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Wednesday, 18 April 2018

Hybrid Tri-axle double-deck bus for London

 

Since the rollout of the three-door, two-staircase hybrid bus known as the New Routemaster ended with 1,000 vehicles, we will be seeing a new double deck bus which has a longer length than the New Routemaster bus (at 11.2 metres/36.7 feet).

I know the news came out a little late, but I would like to mention couple of bits in relation to the tri-axle double decker bus project.

From Coach & Bus Week

London’s latest clocks a number of ‘firsts’ & is expected to be trialled on route Go-Ahead London’s X68 route this Summer

Manufactured in China by BCI, the bus marks the latest development in the range imported into the UK by Purfleet-based operator-dealer Ensignbus (EBC). Called the Enterprise 2HD, it has been developed for London in collaboration with Transport for London (TfL) and thus incorporates many of the transport authority’s innovative ideas.

The vehicle is believed to be UK’s inaugural tri-axle low-floor hybrid double-decker bus to be fitted with full air-conditioning – for the saloon and cab alike. In the event of failure or in an emergency, the hopper windows can be opened using a t-key. They will however, normally be locked shut.

Manufactured by Lazzerini, the seats, which are covered in special TfL moquette, include integrated bus stop bells, USB power points and mobile phone holders at the rear. The seats upstairs are angled towards the windows rather than the aisle.

While the bus offers a total capacity for 130 passengers, 55 passengers can be seated on the upper deck and 23 on lower deck, which includes a large wheelchair area and a separate bay for two buggies.

Built on a stainless steel chassis, the 12.5m-long bus includes a rear steer axle as on the diesel variants operated by EBC for its private hire and rail replacement work. A notable difference however, is that the rearmost axle is a Hande axle with motors on each wheel, an arrangement similar to that found on London Underground trainsets.

CBW understands the destination board is also set to break new ground – further details of which are expected to be revealed in the coming weeks.

You can read the full article from Coach & Bus Week



The article mentioned the special TfL moquette; the colour of the moquette is blue and it’s from the Enviro400H City bus which is a spin off to the three-door, two-staircase New Routemaster bus.

The first trial of the tri-axle bus in London was the Alexander bodied Leyland Olympian (GB registration J248WWK, Capital Citybus fleet number 331) in the early 1990’s. Before the tri-axle bus was delivered to Hong Kong for service with Citybus, it was used for evaluation in London.

Here are the videos of the bus in action, courtesy of City Transport Info.

Starts at 51 seconds in


Starts at 13 minutes in


Currently the tri-axle bus is in Hong Kong (Hong Kong registration FK5095, Citybus fleet number 331) and still has the single door layout according to a recent photo posted on Flickr.

So we have two bus types, both of which heavily use the New Routemaster design cues such as the Wright SRM and the Alexander Dennis Enviro400H City. I do like to see the tri-axle design of those stylish bus types and hopefully this will gain interest from bus companies in Hong Kong and Singapore to purchase the tri-axle buses of these designs for their service.

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