THE GALLERY

At first glance there is nothing out of the ordinary about First Western National Dennis Dart SLF 42463 (R463CCV) seen here on the 83 in Plymouth's Bretonside Bus Station in May 2005.

But look at the rear end and you will see that this is one of the few vehicles in the UK adapted to carry bicycles. This is in sharp contrast to North America where all new deliveries in recent years appear to be cycle enabled. However American buses have the cycle racks at the front, which gives cyclists added security with the bikes under the driver's eye. 42463 does have CCTV monitoring, but the rack still seems very prone to shunt damage.