Photos: A nostalgic farewell to Aberdeen’s bendy buses – the transport for a generation of students

When bendy buses hit the streets of Aberdeen in May 2000, they became part and parcel of university life for a generation of students.

While many Aberdonians were skeptical as to how these gigantic vehicles would navigate the Granite City, they were ideal for mopping up Aberdeen’s student population.

For 25 years they were a common sight travelling through the city packed with passengers and steamed-up windows.

But now the city has bid farewell to the iconic buses which were put through their paces running the length of the city.

Aberdeen blazed a trail with ‘space age’ bendy buses

First Aberdeen lead transport into the 21st century when it introduced the futuristic bendy buses to Aberdeen in May 2000.

Described at the time as “space-age vehicles”, Aberdeen was the first city in Scotland – and only the second in Britain behind Bradford – to welcome the behemoth buses.

Although, it wasn’t the first time a bendy bus had been used in Aberdeen – Grampian Transport launched an experimental Mercedes bendy bus in 1992.

The unique vehicle proved that articulated buses had a future in Aberdeen and it was a good advert for Grampian Transport’s innovation.

It blazed a trail for the “Fusion” buses that followed eight years later.

They were First Aberdeen’s bendy buses and described as being more akin to rail trams than buses.

It was ‘the best bus in the world’ in 2000

They were to run on The Bridges route between Bridge of Don and Garthdee.

This was the route that had traditionally been served by the red route trams, and the last to close in 1958 before the trams were withdrawn.

First Aberdeen launched six £190,000 buses at the end of May 2000, with boss George Mair saying they’d be a “big hit” with customers.

Parent company FirstGroup had just announced a 28% rise in annual profits and Mr Mair said the customer would see the benefits with the investment in bendy buses.

He said: “They have a very modern design and are more like a light rail tram.

“They have been billed by a trade magazine as the best bus in the world.”

Bendy buses were transport of choice for university students

The 18ft Fusion buses could seat 56 passengers and carry a whopping 145 in total.

It was also low-floored for easy access and had a second set of doors to allow people at the back to disembark without wading through a sea of passengers to the front.

First Aberdeen also increased the frequency on some services from every 15 minutes to 10.

The new articulated buses were scheduled to run on gold service routes where customer numbers had increased.

With Aberdeen’s two universities on the bridges route, this was the obvious contender.

If you studied at either institution in the last 25 years, the chances are you encountered a bendy bus during your student days.

It was standing room only as dozens of students squeezed aboard

Students heading to the University of Aberdeen enjoyed a fairly straight and genteel journey up King Street.

But it was a different story for those at Robert Gordon University (RGU) who had to navigate twists and turns, and at least three roundabouts.

If you were an art student heading to Gray’s, you’d often be laden down with equipment, much to the annoyance of other passengers.

Dozens and dozens of students would queue at the bus stop outside Virgin Megastore on Union Street hoping to squeeze onto a number 1 or 2 bendy bus.

Even by then it was standing room only.

You had to decide whether you wanted to spend the next 25 minutes pressed against a stranger, or wait for the next bus which according to the departures board was always “two minutes” away. It wasn’t.

It was survival of the fittest if you had to stand on bendy part of the bus

Students would be packed on from front to back, and if you ended up at the bendy part it was a case of survival of the fittest trying to find a strap or rail to cling onto.

While Holburn Street was fairly plain sailing, when the bendy bus turned onto Broomhill Road or Garthdee Road you’d be thrown into somebody else’s armpit.

Even the bus seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when the back doors opened and 100 or so students spilled out at the RGU bus stops.

Winter was another white-knuckle ride as the driver would skilfully navigate the tight bend from Auchinyell Road onto Garthdee Road as the rear end threatened to overtake.

But thankfully instances of jack-knifed buses were few and far between.

The bendy buses were crowded, a bit clammy, and you had to forgo any notion of personal space.

But there was no sight more welcome on a dreich day on Garthdee Road than the approaching headlights of a number 1 or 2.

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