New in February 1993, K507 RJX was one of two Ikarus 480 Citibus bodied DAF SB220s for small independent company Yorkshire Travel. The pair was painted in all-white with large 'Yorkshire Travel' fleet names and was given fleet number 7.
No.7 soon found further use with FirstBus with their Rider York operations where it carried fleet number 27 and was painted into the green/cream Rider York livery as the colours of course stem from the Yorkshire Rider livery even the red fleet names. Later, the bus transferred to First's Cherry Row depot in Leeds for further use there and did gain Leeds City Link fleet names. This bus was one of a few Ikarus Citibuses with First Leeds but none even got repainted to the local red/orange/yellow/white Leeds City Link livery even when First revised their fleet branding in the late 90s. The bus was often seen on the 18 linking Leeds city centre to Garforth which has seen many changes over the years as in 2001 the route went through a guided busway system along York Road and Selby Road. Today the route along with a few others is now numbered as the 19 using a fleet mainly consisting of Wright GB Kite Electroliners.
The bus didn't last that long with First in Leeds as the bus was soon to be sold again, this time not too far away as the bus was sold to K Line, a keen DAF customer operating a fleet of DAF SB220s bodied by Ikarus and Optare. The bus was repainted into the white and blue livery with red wheels but no longer carried an official fleet number. It is not known if this bus worked with Taylors as they used the same livery as K Line because during its time in the blue and white livery the bus never carried any official fleet names. During this time the bus worked the 21C linking Leeds City Centre to Middleton.
During its time with one of the independent operators, the bus was reregistered as PIL 9734 before being sold once again but when it was purchased, this bus gained a feat which is a complete rarity for any bus in West Yorkshire...
The bus was purchased by Arriva Yorkshire and is one of (if not the only) bus to see service with the two big giant operators of West Yorkshire (Arriva and First) discounting demonstrators. The bus was allocated to Dewsbury working mainly on the low profile services with the occasional stint on the 202/203 deputising the more higher standard buses which of this time would have been newer DAFs. The bus was repainted into the Arriva Cotswold Stone livery for its stay whilst starting to look rather tired.
Sadly, its time in Yorkshire came to an end as the bus was transferred to Wales to work with OR Jones Llanfaethlu and was repainted again in white just how it started life whilst complete with fleetnames at the front and adverts. Later, the bus gained black lower panels before eventually being retired from use and was presumably scrapped sometime around 2012.
The Ikarus 480 type was a very popular type from the Hungarian firm, it was a good seller in its home country as well as the UK built on the DAF SB220 running units. This type of body can be found in rigid and articulated form whilst powered by diesel and overhead wires in trolleybus form. The type replaced the very popular 280 series but in 2002 the 280 made a surprise comeback into the Hungarian bus market.
Again with the 480, a few variants were released as later examples of the step entry body would feature a peaked destination display whilst at a slightly longer length. Other types would often be built with a split windscreen aswell unlike seen in the drawing. A low floor variant of the Ikarus 480 would later be made with a new front end, deeper bonded glazed windows whilst keeping the original rear end. The low floors didn't prove as popular as the step entry ones.
In the UK the Ikarus 480 was replaced by a a totally brand new body in 2001 which is Ikarus' Polaris which again never saw the success the 480 has seen as mainly small operators bought that type which most ended up with Arriva after the operators ceased trading or were bought over.
Today there are a couple of survivors two of which now exist in their home country of Hungary, one of which is 564 KHT as this bus is one of a few Ikarus buses for UK operations as there is also an Ikarus Polaris new to Aztecbird, Guiseley whilst in her recent owners' livery Arriva. That bus was also said to be Ikarus' last ever bus to be built although I am not sure about that as I am sure Ikarus has carried on building buses until 2003 but they have since returned to the bus market since they last ceased trading.
Loading contexts...
