Peugeot Talbot Tri-axle  

1801-4/6/7/8  H201-4/6/7/8JHP

In 1990 Centro was keen to experiment with more accessible minibuses in the West Midlands so as to establish whether this would increase usage on their subsidised bus services. Centro was able to lease seven Peugeot Talbot Tri-axle Pullman minibuses, which were bodied by TBP of Perry Bar in Birmingham to carry out the experiment. After looking at the existing minibus routes operated by a number of its contractors, including West Midlands Travel and Stevenson’s of Uttoxeter, Midland Red West was picked as it had a network of services in both the Solihull and Smethwick areas that were suitable for the experiment. The seven Tri-axle minibuses were delivered in a distinctive yellow and green livery with "Quickstep" branding in November 1990 for use from Midland Red West’s Digbeth Garage. The vehicles were leased from TBP on a three-year contract for which Centro picked up the Midland Red West’s additional operating costs. At the end of the experiment the finding proved inconclusive in that users appeared to prefer shorter walk distances to the bus services rather than more accessible vehicles. Despite being very unreliable and costing between three and four times as much to operate than a comparable Mercedes minibus Midland Red West purchased all seven vehicles at the end of the experiment. The swan song for the vehicles in the West Midlands was the use of all seven on the Birmingham Christmas Park and Ride in 1994. In May 1995 the first three vehicles were withdrawn 1801 was sold to Wessex Coaches of Bristol for use on their National Express contract service between Marlborough Street Bus Station in Bristol City Centre and the Airport. For this the vehicle was painted in a white National Express livery. 1802 and 1803 moved to PMT where they joined other similar vehicles for use on specialist contract work. The remaining four vehicles were concentrated initially at Kidderminster for use mainly on the services 303 and 304 between Kidderminster and Worcester. In the month preceding the withdrawal of the all four vehicles in July 1996 at least one of the buses was used at Hereford Garage on the services 110 and 111 (now renumbered 76A and 76) between Bartonsham, the General Hospital and the City Centre which one of the two Optare Solo minibuses now at Hereford Garage is used on. Of the seven original vehicles only 1807 has seen use in recent years with Clearway of Catshill in Bromsgrove.