It was with astonishment that some Portuguese people saw two buses with the colours of the transport company Rodoeste circulating on the streets of suburban London. An unusual situation that raised both perplexity and a degree of suspicion, since they were far from the usual route and the winding roads they usually travel on, so the question arose: is it true that two Rodoeste buses were circulating on the streets of England? So many kilometres apart?
Before we give you the answer, we would like to remind you that it was on 24 July that DIÁRIO reported that Siga Rodoeste now had 68 new vehicles in its fleet in the Region, an investment of close to 13 million, an amount to be deducted over the course of the service concession which ends on 31 December 2032, so there was a need to find a solution for end-of-life buses.
So what to do with the old ones, that is the question? Scrapping, donating and selling were three solutions put forward. For example: of the 60 buses that previously made up the fleet, 25 to 30 buses will remain with the old company, and 25 will be scrapped or donated, namely to Carnival troupes, explained Fernando Lopes at the time.
The director also said he intended to sell three buses to two groups of vintage car collectors, one from England and the other from the Czech Republic. At the time, his statement almost went unnoticed because, in truth, the Madeiran company would never have sold two end-of-life buses abroad.
Until recently, there was an expression of interest from an association or club in the United Kingdom whose leaders were in Madeira to see the heavy passenger vehicles up close and even had the chance to test drive the buses. The satisfaction was such that the next step was to purchase them and transport them to Her Majesty’s lands.
As far as we know, these are two Volvo buses whose registration is dated February 1985 and December 1981, that is, with 39 and 43 years of ownership registration and a huge number of kilometers, nothing that would prevent the new owners from going ahead with the purchase, which will have cost around 2,500 euros each.
The buses were transported by sea to Lisbon on 14 October, departing for the port of Santander, a journey of over 900 kilometres, and then boarding a direct ferry to the south of England, before heading, at the beginning of this week, to Chesterfield, approximately 80 kilometres from Manchester. It is precisely at this location that they are expected to be stored for exhibitions or events related to the theme of passenger transport.