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Transport in Albania, page 1, buses (by Dick Gilbert)

Last updated 26 August 2024

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Albania spent many years isolated from most of the world by an oppressive communist regime, but it is now starting to emerge from those days with a new and developing tourist industry and a bid to join the European Union. During the communist era the population were not allowed to own cars (in case they tried to escape in them) so the only motor vehicles were state-operated buses, trucks and other government equipment. This means that, apart from a few former Chinese or Russian agricultural, construction or military vehicles, everything was pretty new.

My thanks to Marin Pazanin from Croatia for help with some of the identification. Let's start with a look at the buses in the capital city of Tirana.

The first picture shows Irisbus Agora No.66 (registration AA.877UT) in a red / white livery with a green roof which seems to indicate Route L8, heading out to Sauk in the south of the city. It has a Renault badge on the front because the design was previously known as the Renault Agora. Most bus routes start at Qender, which means centre. This is the area around the clock tower and Skanderbeg Square. Skanderbeg was a 15th century national hero whose double-headed eagle coat of arms is on the country's flag and features at the top of this page.

This picture shows identical sister Irisbus Agora No.65 (registration AA.569UT) but this time it is wearing an Irisbus logo on the front, instead of Renault. Irisbus, based in the Czech Republic, is part of the Iveco Group. The bus is on a variation of Route L8, the L8/A which terminates at T E G, which stands for Tirana East Gate.

Fleet No.56 (AA.996PS) is a Neoplan Centroliner N4416 on another variation of the Route L8, the L8/B from the centre to the University Hospital in the south east of the city. It still wears the livery of its former owner, Vestische Strassenbahnen of Herten, Germany.

Mercedes Citaro (AA.147UH) on Route L1 which starts in the north east, crosses the city centre and ends up at Kodra e Diellet which is a residential housing complex in the south west. It has a similar livery to the Route L8 buses above, but with a red roof.

Irisbus Crossway LE (TR.7908T). This is probably the most common type of bus in Tirana and can be seen in various liveries. I think they are all powered by Iveco.

Mercedes (AA.904TA) bendy bus No.69, is an O530 G Citaro of the first generation. These can also be seen in an orange livery. Other articulated buses that I saw in the city included white Renault no. 203 on route L13, a white Solaris from Poland, and a white and yellow Scania. But perhaps the biggest surprise was a white Van Hool bi-articulated bus - i.e. in three sections. I'd never seen one of those before.

Here's another Irisbus Crossway LE (AA.956GI), this time wearing orange on route L15.

This is a MAN Lions City A78 (AA.402PN) on route L2 running initially down south to the zoo and Tirana East Gate (T E G). It then turns west and performs a circular course which ends up approaching the city centre again from the north. The bus is clearly second-hand as it is still wearing the livery of Qbuzz from the Netherlands.

Marked "Metrobus" on the side, this is an Irisbus Agora on route L12A. It is in the colours of French company TCAR of Rouen (a subsidiary of Veolia Transport) and still bears their fleet number 5004 over the front door. It had previously been registered AR 732 ES in France.

I found these little buses of particular interest. The badge on the front is from Chinese manufacturer Changan and this SC6753 model (AA.718PK) is 7.5 metres long and was from a batch of 13 delivered new in 2014.

Here's another one (AA.931EN) from an earlier batch delivered from Changan Automobile in 2013 with slightly different styling. It is on route L10B although I also saw some on routes L9A, L9B and L12, and some turquoise ones on route L14. It seems to have suffered some damage at the front and the maker's logo is missing.

This is a Guleryuz Cobra GD-160 bus (AA.961AH) on route 6. Guleryuz is based in Bursa, Turkey. I'd never seen one before. Other service buses I saw in Tirana included white / yellow 3-axle vehicles (that livery seemed to be more common out of town near the airport), a blue / white / orange MAN bus, a white / green Scania and something called a Renault Metropole, whatever that is...

Now we are in Berat in southern Albania - the town that I think we enjoyed most. The steep hills on the left drop down to the Osum River, beyond the railings on the right. There weren't many buses, but here's one. The bus in the picture is a MAN Lion's City (AA.576AH) and wears the fleet number 8756 which refers to its previous life with Connexxion, the huge transport enterprise in the Netherlands. The bus has been in Berat for a couple of years but still hasn't been repainted! Former Connexxion 8774 (AA.574AH), 8866 (AA.489MH) and 8882 (AA.487MH) are also working in the town.

Moving on to the coastal resort of Durres this is a Renault / Heuliez GX117L (AA.761PZ) with the fleet number 7007 just visible by the door. It was formerly with Calibus of La Cali near Bordeaux, France, part of the Transdev Group, where it had been registered CV 579 GX and numbered 9558, so I'm not sure what the number 7007 is all about. Previously white, it now wears an all-over livery for Eurosig, an Albanian insurance company.

Back to the capital Tirana and this coach is a Scania K113 with an Irizar Century body (AA.902MD) operated by Albanian travel specialist Sipa Tours and parked up near the University.

Here's a mighty beast. Visiting Tirana with tourists from Magellan travel agency of Croatia is this Van Hool TDX27 Astromega (registration KC.540.GU which tells us that it came from the town of Koprivnica) operated by Antigona of Dedina.

Because I love vehicles with 3 axles (witness the Astromega above!) here's another one visiting Albania. This is a Neoplan Tourliner from Top-Lines of Greece.

Finally here's a coach park at the historic town of Kruja. From left to right I think this multi- national group are:

Scania / Irizar i6S (ST.3222P) of Bomatur based in Czechowice-Dziedzice, Poland.

Scania K124 / Irizar PB operating for Ramirez, Albania.

Scania Touring HD (Albanian).

Neoplan Cityliner from Badem Tour of Skopje, North Macedonia.

MAN Lions Coach of the extensive Group Arriva, with a Koper (KP) registration from Slovenia.

Scania / Irizar Century (Albanian).

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