PRAGUE

Karosy says goodbye. They will only stay on the retrolines, the buses will be low-floor

The end of the last buses from Vysoké Mýto, which still run in Prague under the original Czech brand Karosa, was announced by DPP in a report. A total of 14 vehicles of this type will leave on Friday, and dispatchers will deploy them to the morning and afternoon rush hours on selected routes of lines 103, 123, 162, 165, 169, 175, 182, 185, 191 and 225. Passengers and fans of public transport can therefore symbolically say goodbye to older vehicles, which have special stickers on the front of the occasion on this occasion.

“But the carriages from the Prague public transport will not disappear completely, from this Saturday DPP cars B 951 and articulated versions B 961 will be used on weekends and holidays as part of retro operation on selected connections of lines 180 and 213. Discarded bodies and spare parts for them will be available in buy by the envelope method on the DPP website in the coming days, “said Aneta Řehková, a spokeswoman for the transport company. Spare parts (refurbished and new) will also be available.

According to the DPP, the vast majority of the public transport bus fleet will now meet the EURO 5 / EEV standard or the latest EURO 6. With the EURO 4 standard, the DPP will have the last six vehicles left.

“One era ends with the farewell to the bodies in Prague’s public transport, but it means the beginning of another, more modern era. From Saturday, we will have 100 percent barrier-free buses on all city lines in Prague, “said Adam Scheinherr (Prague himself), the mayor’s deputy director for transport and chairman of the DPP supervisory board.

For many years, Karosy formed the basis of the bus fleet of the Prague transport company. “Thanks to the scrapping of older vehicles, we will reach the historically lowest average age of our bus fleet – up to 5.5 years and a reduction in average NOx emissions of 66 percent and average particulate emissions of as much as 80 percent over the past three years,” said Jan Barchánek, Operations Manager. DPP buses.

Michal Kolek drove the body around Prague and its surroundings for twenty years, and therefore he became almost nostalgic. “They were very comfortable for the drivers, they had great suspension. They were much better at stopping than low-floor buses. They were also easier to drive through winding roads through villages. They were simply built to handle even worse roads. From the passengers’ point of view, however, their stairs high and unusable for wheelchair users, “he told the Prague daily.

“Time is moving forward, Karosa has already served its time. I will miss me a lot,” admits Kolek.

Retro-service on lines 180 and 213 will start on Saturday. A total of seven cars will be rotated (Karosa B 951, B 961, Irisbus City Bus 12M and possibly Irisbus Citelis 12M).

Karosy has been riding in Prague since 1948

Karosa was the almost exclusive supplier of buses for DPP from 1948 to 2006, when the largest municipal company purchased the last Karosa B 951E cars. Karosa B 951 followed the type B 930 and compared to its predecessor was significantly modernized, especially in production technology. This meant abandoning the decades-long way of assembling already finished and painted individual body parts together, ie the side panels, the roof, both fronts and the supporting grate.

For the Karos B 951, the entire skeleton of the car body and the bus chassis were first assembled, and only then were they immersed in cataphoric baths, ie a very modern way of applying anti-corrosion protection. This innovation has significantly extended the life of the bus’s load-bearing parts. The side plating was newly glued to the skeleton instead of the previous spot welding, covered with spot strips, which again eliminated the occurrence of corrosion.

Only then was the painted skeleton of the bus equipped with units, wiring and accessories. Later, the manufacturer also glued all the side windows of the B 950 series buses to the body. Visually, the Karos B 951 from its predecessors were characterized by a different design of the rear panel with better use of interior space. The change of owner of the Vysokomýtská carmaker also meant a change of installed engines – only Iveco family powertrains were installed in the Karos B 951.

Between 2002 and 2006, the transport company purchased a total of 131 Karosa standard B 951 and B 951E buses. The first car was parked last April after sixteen and a half years of operation. The Karosa B 951 and 951E were the last high-floor buses that DPP purchased for its fleet and the last to carry the Karosa brand.

In parallel with them, DPP has also acquired fully low-floor Irisbus City Bus and Citelis buses since 1996. The last “tall” bodies were mainly for possible reinforcements of transport peaks on the busiest city lines. For some B 951 buses, the transport company in the Central Workshops in Hostivař carried out major body repairs to extend their service life.

The first low-floor buses in the DPP fleet appeared in the autumn of 1994, when the company purchased two Neoplan N4014 / 3 vehicles, ev. C. 3001 and 3002. It is interesting that DPP completed both cars in its Central Workshops in Hostivař.

In 1995, the transport company purchased a third Neoplan N4014 / 3 ev. C. 3003. Due to their failure rate, DPP began purchasing the first serial low-floor Irisbus City Bus buses in 1996. He eliminated the first two neoplanes from the fleet in 2006, the last in 2007.

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