The first Australian built Enviro200 on its first full day in service on Monday. The bus was assembled at Custom Coaches in Sydney and delivered to Tullamarine Bus Lines at Airport West in Melbourne the previous Thursday. It has replaced a Custom bodied Mercedes LO812 also numbered 26 (6700AO) for use on route 490 from the Airport West Westfield Plaza to Gowanbrae Estate. The 490 is an unusual operation. The estate which appears a typical two car family estate is a short distance from teh plaza but separated by a dual carriageway and rail line. The bus trundles down to the Airport West from the depot just down the road and if no one wishes to travel it trundles back. However if a passenger has prebooked from one of the dozen stops on Gowanbrae it will head over to collect them. The service runs from 0600 until 1845 on a roughly hourly frequency (double that at peaks) six days a week. Observed passenger loadings were in single figures, usually just one! On Monday the blind was as delivered, CUSTOM at the front and E200 at the rear, but as the video below shows, by Saturday 490 displays had been created.
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