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The new departure point for the tours is alongside Federation Square in Flinders Street. This view of 9352AO, former London Buses T1091, shows some of the modifications to the Titans. From the front end "bunny ear" rear view mirrors refresh the appearance and at the rear the repanelling has tidied away the rear number blind and neatly lost the characteristic recess. The classic Titan rear can be seen in the London Leyland Titan gallery. The bus was new to London Buses in 1984 and on privatisation joined Stagecoach Selkent. It was converted to open top and single door in late 1997 and joined Western Scottish as their 973 for use on the Dumfries Open Top Tour when it was registered NIB5232 from B91WUV. In 2001 it joined Stagecoach in Cumbria and was later painted green and cream for use on the Lakeland Experience tours until the end of the 2008 season.Picture ref A1520
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The Melbourne franchise is now operated by Skylight Buslines, a charter and school bus operator based in the western suburbs. They have named each of their City Sightseeing buses, whereas the rest of the fleet carry fleet numbers. This is Kurt (9353AO) seen at the Queen Victoria Market in February 2014. The bus was also part of the Stagecoach Selkent fleet having been new in 1983 as T728 (OHV728Y). It was also transferred to Stagecoach Western Scottish as 954 in 1996 and later to Stagecoach North West but was not deroofed until 2005. Since then it has had a roof put back on: with tram overheads all over the city, fully open top buses are not an option in Melbourne.
Picture ref A1634
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About to head down St Kilda Road by Federation Square in mid December 2013 is 9352AO again, which bears the name Victor.
Picture ref A1474
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Victor is seen again about a month later in Fitzroy Street, St Kilda, contending with road closures caused by the Midsumma Festival. The nornml tour route closely follows that of the Melbourne Free Visitors Shuttle around the city, but a second, less frequent tour takes in Albert Park and the seafront from St Kilda's Marina to Port Melbourne's cruise ship terminal. The intervention of City Sightseeing has resulted in the Visitors Shuttle charging an all day $5 use ticket then when the free tram zone was introduced in the city centre the service was withdrawn.
Picture ref A1584
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