Optare solo sr   

20014/5/6/27

These Solo SR vehicles are the only Solo type vehicles to be purchased new for the Diamond Bus fleet and were part of a batch of four vehicles purchased. The Diamond Bus vehicles are built to the Signature specification and are used on the Signature Transport for West Midlands contracted services in and around Solihull. The vehicles were initially allocated to the Central Connect operation at Long Acre in Birmingham. This was integrated into the main Diamond bus operation and when the Long Acre depot was closed in 2015 the vehicles were transferred to Redditch Garage from where the Signature routes are operated from. With the loss of the contracts for the Signature bus network in Solihull from Sunday 24th February 2019 vehicles 20014-6 were withdrawn.

With the requirement for better quality vehicles to operate Transport for West Midlands contracted services Rotala acquired some nearly new Euro V standards Optare Solo SRs. When the Hanson's Local Bus business was acquired then there was a need to consolidate the 226 route from Merry Hill to Dudley where Diamond and Hanson's had operated in head to head competition. The timetable was revised and number of the Solo SRs that had been recently acquired were painted in the company's blue livery and were branded up for the 226 route.  During 2019 the route was further upgraded with brand new Wight's Streetlites and the Solos were de-branded and moved Redditch for use on TfWM contracts