Plaxton Pointer-bodied Dennis Darts added further familiarity to the predominantly double-deck scene in Hong Kong in the mid- to late-1990s and also were present in nearby Macau
Although we tend to think of it as a British bus built for British roads, the Plaxton Pointer-bodied Dennis Dart also won export sales, notably to Hong Kong and the neighbouring territory of Macau.
This association began in September 1995 when Citybus, then owned by the CNT Group that also owned Capital Citybus in London, purchased 21 step-entrance Pointer Darts, the first Plaxton-bodied vehicles of any type to be sold to a Hong Kong operator; they were equipped with air conditioning and were for Mid Levels routes as a stopgap measure pending delivery of new double-deckers.
When they became surplus to requirements five years later, Citybus was owned by Stagecoach and it shipped them to the UK for operation in Devon and Hampshire.
They paved the way for other Pointer Darts, based on the low-floor Dart SLF, to join other Hong Kong fleets.
Kowloon Motor Bus, which already had step-entrance Darts with various makes of bodywork, bought 12 in 1996/97, while New World First Bus — set up in 1998 with FirstGroup as a minority shareholder…
