid-out, extremely noisy and their seats were so poor that I would avoid them if one appeared on the 134 if I had to take it - an hour on one of those bolt-upright rock-hard monstrosities and you'd need the wheelchair these things were designed to accommodate. Obliquely connected, I threw up in a TP once after a rough night of vile boxed wine that I never should have touched - the speckled floor hid it pretty well!
Still, they could be found on all HT's routes sooner or later, during which time they underwent three livery changes - just managing to sidestep MTL's drear red by being taken into stock by Metroline, their red and blue became dumbed-down red and blue (as here), then came a flirtation with the hideous pastel blue skirt of ComfortDelgro (isn't that some sort of fabric softener?) and finally to lifeless all-red. The registration blocks were a total mess, but vastly entertaining if you didn't have to identify them by sight (TP 23 being T73 KLD because you couldn't get 23, which unfortunately meant TA 73 having to take T43 KLD - confused?). Back when even low-floor buses had useful blinds and proper central staircases, TP 23 is heading south on the 134.