Topic: SOLVED: si_602 - Ikarus - 556-DD - by BKV - 1968

[marmer]

1976-ish Mavaut Ikarus 556?

[sichel]

Yes it is a Ikarus 556. But the remodelling took place earlier. Locked for you.

[marmer]

Built in 1968, in service in Pécs from 1969 to 1976, restored by state-owned long-distance transport company Volánbusz from 2020 to 2022.  I'm pretty sure this is the only example.

[pnegyesi]

Built in 1968, in service in Pécs from 1969 to 1976, restored by state-owned long-distance transport company Volánbusz from 2020 to 2022.  I'm pretty sure this is the only example.

Restored is such a nice word. They almost had to build a new bus as this one (yes the only one) rotted almost beyond recognition. No wonder, as Hungary had no experience in such buses so they took two Ikarus buses and welded the bodies together (in simple terms). This was not the best idea.

[marmer]

Ha! Pál, now that you mention it it is easy to see that it's just one bus body placed atop another.  The windows and front windshield are the same!

[sichel]

Marmer, this is your next point.
The Ikarus 556 double-decker was built in 1968 in the workshop of the Budapest Transport Company (BKV). It remained a one-off, partly because the handling characteristics of the original 556 were already not the best, and that didn't get any better with this body, on the contrary.

[pnegyesi]

Marmer, this is your next point.
The Ikarus 556 double-decker was built in 1968 in the workshop of the Budapest Transport Company (BKV). It remained a one-off, partly because the handling characteristics of the original 556 were already not the best, and that didn't get any better with this body, on the contrary.

There is a mistake here. It wasn't built at BKV. It was built in the workshops of Mávaut, which actually did not exist. Strange, but true. Let me explain. Before WW2 MÁV, the Hungarian Railways was tasked with organising major bus routes outside Budapest. Their bus subsidiary was first called Mávart then Mávaut. After WW2, in 1949-1950 every company in Hungary was nationalised. Mávaut ceased to exist in 1953 and in its place came a network of Autóközlekedési Vállalat (Vehicle Traffic Company) with a number. E.g. 16. számú AKÖV - Vehicle Traffic Company No 16 was responsible for the bus routes in Zala county for a while. The former MÁVAUT central workshop in Budapest converted many buses and built special buses from the 1950s until the 1990s and these are always called MÁVAUT buses, and sometimes even featured Mávaut scripts though Mávaut technically was no longer around.

[sichel]

The former MÁVAUT central workshop in Budapest converted many buses and built special buses from the 1950s until the 1990s and these are always called MÁVAUT buses, and sometimes even featured Mávaut scripts though Mávaut technically was no longer around.

Thank you very much for this ‘insider information’. I can make my Eastern Europe bus specialist smarter.