Jersey bus 31 (J 14644) at St. Helier - 4 Sep 1999

On the Channel Island of Jersey the law says that vehicles over 7ft 6.5ins (2.3m) wide are not permitted on Jersey roads without a P30 permit. No vehicle or trailer travelling on a P30 permit may be used on a parish by-road without written permission of the Constable of that parish. A copy of the written permission must be carried by the driver in the vehicle.

Many roads on the island serving the popular tourist bays and villages are too narrow anyway for larger width vehicles and as a result narrow buses and coaches have been regularly employed.

The current contractor to operate the bus service network on the island, Libertybus, has in recent times placed some standard 2.5 metre wide double deckers in service on service 15 between St. Helier and Jersey Airport. Narrow Optare Solo single deckers represent to current new vehicle choice for the general island network.

Since the demise of bodybuilders like Duple that were willing and able to construct ‘non standard’ bodywork, and the fact that the current day mainstream builders don’t handle specialised low production runs, the coach operators now source their vehicles built by lesser known builders, builders of welfare and staff type bodies etc.

The island is only 45 square miles (120 square kilometres) in area. A full round the island tour is only in the region of 50 or so miles so standard grade coaches are quite suitable for visiting tourists.