New in 2001/2002, Mürztaler Verkehrs Gesellschaft (MVG) bought a small fleet of 12m Mercedes-Benz Citaros as these buses replaced most of the trolleybus fleet as the wires came down in 2002.
The Citaros were some of the first buses for MVG to wear this revised livery which carried the same colours as the previous livery which I've done earlier this year on MVG's no.30. The yellow/blue/white lined livery was ditched for this blue/white livery covering the front portion with the roof and the wheels remained yellow. Soon the older fleet were painted in this plain yet attractive livery making even older buses like the Mercedes-Benz O405GTDs look a lot more modern.
This version of the MVG livery was since revised on the Mercedes-Benz Citaro 2s as the blue roof was omitted leaving just the very front panels painted blue with the rest of the body left in unpainted white, probably to cut costs and/or place bigger adverts on. The characteristic yellow wheel caps still remain with MVG's standard bus fleet, all apart from a Citaro 2 wearing the old pre 1990s orange/white heritage livery as the bus features white wheel caps.
No.41 was the first 12m rigid bus to enter the fleet with 3 doors and was numerically the first of the batch of the trolleybus replacing fleet although wasn't the first Citaro with MVG as the first one entered service back in 1998 whilst the trolleybuses were still in operation 1 year after the last trolleybus was launched into service.
No.41 spent its entire approx 13/14 year life with the company and over time the only changes its seen was the branding and the promotional adverts it carried. The bus once carried adverts for the ECE (Einkaufes Centrum Europaplatz), a shopping centre in the town centre of Kapfenberg which the bus passes on nearly every route its on as Kapfenberg is where this bus is based. The mentioned advert was carried on MVG's fleet from the mid-90s up until the 2000s.
This fleet of Mercedes-Benz Citaros during the mid-2010s were replaced by Euro 6 engined Mercedes-Benz Citaro 2s as no.41 was cannibalised for a fire brigade training exercise as MVG's Facebook page once posted images of the bus' final fate in 2016 where it was pulled by a fire engine whilst looking very sorry for itself with parts missing, although fire engines and Citaros are talked about a lot since the mid-2000s, this bus was never damaged by fire at all as far as I'm aware...!
Besides no.41 being cannibalised for training exercise work for the fire service, the other Citaros ventured to other fleets outside Austria or were rendered withdrawn.
This bus is a strong reminder of 2012 as I saw this bus in person that year as I took a photo of this very bus in Bruck a.d. Mur on the 2 service. I also rode this bus from the small Austrian town to Kapfenberg that year. As a result I drawn the bus in its 2012 state operating a no.1 service to Euromarkt which is a small retail park in Kapfenberg which I visited back in 2012.
Mercedes-Benz Citaros might not be as common sight here in the UK as the native British-built variety were used to seeing here but as you can see in countries like Germany and Austria, the Citaro still remains one of the best selling buses since the year the model was released. Seen with various configurations the Citaro evolved with a facelifted front and rear end and was later given a total restyle and was named the Citaro 2 which is still sold to this day. Old Citaros like MVG's 41 seen here were famous for bursting into flames as seen with London's artic fleet in 2004, but despite this MVG's fleet as far as I know haven't burst into flames at all.
The design of the Citaro inspired many manufacturers to mimick the bodywork or take some styling hints from this type. The windows extending over the cove panels was later seen on various buses across the globe, including from MAN, MCV, and even Wrightbus (to name a few) took that idea on.
To those who have followed my work since the beginning might recognise this bus as I drawn this way back in 2012 but since things have changed since then I thought I'd go and have another go with this bus.
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