31/05/2026
Three Volvo B7TLs - PVL284, VLA94 and VW1562. Plenty in common - all 10 metres long, full height, new to London operators, retaining dual doors and have ZF transmissions. All three of them have also had their D7C engines liberated to deliver 250bhp instead of their original specced 215bhp. The PVL and VW had this done when they were still in London service, whereas we had this done on VLA94.
The obvious difference is the bodywork - Plaxton President, Alexander ALX400 and Wright Eclipse Gemini were the three most common bodies on this chassis. Which do you prefer? We like all three!
The odd one out here is VW1562 - the later batches of the Volvo B7 family from 55 plate onwards, or “Multiplex V2” in technical parlance, have a rather different electrical system to the V1s. Over time, we have come to appreciate their distinctions. We’ve actually had more of these than V1s - VLA155/170/176, VW1562 and B7RLEs SPV3 and 4 were all V2s. All of these had 6 speed ZF transmissions. The 6th gear help with keeping them cool on the motorways. With the nature of our work, often travelling fair distances to jobs, it was an intentional decision to aim for buses with this gearbox, hence lots of V2s and Citaros.
Our purchasing policy was to buy Volvo B7TLs, get them mechanically sound then run them. This is how we started off in 2021 with VLA170 and 176, and they never once let us down, always making it back to base under their own steam. Every last one we have purchased has each had well into 5 figures spent to rectify existing defects to make them sufficiently reliable for the work we do through our B7TL Refresh Programme.
We are disposing of most of the Volvo B7TLs. The three depicted are planned to leave the fleet in the next few months. VLA94 remains in the maintenance cycle while we work to complete the B9TL refresh programme for DPV3. VLA94 is a useful vehicle, being welcome in London and having a lower plate height of 14’3” and will probably remain with us until next stop announcements are mandated for vehicles of this age.
We’re now happy with where DPV3 is mechanically, just a touch of gearbox service maintenance required before she’s out in anger again. We have decided to disable the kickdown and set the transmission to eco mode - with the performance restrictions and TopoDyn removed, MPG is averaging around 5.2, which beats the B7TLs which are doing around 4.1, but every little helps. The performance restrictions can quite easily be relaxed for special occasions. So far, we really like the Volvo B9TL and once we’ve evaluated DPV3’s performance over its first 3,000 miles in service and a good few motorway runs, we may look to buy another for the double deck fleet.
Our single deck policy is also under review, stay posted for updates on this. Suffice to say, we are delighted with the reliability, performance and comfort of our Mercedes Citaros and are glad we have standardised on them. We are looking at ways to reduce the average age of the single deck fleet.
