Mercedes-Benz Buses: Illustrated History Books & Guides

London's Citaro Buses

The Mercedes-Benz Citaro was introduced in London in 2002, available as both rigid and articulated models. The articulated version replaced Routemaster and double-decker buses on several central London routes. However, a policy change led to the withdrawal of articulated Citaros, with the last units operating on route 207 in 2012.
Despite this, the Citaro continued to be used in London, with small numbers purchased by various operators for selected routes in south-east London. First London also tested three hydrogen-powered Citaros on route RV1.
This book presents a brief history of the Citaro's service in London.

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The London Bendy Bus

Between 2002 and 2006 six of London's bus companies put into service 390 articulated 'bendy' buses on twelve routes for transport in London.

During what turned out to be a foreshortened nine years in service, the Mercedes-Benz Citaro G buses familiar on the continent and worldwide earned an unenviable reputation in London; according to who you read and who you believed, they caught fire at the drop of a hat, they maimed cyclists, they drained revenue from the system due to their susceptibility to fare evasion, they transported already long-suffering passengers in standing crush loads like cattle and they contributed to the extinction of the Routemaster from frontline service. In short, it was often referred to as 'the bus we hated'.

This account is an attempt by a long-time detractor of the bendy buses to set the vehicles in their proper context - not quite to rehabilitate them, but to be as fair as is possible towards a mode of transport which felt about as un-British as could be.

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The Mercedes Benz Midibus

This book covers an important aspect of British bus provision that has not been fully documented before. The Mercedes-Benz Midibus may have been small, but it had a huge impact. It became well respected by fleet engineers and served its purpose well.
This story is not just about a successful vehicle, it focuses on several small coachbuilding businesses that rose to the forefront of the British manufacturing industry, through the work of their designers, craftsmen and salesmen. The variety that the Mercedes-Benz Midibus offered was quite remarkable!

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Mercedes Benz - Lastwagen & Omnibusse 1896-1986

When Daimler and Benz merged in 1926, they concentrated their commercial vehicle production in various plants, primarily in Mannheim and Gaggenau. When these became too small, a new plant opened in Wörth in 1965.

Pages of the book "Mercedes Benz - Lastwagen & Omnibusse 1896-1986"

20 years later, Werner Oswald published the first edition of this incomparable overview, and it has lost none of its content value to this day. However, the look and design had become outdated, and as with the successfully launched new edition of the brand's passenger cars, the over-complete truck volume is also being reissued: in a larger format and with many new pictures.

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Mercedes-Benz Omnibusse 1945-1982 (Typenkompass)

The brand with the star is also a market leader in the bus sector as a company with a long tradition. It was especially in the years after 1945 that the Stuttgart-based company began to show its colors in this segment.
This period was characterized by the transition from the classic hooded schnauzers to the modern cab-over-engine vehicles.

Pages of the book "Mercedes-Benz Omnibusse 1945-1982"

The unconditional support of Mercedes-Benz combined with the author's expertise make this book indispensable for all bus fans. In the tried and tested Typenkompass style, all Mercedes types from 1946 to 1982 are documented here in pictures and provided with numerous data and facts.

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Mercedes-Benz Omnibusse (1) - 1895-1926

When Carl Benz introduced the world's first motor bus in 1895 and Gottlieb Daimler's DMG entered the bus manufacturing business in 1897, the two fathers of the automobile probably had no idea what development they were setting in motion.
The companies, which merged to form Daimler-Benz AG in 1926, slowly but surely rose to become the world's largest bus manufacturer.

In the first volume on the history of Mercedes-Benz buses, the author takes a look at the predecessor companies of what would later become Daimler-Benz AG: their beginnings in bus construction in 1895, the rise of DMG and Benz & Cie. to become the leading vehicle manufacturers in the German Empire and finally the turbulent years after the First World War until the merger of the two manufacturers to form Daimler-Benz AG in 1926.

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Abschied vom Standard-1-Bus : Die letzten Standard-Linienbusse der ersten Generation im Einsatz

From the end of the 1960s to the 1990s, the first generation of standard buses dominated local public transport in the Federal Republic of Germany. They have long since been phased out by the large urban and municipal transport companies, but some private bus companies still rely on the robust Standard 1 buses from the manufacturers MAN, Mercedes Benz and Magirus - mostly for school transport.

However, due to the trend towards modern low-floor buses, air-conditioned vehicles and increasingly strict environmental regulations, the number of Standard 1 buses still in use in Germany has fallen rapidly in recent years. The foreseeable end of this generation of buses in scheduled services is therefore a reason to dedicate the first volume of the "tadtverkehr-Bildarchiv" book series to the Standard 1 buses.

Climb aboard and accompany us on our trip through Germany to the last examples of the MB O 305/O 305 G and O 307, MAN SL 200 and SÜ 240 types as well as several other Standard 1 models that have now become real rarities.

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Mercedes-Benz Omnibusse (2) - 1926-1945

In the second volume on the history of Mercedes-Benz buses, the author and commercial vehicle journalist Alexander Weber examines the history of Daimler-Benz AG, which emerged in 1926 from the merger of the predecessor companies DMG and Benz & Cie., up to 1945.
In the short period between the wars, the company rose to become the largest bus manufacturer in the German Reich - not least through the consistent promotion of the diesel engine as a drive source.

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Mercedes-Benz Omnibusse (3)

In the third volume on the history of Mercedes-Benz brand buses, author Alexander Weber documents the development of Daimler-Benz AG after 1945 until its split into Mercedes-Benz AG and Daimler Truck AG at the end of 2021. And he shows and describes the Mercedes-Benz brand bus series presented between 1945 and the 1980s.

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Mercedes-Benz Omnibusse (4)

In the fourth and final volume on the history of Mercedes-Benz buses, the author covers the buses and coaches built from the 1980s to the present day, including well-known models such as the Citaro, Travego and Tourismo. The minibuses and pure bus chassis that have also been manufactured since the 1950s are also presented and described.

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