does that mean that Nissan Diesel were the first buses to use
EDS?
The first to use the current format and one-panel technology,
yes.
The Hispano-bodied DAFs had seperated matrix panels of flip-dots
for destination details and the route number; it was either
something like:
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][] []*[]*[]*
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
or
[]*[]*[]* [][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
[][][][][][][][][][][][][][]
[]* - double size panel
[] - normal size panel
The flip-dot display were non-refreshing (much like the ones
used on the Malaysian Dennis Lances), and showed only two places -
the destination, and a via point (very much like what the Scania
K230UBs displayed when they first came out). The route number's
position is also fixed to whichever side the double-size panels,
which are used to display the route number, were located. As there
were only three panels, the displays were incapable of displaying
any route number that requires more than three characters, as well
as limited route details. For example, it could possibly display
something like 67W or 852, but not something like 859A.
I guess this was why then-TIBS sold many of them off and
redeployed them to CSS in the late 1990s; then, buses had a 12- (or
was it already extended to 15 then?) year lifespan; these buses
were bought in 1990, which meant they only had a few years left
then before expiring. Probably seeing how inflexible their displays
were, and how it made more economic sense to just sell them off
(since their replacements had came in by then) rather than retrofit
them with the newer flip-dot displays, I guess TIBS decided to just
sell them off. The transfers to CSS were probably because their CSS
division needed some fleet expansion then, and the limited needs of
CSS means that the Hispano-bodied DAF buses, with their limited
flip-dot displays, could suffice.
If the Hispano-bodied DAFs were not prematurely sold off, they
might still be on our roads today, though in their last throes
though - assuming a 17-year lifespan with the extra two-year
extension taken up, these buses could be on our roads until 2009,
which is this year!