1989 MAN SG242 #2031

Our 1989 MAN SG242, fleet number #2031 was built in 1989 as a part of a 14 bus order, carrying on from the MAN SG220 buses that came into service between 1982 and 1983. 

Like other MAN buses ordered by the ARA, #2031 features a German designed VOV-style body and assembled at Coachwork International in Takanini, South Auckland. #2031 spent most of its service years serving the extensive North Shore and Hibiscus Coast networks. Through the YBC, Stagecoach and North Star days, it would have carried hundreds of thousands of passengers to and from the city, until its retirement in 2018.

After an extensive service life, the bus was retired from active service with NZBus in September 2018, where it was parked up at the back of Swanson depot, awaiting its fate. From here, the bus was purchased by Coastal Bus and Coach along with a large collection of other vehicles, who then on sold #2031 to AA Coaches, who used the bus for charters and other work for four and a half years. Around 2022, the bus was returned to Coastal Bus and Coach. It sat in their possession until late November 2024, when we were able to purchase the bus and preserve another vehicle for ongoing preservation in Auckland.