Pretty Awesome Bus (Neoplan Double Decker)

[jav9956]

My coach has voice recognition also. All I have to say is "wife, open the damn door!" works most of the time.

Ha! Don't let her see that; you don't want the "voice recognition" to be in jeopardy. 

[TomC]

I have extensively looked at Sean's bus (hi Sean! Hope you're floating!) and can say that it is the biggest 40ft'r you could ever have. The combination of 40ft of living space, an 8V-92TA and Allison; 3 roof top A/C's plus engine driven A/C, Webasto heating; and the fact that Sean is an electrical engineer with his wiring prowess; this coach would be awesome for anyone to have. And I think they've proven that it is a good full timer. The only negative I can think of is the Neoplan suspension parts. But-I know from witnessing the work myself (he did suspension rebuild at Los Angeles Freightliner-a whole story in itself) having the front end rebuilt that you'll probably be suspension problem free for many years. And his leveling system using linear actuators is simply genius. Good Luck, TomC

[Charles Seaton]

Bus stability is relative and sometimes has little to do with the height of the coach.  It may be my imagination, or just the years stealing my memory away but in the New York, NJ area, there seemed to be a lot more rollover accidents with MC9s than there were with the GM New Look suburbans that they replaced.  I mentioned that to a friend who happened to be veteran New Jersey Transit bus operator.  He later demonstrated for me how the early MC9s began to lean when the wheels were turned - even when the bus was standing still!

- Seaton 

[Jeremy]

Great to see Sean on here again, fighting the corner of Euro double-deckers in general and Neoplans in particular. And teaching me a new word - 'allisions' - "The striking of a vessel against a fixed object". Good stuff! 

By the way, my own all-time favourite bus is the Neoplan Jumbocruiser, which is an articulated double-decker (like an H5-60 but, dare I say, better), designed specifically to offer the same capacity and service of certain holiday airliner routes. There was a major accident involving one of those too, which was also blamed on 'instability' - but after rigorous investigations (and no-one does such things more rigorously than the Germans) their analysis showed that there was nothing wrong with the design of the vehicle - but that the regular bus drivers required more training to properly handle them.

Jeremy

[Dave5Cs]

Sean Good to see you on here. Congrats on your Bus sell saw it closed. Someone got a great deal at that price. The wife loves following Louis' new blog and I follow your sea bound travels.
Dave5Cs