Not really RM stuff, but a bit in RouteOne the other week says that Arriva Malta has withdrawn all its former London Mercedes Citaro artic buses after several fires.

As an aside, Arriva Malta has made losses of many millions of euro running the Malta services for the last year and is now in talks with the Maltese Government to try to get out of the contract, failing that the company will go into administration.

My bus number (if any): RML2532

There was a great video on youtube a while back, of a Citaro that had overshot on its turn, and then proceeded to spend 10 minutes trying to reverse. (In Malta, within weeks of introduction.)

I remember seeing the trials of the bus in the City Of London, and just shook my head seeing how much trouble the driver was having, navigating the tight turns.

This was no surprise when it happened. Let's face it, even if you have a 1:76 scale model of the Citaro, you have to spend an hour rearranging your fleet so that it fits in!

My bus number (if any): RML2561 (Well, at least the bits I managed to save!)

Arriva have sold their assets to the Maltese Government together with a substantial part of their debt to avoid going in to administration. The artics weren't included in the sale and it will be Arriva's responsibility to dispose/remove them. The Government will operate the service until their invite tenders from other companies according to the Times of Malta.

My bus number (if any): RML 2747

A spokeswoman said ` Everyone knows that bendy buses were not suitable for Maltese roads. ..... only suitable for long stretches of straight roads...`

Perhaps we should get her on to Mastermind.
Specialist subject: The bleedin` obvious!

Sorry, couldn`t resist that!!!!

Thanks for the update on that, I suspect it'll be in the next issue of RouteOne.

strange they don't seem to have a problem in most of Europe, not even the 3-part bendys in Utrecht.

My bus number (if any): RML2532

..and they seemed to be popular and absolutely fine in Jerusalem when I was working there in 2007-8.

But seriously folks, articulated buses are a bit off topic for this forum and I'm going to lock the thread before things get out of hand!

My bus number (if any): RMs 238, 471. 2213 & GS17