The Duple bodied Dennis Dart was the doyen of the family.
The superbly modernistic body was envisaged as the sole body for the new chassis,
Duple and Dennis both being part of the Hestair group of companies.
The combination was first put together in demonstrator form in 1988,
but London Buses insisted on a short 8.5metre version
in order to make the most of the current financial regime: the DT was born.
Duple built the first few bodies for London Buses before being bought by Plaxton.
They didn't want the Dartline body and sold the design rights to Carlyle,
who continued it without change as the Dartline.
1990 was the year of the DT. They took over on a variety of routes that were suffering the indignity of "Walkthrough breadvan" operation. DT1-27, bodied by Duple, went to the London United subsidiary, operating out of Fulwell and Hounslow garages, on routes H21-H23, R69 and R70. Another 141, with Carlyle bodies, went to Bromley, Orpington, Thornton Heath, Willesden, Edgware, North Wembley and Stamford Brook.
Meanwhile another operator was making an appearance.
R&I Tours of North London won tenders to operate the C11 and C12 with new Darts,
and chose a longer 9.0m version, with bodies started by Duple and completed by Carlyle.
These buses appeared in a very non-London livery of silver and grey (no 80% rule then),
and were soon a familiar sight around Kings Cross.
In the Watford area London Country North-West also won an LT tender on the 258,
for which it bought eight even longer Dart Carlyles, with 9.8metre bodies.
These had a destination box perched on the front,
somewhat spoiling the clean lines, and were finished in LCNW's dull green and grey livery.
But by the end of 1991 Carlyle was in trouble, along with other bus-body builders, and the Dartline production ceased. The design rights passed on to Marshall of Cambridge, who pacified the design somewhat for their ventures into the minibus and SLF marketplace.
London United acquired all 28 of the Duple-bodied DTs (DT1-27 and DT168),
plus 55 of the Carlyle versions.
Its territory was - and is - the traditional single-decker land around
Kingston, Hounslow, Fulwell and London Airport,
and it put the Darts to intensive use.
Rather than the "Hoppa" name that was appearing on the sides of small buses elsewhere in London,
London United emphasised the agile nature of its new buses with a Harrier name
and symbol. LU claimed an 11% first-year increase in ridership on routes where the Darts took over from double-deckers.
The later repaint into London United's own livery,
with mid-grey skirt and white roof made them even more eye-catching.
Metroline began disposal of its Darts in December 1996,
with a sale of six to MTL London to join those newly taken over from R&I.
In 1997 there followed a larger sale of 16 buses to Rossendale Transport in Lancashire,
who already had three Duple bodied versions from 1990.
Another seven rolled their way north to join them in 1998.
Selkent District, having been an early user of the type in large numbers,
largely lost the work for them before privatisation.
The District lost many of its small-bus routes to Kentishbus (later Londonlinks) and newcomer Metrobus,
and London Buses passed them on to where they were more useful.
Catford did retain an allocation into privatisation, mainly for the 124,
although they were occasionally seen on routes where double-deckers would normally be expected.
Some were transferred to Stagecoach Docklands Transit in 1997, in exchange for longer Plaxton-bodied Darts from East Londonwhich came to dominate on the 124, gradually usurping them altogether. Stagecoach transferred the DTs away to sunnier climes (Devon General and Red & White) in late 1997.
South London Buses inherited the Thornton Heath contingent, the thirteen UGO-registered buses.
Some of the buses acquired "Cowie stripes" - two broad diagonal yellow bands at the rear,
including the seven that were transferred to Leaside in April 1996 for use on Enfield's route 192.
Two more were bought from Metroline .
The Darts were repainted into MTLs dark red with MTL logos.
Several of the short Darts were transferred to Merseyside.
MTL's London business was sold to Metroline in 1998,
and there has since been some interchange of DTs between the fleets.
In common with all the first generation Darts, in mid-2000 they are being replaced with low-floor vehicles.
When tender changes reduced R&I's requirement in 1995,
Kentish Bus bought some of the 9.0m Darts.
They were the first buses to receive Kentish Bus's green and yellow livery.
They didn't stay on Thameside for long, soon transferring to other Arriva fleets.
At the end of 1998 Limebourne was in crisis. Parent company Q-Drive went into receivership in October, and the Limebourne management bought the company at the end of November. The companies that leased buses to Limebourne promptly repossessed their leased vehicles, within 24 hours. The new Limebourne (Independent Way) found itself with virtually no buses. But they promptly purchased eleven redundant Darts from Metroline. They went into service in plain red, with Metroline fleetnames still in place, but soon acquired Limebourne's green skirts and fleetnames. Strangely, the Limebourne fleet has been given names rather than fleet numbers.
The Connex DTs only marginally fit within the London Transport remit of these pages,
but as I met one at Lingfield, in old Country Area territory,
that will do as an excuse.
Early in 2000 Connex, the south of London train operator,
bought some DTs for rail replacement work,
having started in the bus business by tendering for route 3 in London.
But DT1, DT25 and DT41 were not for that.
Instead they have acquired a nice deep blue and very pale yellow livery,
for contract work.
One of them has appeared on the Uckfield-Lewes "un-Beeching" service.
1999 and 2000 have seen the DTs largely replaced in the London fleets as new short low-floor Mini-Pointer Darts have become available. They haven't gone for scrap. Ten year old buses of this quality still have considerable market value. They have been dispersed to other fleets of the larger companies, to places where London Buses tender requirements for low-floor doorways do not reach. Others have been sold to independents throughout Britain, so their distinctive shape can crop up anywhere to surprise you. They STILL look futuristic.
Some operators are chary about the windscreens, having heard tales of expensive garage shunts, and some DTs have received new Pointer-style fronts (at a cost of about £30,000) before taking up new appointments. What a shame.
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DW.