Shanghai

Big Bus Tours (The Big Bus Company, London, England)

The Big Bus Company has its head office in London, England, and commenced operating sightseeing tours there as a family-run business in 1991 with two buses. It has subsequently grown to become one of the largest open top tour bus operators in the world. In 2002, the company started an operation in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates; and in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, in 2003. In December 2008, the company launched its first Far East operation, in Hong Kong, and in November 2009 it increased its presence in the UAE with a new tour in Abu Dhabi. In April 2010, the operation in Shanghai, China, was commenced.

The Shanghai sightseeing tour currently uses eight Ankai buses in part open top form, all in the company’s smart burgundy and cream livery. These have recently been fitted with framing in two styles over the open section, which will allow the use of removable canvas roofs that can be pulled over the open seating area when required for shade or rain cover.

Two routes are operated. The City Tour (Red Route) buses depart from Renmin Square every 30 minutes from 9.00am until 5.00pm, and the Pudong Tour (Blue Route) buses depart from the Cool Docks every hour from 9.00am until 5.00pm. Seating capacities for these buses are unconfirmed and are currently being checked, so if you have information on these, please let us know.

Upper Left: The Big Bus Company started its Shanghai sightseeing tour in April 2010 with brand new Ankai buses with this style of part open top bodywork. This bus is B-E0596. Photo by ‘Lujille85’.

Upper Right: An offside view of another Ankai in the Big Bus fleet. This is the same livery that the company uses in all of its locations, branding with local lettering for the appropriate tour, in this case the main attractions along the route, with lettering in both Chinese and English. Photo by ‘Lujille85’.

Lower Left: A closer view of the rear of one of the buses, showing the framing and removal canvas sections in place over the open section of the bodywork. Photo by ‘Lujille85’.

Lower Right: A line up of some of the buses delivered by September 2010, waiting to be licenced, showing some of the large grilles in the rear of the bodywork, taken before the buses entered service. Photo by ‘Lujille85’.

Shanghai

This is a sightseeing tour service that commenced in October 2010. It uses a fleet of part open top double deckers in a red and yellow livery lettered for ‘City Sightseeing’. The covered parts of the roofs on these buses have clear panels. There are eight Ankai buses, operating on two routes. Route 1 operates on Puxi and Route 2 starts at the same point on Puxi (Pu-an Lu), but then goes under the Huangpu to Pudong.  We don’t know yet if this is part of the global City Sightseeing brand or is an independent company using the same name and base livery colour, as the livery layout and lettering/graphics style is different, so if anyone can provide more information or updates on this Shanghai company, please contact us. The same company operates local coach tours as “Spring Travel”. There are also some closed top single deck buses used on this tour, but these are outside the scope of this website.

Upper Left: One of the Chinese-built Ankai buses used by ‘City Sightseeing’ in Shanghai. This photo gives a good view of the clear panels used in the roof section, allowing a covered seating area that passengers are still able to look through. This is B-G6576. Photo by ‘Lujille85’.

Upper Right: A rear view of one of the buses displaying the company website name and telephone number amongst the many other decals. Photo by ‘Lujille85’.

Shanghai

Lujiazui, Pudong district, tour buses

This is an unidentified tour bus operator that runs open top buses in the Lujiazui district of Pudong, Shanghai, or at least that is where they have been seen. There are four buses here with part open top bodywork with removable or sliding canvas covers. One of the buses is two-axle and the others are tri-axle. Originally these buses had clear plastic sides, as can be seen in one of the photos. These are currently either painted over or have vinyls applied with advertising lettering. These buses are fitted with tables, and apparently some of the branding lettering translates into English as “Drink coffee while you see the sights”. The tour is quite short compared to others in the city, and the buses have the impression of a mobile cafeteria inside. The bus colours vary from bus to bus, as they carry all-over advertising and this could be liable to change occasionally, so we have not described the actual advertising carried. We are keen to identify the name and address of this operator, so if you can help, please contact us.

Upper Left: Some of this operator’s buses are decorated in all-over advertising liveries that are liable to change depending on the duration of the advertising contract. Removable canvas roofs are fitted to the open sections of the bodywork as seen on this Jinling double decker carrying a good load of passengers on the upper deck. Photo by ‘Lujille85’.

Upper Right: The Lujiaziu buses were fitted with clear side panels when new, to allow even more visibility from inside, as can be seen her on B-33576. These were later painted or vinyled over. Photo by ‘Lujille85’.

Middle Left: The tables are visible where coffee is served in this view of the top deck of B-24486, also showing the removable canvas covers. Photo by ‘Lujille85’.

Middle Right: This livery showing images of coffee cups and soft drinks bottles could be normal tour bus livery if the intention is to invite customers aboard for coffee while they see the sights. This is B-33426 seen on a wet day in the Lujiazui area. Photo by ‘Lujille85’.

Lower Left: A closer view of the front of the upper deck of B-33576 showing the kitchen/servery area forward of the staircase. Disposable coffee cups and towels can be seen through the front windows of these buses. Photo by ‘Lujille85’.

Lower Right: Another closer view of the clear sides as fitted to B-33568 when new, showing the tables and seats. Photo by ‘Lujille85’.

Shanghai

Shanghai Ba-Shi Industrial Co.

The Shanghai Ba-Shi Industrial Co. runs part open top Jinling buses on Route 911 which runs from Huaihai Road/Jinling Road appears to have been operated by this type of bus for several years. There are at least ten buses here that we know about. There may be more. The start date is not known to us, so if you can help or clarify any other information here, then please contact us. We are also looking for the licence plate number of bus number ‘J2A-004’. Bus livery is red with white lettering.

Left: Bus number J2A-006 (B-46682) wears a side and rear advertising wrap for Pepsi Max in this photo. Photo by ‘Lujille85’.

Right: Bus J2A-003 (B-46559) is seen in the red livery, with the partly glazed roof section visible in this view. Photo by ‘Lujille85’.