Many of us will have been to work and back in them daily in the last three decades plus, or perhaps been woken by the fairly audible and distinctive sound of one growling up a hill - the sound of the Leyland Leopard urban bus plying the Dunedin streets.
Leyland buses have been a part of the council owned Dunedin City Corporation (later Dunedin City Transport, then Citibus) urban bus fleet since 1925, and the last bastion of the ‘Leyland family’ the Leopards, since the 1970s.
But on 12 October 2010, that long era finally came to a close, when the last Leopard still in service with Citibus, fleet no. 194 worked a final trip, having been sold to the Bus 194 Project.
This not only brought to a close 85 years of Leyland’s in the fleet, but over 30 years of sterling service to Dunedin from the Leyland Leopard type itself.
No. 194, which entered service with DCT in July 1981, is one of the stylish New Zealand Motor Bodies (under license of Swiss firm Hess) bodied Leopards, bodywork made of alloy, and to launch the Bus 194 Project, was taken on a drive combining some of the former routes she had worked for many years on evening of Friday, October 22, 2010.
This 'combined trip' included old route no. 5 (St Clair), 27 (St Kilda), and (7) Shiel Hill.
It also encompassed an off route part by taking part of the high road of Otago Peninsula, from Tomahawk, before driving back into the city, returning via Andersons Bay, Portsmouth Drive, main city centre and to the depot, where the only other remaining Leopard on the compound, no. 190 from 1980, (also sold) can briefly be seen.
The aims of the Bus 194 Project are for preservation of this bus and others pertaining to Dunedin City, as a volunteer run trust, which will make the bus, available for hire.
The plans are to eventually paint 194 in her original DCT tan and yellow livery, and procure other significant heritage buses that operated for the DCT.
Anyone interested in this project can email bus_194@hotmail.com.
