Contents

NEWS    
New twist in Preston story; Optare wins big hybrid order; Volvo starts hybrid production; First sells rail freight business; PTEG calls for longer registration periods; West Yorkshire presses quality contract case; Veolia cuts back in Notts; bus heater appeal; Scots police detect bus links with organised crime

BUS PEOPLE
New ministerial team for England’s transport; new Stagecoach team for Scotland’s buses; Matthews returns to Alexander Dennis; deaths of John Hambley, Paul Roter

INSIDE TRACK
Coalition cuts, pragmatic plans and future funding

GLOBAL NEWS    
Enviro400 trials and tri-axle Volvo order from Hong Kong; Belgrade orders Belarus trolleybuses; Viseon goes independent ahead of plan; Kiwi operator buys truck-based schoolbuses

BEHOLD THE BORISMASTER              
Transport for London unveils the designs for its bold new double-decker

IN LONDON
First regains the 25; seat comfort is improved; contraflow speeds services

MILLAR’S TALES  
Familiar colours and curious shapes; Southall’s finest; perfectly baked Olympian
WHAT ARE THE SMOKE SIGNALS?
We take a close look at how the next generation of bus engines may work

SERVICE EXTRA
Inelegant variations: When is a public holiday not one?

A LINCOLNSHIRE LANDMARK
Delaine Buses celebrates its 120th birthday

LONG WAY HOME FOR LONDON CLASSICS  
The remarkable story of the world’s last working original RTs
PICTUREVIEW
Local liveries: Big group buses in non-corporate colours

YOU WRITE
The ‘new Routemaster’; contravision; abusive drivers; value brand buses; why trolleybuses beat hydrogen; when did we stop understanding alight?

FENTON FILE
Yorkshire Traction’s Wright Endurance-bodied Scania K93s
FLEET NEWS ENGLAND & WALES    
Compiled by John G. Lidstone

REGISTRATION NOTES       
Developments at home and in France

FLEET NEWS SCOTLAND
Compiled by Sandy Macdonald

FLEET NEWS IRELAND
Compiled by G. Irvine Millar and Ian Molloy

REVIEWS               
Books about the South Coast, London, Oxford and municipals, plus a West Coast Royale in diecast

PRESERVATION UPDATE
Four pages of scenes from spring rallies and running days