Cityrama had been set up by Limebourne as a separate company in July 1982, as a London sightseeing operation. They had moved into London bus operations in March 1986, when they started operating tendered route 200 (Streatham - Raynes Park). Buses for that were ex-London Fleetlines. The 196 followed in February 1987, using ex-Sheffield Fleetlines. But the secondhand Fleetlines did not prove the most reliable of workhorses, and in July 1988 Cityrama managed to buy two new Olympians, to improve matters on the 200.

The two Olympians were originally ordered by Boro'Line Maidstone, part of an order for 14 bought new with Optare-built bodies to the ECW/Roe style. That order had been reduced to 11 due to late delivery, and Cityrama picked up two. They were painted in a strong blue, with a white band, with small Cityrama fleetnames in red.

Nevertheless, they were not enough to turn the tide on the 200, which was surrendered in December 1988. Kingston Buses took over route 200, and the Olympians shifted to the 196.

This too did not last long: in October 1989 Cityrama threw in the towel on tendered operations and concentrated on its tour business. One of the Olympians was sold to United in August 1992 and went north. The other was converted to open-top for tour operations. Cityrama's tour business was acquired by Ensignbus in the autumn of 1993. The open-top Olympian was reroofed by Ensign, using a Titan top, then sold to Capital Citybus in November 1994, as their number 169. After a spell operating for them, latterly in red/yellow inner-London livery, it was transferred north in February 2001 empire, ironically to Sheffield, whence Cityrama had acquired its route 196 Fleetlines. There it stayed in service until 2003.

Bus Stop Olympian index Bee Line bus histories photo refs ex-Dublins