Eurobus (Eurolines Contractor) F812 RJF in Geneva - 24 Aug 1990

Friday 24 August 1990 (1545) – Eurobus Limited of West Drayton F812 RJF, a Yugoslavian built TAZ Dubrava D3500 new in June 1989, seen leaving the Gare Routiere in Geneva, Switzerland working the 1415 Eurolines service 131 from Chamonix (France) to London (England). It would arrive at 1030 the next day (Saturday 25 August).

I saw the coach again two days later when parked in Chamonix, so it had then worked the 1500 departure from London on Saturday 25 August arriving in Chamonix at 1315 on Sunday 26 August. (Unfortunately, on the morning of Tuesday 4 September I saw the coach again just north of Paris where it had broken down and was parked on the hard shoulder of the Autoroute leading to the coastal ports).

At the time service 131 operated the through service three times a week all year round supplemented with a fourth trip in the main part of the summer.

Other than being a contracted operator I am of the belief that Eurobus and Eurolines were unrelated.

Between July 1988 and September 1990 the Yugoslavian (Croatian) bus and coach builder Tvornica Autobusa Zagreb (abbreviated to TAZ) sold around 77 of their Dubrava type coaches to operators in the British Isles. (60 to England/Scotland, 1 to Northern Ireland and 16 to the Irish Republic according to details shown on the ‘Bus Lists on the Web’ website). There was a mixture of the lower height D3200 and the higher D3500 body types - the numbers depicting the heights in millimetres. These vehicles had a lower price tag than contemporary types from other builders but the build quality was inferior.

In the ‘Little Red Book 1992/3’ Eurobus Limited was shown as operating a fleet of eight coaches all being TAZ Dubrava models.