Three Nationally Significant Historical Buses at the Opening of the Perth Bus Port, Wellington Street, July 16, 2016

With the opening of the new Perth Bus Port on July 17, 2016 the public was treated to an 'open day' preview of the premises and operation on Saturday July 16th.  To contrast the old services and the new, BPSWA were asked by the PTA to provide three buses from their collection with strong historical connections to the operation of the old Wellington Street Bus station. These were selected by the PTA from the collection and so the Hino RC520P MTT 83 (in the livery of  the Yellow City Clipper, 933), Leyland OPS4 Metro 81 and the Leyland Royal Tiger MTT 591 occupied each of the entrances to the underground Bus Port.  Metro 81 was placed at the King Street entrance; MTT 933 was placed adjacent to the Queen Street entrance; and the Leyland Royal Tiger MTT 591 graced the Yagan Square Entrance. The buses were on display from 11am to 3pm on the day although they took up their positions just after 9.30am.  The BPSWA volunteer drivers and conductors in attendance reported that interest in the buses was very high with a steady stream of people through all three buses throughout the day with people inspecting all aspects of the display and the features of the new BusPort.
The video (on left, posted on YouTube by B8RLEA 3033) show the drivers extricating the vehicles from the rather restricted venue and exiting through the southern (Wellington Street Gate) in the afternoon.  The event proved very nostalgic for a good many people as well as for the BPSWA volunteers who were kept busy reviewing the features of the old buses and sharing moments with a fairly well informed, travelling public.

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