Showbus flies by

This year’s Showbus took the form of a ‘fly-by’ parade along the old A40 between Beaconsfield and Oxford with a small outdoor trade area in High Wycombe’s historic market place. Bus and Coach Buyer’s David Cole attended the event.

The parade presented the opportunity to view modern and heritage buses in a variety of scenic locations, one of the most popular being outside the town hall in Thame where east bound vehicles were scheduled to take a five minute break before tackling the climb into the Chilterns. It was not unexpected that London’s Routemasters would make up a significant proportion of the entrants with many of them carrying the special destination blinds for the annual Imber event which was not able to be staged this year. On home territory, a 70 year old Bristol K originating in the Thames Valley fleet made a fine sight while the coaching compliment included a Harrington bodied AEC Reliance recently restored to Premier Travel colours. Bringing the display of the industry’s wares right up to date were two BYD ADL Enviro400EV electric double-deckers from the Go-Ahead and Metroline operations in London.