(25 Feb 2021, 1:20 am)Jimmi wrote Never had those Volvo Olympian's but believe the Scania single deckers had the same seats and they were quite possibly the best bus seats I've ever come across.
The ride quality on buses now is absolutely diabolical in a lot of instances, I've been to rallies and had preserved buses all day float along roads with barely a rattle... and then it's time to go home and I have to be subjected to a StreetLite where you feel every little bump in the road and rattle/idle like the bus is shivering from being subjected to sub zero temperatures, I had one of Darlington's on the Dalesbus 830 to Hawes in 2019 and everyone thought it was gonna break their spines it was that unpleasant of a ride but yet Solo's didn't have this issue anywhere near as much.
The seating in a lot of modern stuff isn't anywhere near as comfortable in some cases IMO, even on some that are considered to be 'high spec' the e-leather ones being the worst especially the early GNE ones like on 16 plate Decks and Arriva's in most cases are even worse, absolute torture the time I had an 'Eco Green' Lite for a full 685 journey with them very firm seats.
Whilst buses are much more visually pleasing in many cases and stuff like WiFi and USB ports are nice, I feel the quality has dipped significantly in about the last 10-20 years in terms of comfort at least and supposedly in at least some cases the newer stuff is considered to be less robust, less reliable and require more in the way of work including new engines, some buses are hitting the road and new engines or serious work is required within the first week or so of them entering service.
Naturally not all the stuff from the past was brilliant, there was some elements from back then that is best left to the history books.
See, they're actually my favourite seats (other than the ones on 6337) that GNE have. I can sit in them for hours with absolutely no problem, in fact one day I sat in them for over 6 hours basically continuously other than my mandatory Cooplands break (I travelled to Newcastle, realised I forgot something so had to go all the way back to Bishop, then back up again).
I even prefer the e-leather, it's not as slippery as the proper leather on the 67 plates has become, but it's also not too grippy like the new moquette.
As for the ride quality, I actually don't really like a proper floaty ride as it can make me feel quite queasy, the only time I've ever felt travel sick was on a coach because of the constant undulations.
Obviously I don't want it to feel like a Streetlite, but I think the upgraded suspension on the new StreetDecks strikes quite a good balance