The Featured Bus for September 2013 is the MAN SL200 class of buses
Between 1975 and 1981, ACTION purchased 151 MAN SL200 with bodies by three different builders: Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation, Smithfield Bus and Coach Works, and Custom Coaches.
The first bus, 410, was delivered in July 1975 and was the first bus in Australia to be built to the German VÖV bus design.
During the seven year span of the delivery of these vehicles, many features that are now considered standard were added, including integral retarder, roof hatches, cloth seat fabric and a digital (flip-dot) destination sign on Bus 558.
Other than Bus 442, which was written off in a collision in 1982, these buses were withdrawn from service between December 1991 and February 1995, being replaced in the fleet by Renault PR100.2 (Mk2) and PR100.3 vehicles.
Fleet information by year:
| Year | Body | Fleet numbers | Total |
| 1975 | Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation | 410 – 424 | 15 |
| 1976 | Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation | 425 – 449, 451 – 500, 502 – 503 | 77 |
| 1977 | Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation | 501, 504 – 509, 511 – 515 | 12 |
| 1978 | Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation | 516 – 531, 553 – 561 | 25 |
| 1979 | Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation | 562 – 567 | 6 |
| 1980 | Smithfield | 569 – 575 | 7 |
| 1981 | Smithfield | 576 – 579 | 4 |
| 1981 | Custom Coaches | 580 – 584 | 5 |
Selected Images
Further details:
- Fleet details on ACT Bus Fleetwiki
- MAN SL200 images on ACT Bus Gallery
- MAN SL200 article on ACT Bus
Related Featured Bus articles:
- Bus 410 (Sep/Oct 2014)
- All MAN buses (May/Jun 2016)
- Bus 442 (Sep/Oct 2018)
This page was last updated on 30 March 2024
