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Bus 282  -  Advert for Renault

The Advert

In taking this photo, I panned the camera from left to right, following the path of the bus.  The blue Renault is painted on the side of the bus, so remains in focus.

The other two cars in the picture are travelling in the opposite direction, so show exaggerated movement.

The Bus

The fleet number of this bus is hidden by the vehicle on the right.  So I asked Steven Oliver, a member of the Edinburgh Transport Group, if he recognised or remembered which vehicle this was.

Steven sent me far more details than I expected.

Steven wrote:

Bus 282

"That would have been bus 282.  The giveaway is the offside rear lower deck windows, which are all plain glass instead of two vented windows and one plain window.

When the Lothian Buses network was re-launched in 2000, bus 282 had an offside overall advert applied to promote the new high-frequency network map, and all of the vented windows on that side of the bus were replaced by plain glass ones in order to accommodate the advert.

I seem to remember its nearside gaining extra vented windows to compensate for the lack of ventilation on the offside.  This advert lasted for a few years, after which 282 carried a number of offside overall adverts. (For this reason, it was never fitted with advert frames on that side of the bus.)  At the same time the vented windows were restored to the upper-deck offside, but not to the lower deck offside

The advert seen in your picture would have been one of the last ones that 282 carried prior to its withdrawal from Lothian service in summer 2009."

Steven Oliver, Duns, Borders, Scotland:  April 26, 2011

Steven added:

Bus 282

"I've just remembered another snippet about 282.  After its Renault Twingo advert, its next and last one was for Scottish Hydro Electric.  It was in this guise that it ran on Route 23 on August 29, 2009, the last day of operation of the 'old-style' madder and white buses.

Little did we know at the time that the old colours would make a comeback just a few months later!"

Steven Oliver, Duns, Borders, Scotland:  April 28, 2011