Goodbye, SBST Leyland Olympians (19 November 1986 - 26 April
2013).
Having served us for more than 25 years, the 400 double deckers
do encounter mishaps and most of them managed to survive for at
least 16 years. The earlier NAC Leyland Olympians were scheduled to
be de-registered in 2001-2002 but they were given extensions to its
original 15 years' lifespan, while the later batches, having its
statutory lifespan extended to 17 years (19 years with extension),
but due to SBST planning to make majority of the fleet
air-conditioned, all NAC Leylands only survived until 2003-2004.
For the AC Leyland Olympians, they were originally scheduled to be
de-registered in 2010-2011 due to the order of the Volvo B9TLs, but
due to late delivery replacements, 145 of them managed to receive
lifespan extensions for 2 years, and eventually 113 of them were
de-registered between 14 September and 27 December 2012, while the
remaining were de-registered between March and April. Thanks for
your services for all these years as the last batch of Leyland
buses to be manufactured by Leyland, and eventually Volvo.
SBS9000S - SBS9021G were automatically de-registered due to the
order of Volvo B9TLs and due to late delivery replacements.
Some of the buses are their favourites (likewise SBS9168S) and
should not be taken away at the end of 17 years lifespan. Only
those that are very bad condition (likewise A/C ducts never change,
propulsion never change) will be de-registered at the end of 17
years lifespan.
