Within SLBP, O.405 are the better buses. Therefore they are
usually on town or high load factor svcs like 105, 154, 174, 242,
243 & 502. Also, there is the concensus within SBST that
O.405's are jus as suitable as the DD's in load handling (or
something along those lines), probably cos of its powerful engine.
183 is an exception now, of cos, until it gets extended to science
pk 2 in due time.
And all O.405's are the same. Probably cos AMDEP has more O.405's,
thus a higher number of them is expected to have some problems even
though proportionately it may be the same as SLBP. Or maybe cos
they dislike the fact that O.405 WA PS are the majority O.405's
running on 24, if they dun like those PS Mercs.
506 is not a high-revenue service, definitely not as high as 518.
if u're thinking of it shifting, maybe SLBP 502 is a better choice
here. now u noe why 506 buses are not as good as 502 or 518 (Mk
III's vs Mk IV's).
as for 1688K being on not-so-high-revenue svc like 163, tis is cos
Volvo parts are easier to get than Scania parts (2888T) thus it
does not cost as much to maintain (lower than L94UB but higher than
B10M). and i believe 1688K being on 163 is jus a temporary measure.
there is talk on the market that 163 will be handled out by hgdep
to bram tis yr, so it might move to other hgdep svcs.
