The Singaporean Land Transport Agency has awarded S$34 million (GBP £19 million) to Alexander Dennis to build 50 Tri-axle Enviro500 buses with three doors and two staircases.
Extracts from Land Transport Agency
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has awarded the tender to procure 100 three-door double-deck Euro 6 diesel buses to two tenderers - Alexander Dennis (Singapore) Services Pte. Ltd. and ST Engineering Land Systems Ltd. Details of the awarded contracts are as follows:
50 three-door double-deck buses to Alexander Dennis (Singapore) Services Pte. Ltd. for a contract sum of about S$34 million; and
50 three-door double-deck buses to ST Engineering Land Systems Ltd for a contract sum of about S$30 million
LTA carried out a trial of three-door buses earlier, under which Tower Transit operated a three-door double-deck bus on Service 143 from March to September 2017, and SMRT Buses operated a three-door single-deck bus on Services 190 and 901 from June 2017 to January 2018. Commuters generally welcomed the additional door on these buses as it made boarding and alighting smoother and quicker.
Due to the encouraging results of the trial, LTA called a tender to procure 100 three-door buses in May 2018.
Extracts from Alexander Dennis
Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) has awarded Alexander Dennis an order for 50 new Enviro500 double deck buses built to a new three door, two staircase layout that will help with smoother and quicker boarding and alighting. The first of the new buses will be delivered next year.
Building on its global expertise in adapting double deck buses to market requirements, Alexander Dennis has developed an innovative new concept for Singapore. These Enviro500 buses will feature a full-flat floor design along with three passenger doors and two staircases, one at the front and one at the rear of the vehicle, allowing commuters to move through the vehicle quickly and safely.
The design builds upon the concept bus that Alexander Dennis developed for the LTA in 2016, adding further innovation including the use of the latest aluminium composite body technology and a host of new safety and energy-saving features.
The concept of the three-doors and two-staircase bus is used by the New Routemaster bus. The New Routemaster visited Singapore twice, once in 2014 for the Great Britain World tour by the UK foreign office and again in 2016 when LTA loaned the bus from Go-Ahead for their LTA Bus Carnival.
I think that Alexander Dennis (and BYD) should build and demonstrate the zero emission battery electric three-door, two-staircase Enviro500 using the City bodywork design for the London bus services. This would give TFL the option to improve service by increasing capacity as well as speeding up boarding at bus stops.
London Bus Route 43 is expected to have 37 Enviro400EV City buses in service during May 2019. Last year Stagecoach ordered 105 Enviro400EV City buses for their Manchester services. The Enviro400EV City is manufactured by Alexander Dennis and BYD.
Wrightbus still have the New Routemaster product listed on their website if any bus operator in Britain and elsewhere is interested in using them for their service. There's the SRM if they prefer to use the two-door one-staircase specification.
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