The Streetdeck vs The Gemini 3 - Which is better?
The Streetdeck vs The Gemini 3 - Which is better?
Background on the Gemini 3:
Back in late 2013 the Gemini 3 was born, initially on a Volvo B5TL chassis, there was only 4 ever in London, all of which were demonstrators and were the following:
V6 BF63HFE (Demonstrator for Go Ahead)
VGD1 BF63HDE (Demonstrator for Arriva)
VW1469 BF63HDG (Demonstrator for Metroline)
V6 (2) BJ14KTL (Second Demonstrator for Go Ahead)
Of these VGD1 & VW1469 remained in London after they finished their spells with Arriva and Metroline and headed off to Go Ahead by summer 2015 where they were renumbered WVL509 & 510.
The B5TLs were quickly followed with the B5LH hybrid equivalent, which saw no more B5TLs ordered as London was heading towards a more hybrid based fleet at the time. The first set of B5LHs to arrive was Stagecoach's 13001-13032 for Plumstead (PD) depot for their flagship route 53, this was quickly followed by Metrolines VWH2001-2023 for Perivale [East] garage, where they were destined for route 7. Between 2014-2015, 165 would be ordered, for London, of this initial "Smiley" face Gemini 3s, in total the following number were ordered by each company:
94 by Metroline (VWH2001-2061/2088-2121)
28 by RATP Group (VH45124-45152)
32 by Stagecoach (13001-13032)
11 by Tower Transit (VH38101-38111)
VWH2088-2121 would be the final smiley face ones, for London, ordered early on in 2015 before the new facelifted version arrived, which have become nicknamed the "frog" face. The general consensus within the enthusiast community is these buses are much uglier than their early "smiley" face counterparts, which much more resembled the Gemini 2. Go Ahead would receive the first batch of these for Croydon (C) depot, mainly for routes 119 & 202. By the 2019 Wrightbus collapse (Although saved by Bamford, the Gemini 3 was soon discontinued) 796 of the "frog" face Gemini 3s had been delivered to London, 267 for Metroline, 212 for Arriva, 150 for RATP Group, 142 for Go Ahead & 25 for Tower Transit. This meant that in total 961 Gemini 3s (both "smiley" and "frog" faced" were roaming the streets of London.
By early 2018 Go Ahead and Metroline stopped ordering from Wrightbus due to quality issues with the last sets of Gemini 3s each had delivered, this left RATP as the last buyer of these vehicles until collapse in 2019, final 2 Gemini 3s for London being VH45318-45319, which were ironically intended for a school route, the 681.
Background on the Streetdeck:
Not long after the introduction of the Gemini 3 was introduced in late 2013, the Streetdeck was revealed in late 2014. Now the bus looks exactly the same as the Gemini 3, and even started off with the "smiley" versions before moving to the "frog" face versions just like the Gemini 3 did, however, the bus was on a completely different chassis and also used a Daimler engine. The first one to emerge in London was demonstrator bus SW1 LK64DVV, which went to work at Wood Green (WN) this was followed by WSD1, which like its B5TL counterparts was also loaned to Camberwell (Q) for route 12, although it departed for South America in 2016, however has since returned to London and is currently on loan to HCT Group. Due to the shift in London from diesel to hybrid, there was never many diesel ones in London bar this demonstrator, with the only other batch to be bought being the later "frog" face versions for Garston (GR)s retain of route 340 in 2016, which saw the remaining London DLAs ousted from service by July/August 2016, SW1 joined this batch of 9 at Garston (GR) shortly before they arrived. After Garston (GR)s closure in 2018, these buses moved with route to Palmers Green AD, these days they are often seen on a route closer to the garage, generally the 329, due to the unreliable nature of the buses, with the 340 being further away meaning more can go wrong, the buses were even banned from the 340 for a time, however despite no longer being banned they still tend to stick to route 329, apart from occasional strays on route 102 as shown below:
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