The Ailsa chassis was developed in the early 1970s in conjunction with the Scottish Bus Group and coachbuilder Walter Alexander. It was assembled in Scotland at Volvo’s truck plant at Irvine in Ayrshire thus making it a British product! The Ailsa was to provide an alternative one man operated double-decker, to the rear engine buses then being produced by the British Leyland group. A lot of thought went into its design. The chassis broke tradition in that it had a small turbo-charged Volvo diesel engine mounted ahead of the front axle, alongside the driver. The driver accessed the cab through a door on the offside of the bus. Most early examples were destined for fleets in Scotland, exceptions being West Midlands PTE and South Yorkshire PTE. 

Cardiff Corporation had only ever bought rear engined double-deckers since 1967. These were initially Daimler Fleetlines followed by over 100 Bristol VRTs. However for new buses in the early 1980s it was decided to dual source suppliers following trials with various demonstrators. 36 Leyland Olympians and 36 Volvo Ailsas were ordered, the latter was quite a departure. The Ailsas were numbered 401 to 436 and were delivered between 1982 and 1984. They had sturdy bodywork built by Northern Counties of Wigan with 74 seats. They were Mark 3 model Ailsas and had Voith 3 speed fully automatic transmission. 

Upon entering service the Ailsas had relatively uneventful lives and proved to be both rugged and reliable buses.  They appeared on most routes in the City but only rarely ventured beyond to Newport and Barry. 407, 433 and 434 carried advert liveries at various times. 405 lost its roof under Fairoak Road railway bridge in 1984 whilst 434 caught fire on Fidlas Road in 1987 and was badly damaged. Both were rebuilt being relatively new buses.

Despite being a reliable workhorse, the Ailsa was not the most comfortable bus to travel on for either driver or passenger. The cab is cramped and access is not exactly easy. In hot weather the heat from the engine prompted Cardiff Bus to fit a small fan to cool the cab area down! For passengers the lower saloon is noisy thanks to the position of the engine, and there is no air suspension unlike the Olympians. The ride can be lively! 

In 1996, twelve years after 436 had entered service, a dozen second-hand examples with Alexander bodywork were obtained from Merseyside Travel. After a thorough refurbishment they were placed in service as 437 to 448. These buses were unusual in having a sliding cab door.

A further 8 Mk3 Ailsas arrived from Stagecoach Fife in Scotland in 1998/99 becoming 449 to 456. All 20 buses carried a modified livery which featured more white and the fleet-name on the lower panels between the wheel-arches.

In 1997 a start was made on refurbishing a number of the original batch and twenty buses were eventually to benefit. It included amongst other things the fitting of electronic route blinds to 18 of them. They appeared in the same livery as 437 to 456 and looked very smart despite their age. At this point Cardiff Bus decided to standardise its double deck fleet. The Leyland Olympians from the same era as the Ailsas, and the much newer Scania N113s (601 to 610) were all sold by the end of 2000.

In the summer of 2004 a start was made on repainting many of the Ailsas, as they were becoming a bit shabby.  A simplified livery using a darker orange (and more durable orange) was used with a single white band. The lower panels were orange and the fleet-name was in white this time.

At its peak the number of Ailsas running in Cardiff was 56, but by the turn of the century they were becoming more difficult to maintain. Production of this chassis had ended in 1984 and spares were getting hard to obtain. The first examples to be sold were 412-4 in the Autumn of 2000. Further buses were sold in 2001 and these comprised all the un-refurbished buses from the 401 to 436 batch and most of the Merseyside examples as well. Three of the latter, 444 to 446 were kept for the UWIC contract and painted blue. 444 only lasted a few months in this role though. 

By 2005 the number available for service was around the 26 mark. As of late June 2007 the following buses were available for service. 401/3-9/11/5/7/9, 425/31/6, 449/51/2, a remarkably healthy 18 in all! Others were retained as a source of spares. 

And so in 2007 we prepare to bid farewell to what has been an unusual but at the same time faithful workhorse. However on a positive note, this summer Cardiff Bus prepares to take delivery of it first new double-deckers for a good number of years. A “state of the art” fleet of Scania deckers will grace our streets from December bringing a new level of comfort for years to come. They will have very eye-catching Darwen Group, formerly East Lancs Coachbuilders, bodies.

Article written and pictures supplied by Andrew Wiltshire, June 2007 and all copyright rests with the author who we are extremely grateful to for producing this article.

The Final Running Day - Saturday 15th December 2007

After over 21 years service, Saturday 15th December 2007 saw Ailsa's 408 and 436 operate selected routes around the city for the final time.  Here is a list of the scheduled journeys and some pictures taken on the day by various contributors.

Bus 408 0908 Service 27 1027 Service 61 1135 Service 21 1345 Service 62 1456 Service 28 1609 Service 12 from Central Station to Tremorfa and return

Bus 436 0907 Service 58 1032 Service 18 1145 Service 23 1340 Service 60 1458 Service 8 from Central Station to Heath Hospital and return 1611 Service 29

Alternatively, you can click here to download a PDF of the final bus workings and timetables.

All photos are copyright to the relevant contributor.

Courtesy of Mike OSullivan	Courtesy of Steve White
Courtesy of Steve White	Courtesy of Steve White
Courtesy of Steve White	Courtesy of Steve White
Courtesy of Mac Winfield	Courtesy of Mac Winfield
Courtesy of Mac Winfield	Courtesy of Mac Winfield