London's Metrobuses

The Metrobus was the first bus to be built and designed in its entirety by Metro Cammel Weymann (MCW). West Midlands PTE and London Transport were the biggest customers of the MCW Metrobus. The first five trial Metrobuses entered service with London Transport during 1978 and 1979. In 1979 and 1980, a large number of Metrobuses entered service in north-west and south-west London. These vehicles replaced many of the DMS-class and other single-deck models. Towards the end of 1980, the type was put on the Airbus services linking central London with Heathrow Airport. London Transport took stock of 1,440 standard Metrobuses. In 1982, the Metrobus Mark II was launched, with changed styling at the front. London Transport initially ordered two of these buses, trialling them against three other models, the Leyland Olympian, Dennis Dominator and Volvo B55 Ailsa. Another twenty-eight Mark II Metrobuses were purchased by London Buses Limited in 1987 for the low-cost Harrow Buses unit. These were operated briefly and withdrawn in 1991. Slotted in between these were nine second-hand Metrobuses purchased from Greater Manchester Buses, with another five from Busways, with these and the former Manchester examples allocated to Potters Bar. By this time, 1,485 MCW Metrobuses were operating in London. Those purchased by London Transport passed to private operators in 1994 and operated with them until the new millennium. Other Metrobuses were also acquired by tour operators in the capital, who converted them to open-top layout.

David Beddall provides a snapshot of the Metrobus while in service in London, both on London Regional and Transport for London services, as well as those examples that saw further service in London as sightseeing buses.