1.
First West Yorkshire
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First West Yorkshire is a bus operator in West Yorkshire. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup, to comply with the Transport Act 1985, in 1986 the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executives bus operations were transferred to a separate legal entity and rebranded as Yorkshire Rider. In October 1988 Yorkshire Rider was sold in a management buyout, in August 1989 West Yorkshire Road Car Co was purchased from AJS Holdings with services in Bradford, Leeds and Otley. In April 1994 Yorkshire Rider was sold to Badgerline who in June 1995 merged with GRT Group to form FirstBus, during the early 2000s, several were merged. In July 2005, First Leeds took over Morley based Black Prince Buses, on 18 May 2008 First Leeds Kirkstall Road depot was closed after 111 years of public use and operations moved to a new complex in Hunslet. During 2009, the management of the three First companies in West Yorkshire plus First York were centralised, the companies also runs services in North Yorkshire, Lancashire and Greater Manchester. In the last few years, First has introduced Overground services on services with a frequent daytime service, the Overground is now a prominent fixture on all First bus companies in the UK and is based on the London Underground network with each service having its own colour line. On 3 January 2007, a new concept of transport was introduced to Leeds. It is the scheme to be introduced by FirstGroup after the first scheme in York. However the scheme in York faced many troubles including underpowering of the engine, however the engine problems have been rectified and Customer Service Hosts have been employed who will issue tickets to passengers. Also unlike York where the 4 service was converted to ftr vehicle operation within a day, First decided to drip feed the ftr vehicles onto the service so passengers could get used to it and also minimise all other troubles that occurred in York. The ftr are based on Wright StreetCar body which is on a Volvo B7LA chassis, the livery is designed by Ray Stennings Best Impressions design agency. The Bradford FreeCityBus has since transferred to Ladies Only Travel. From 29 October 2006, buses running between Huddersfield and Holmfirth were re-branded as part of the HolmfirthCONNECTION and this was a service that was run in partnership with First Calderdale & Huddersfield and First TransPennine Express. Buses 309-316 had their timetables changed and their terminus in Huddersfield moved from the bus station to the railway station, the timetable changed to co-ordinate with the trains and included the introduction of a couple of late night journeys between Huddersfield and Holmfirth running after midnight. These service are currently the 314 and X10, passengers are able to buy tickets on the bus as normal when travelling between the Holme Valley and Huddersfield but were also able to buy tickets on the bus for their train journey as well. The tickets can be bought to be used on the day or for a week, the weekly ticket provides unlimited travel for that week on First buses in the Calderdale and Kirklees areas and on the trains from Huddersfield to Leeds, Dewsbury or Manchester. This offer is that travel is restricted to First TransPennine Express services and is not valid on any Northern Rail train running along the same routes
2.
Volvo Buses
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Volvo Buses is a subsidiary and a business area of the Swedish vehicle maker Volvo, which became an independent division in 1968. It is the worlds largest bus manufacturer, with a range of heavy buses for passenger transportation. The product range includes complete buses and coaches as well as combined with a comprehensive range of services. The bus operation has a presence, with production in Europe, North and South America. In India it set up its production facility in Bangalore, former production facility was located in Irvine, Scotland. Codes in parentheses are VIN codes for the chassis models, b9M – low-budget version of the B10M 1988–1991 B10C – special Australian coach version of the B10M 1978-1991, B10R 1978-1987. B6F/B6FA198. -198. 8-litre engine 2011-, B11R –10, KG, Heilbronn, Germany Prevost Coaches, Quebec, Canada, now known as Prevost Car Merkavim, Israel, jointly owned by Volvo Bus Corporation & Mayer Cars & Trucks Ltd
3.
Engine
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An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one form of energy into mechanical energy. Heat engines burn a fuel to heat, which is then used to create a force. Electric motors convert electrical energy into motion, pneumatic motors use compressed air. In biological systems, molecular motors, like myosins in muscles, use energy to create forces. The word engine derives from Old French engin, from the Latin ingenium–the root of the word ingenious. Pre-industrial weapons of war, such as catapults, trebuchets and battering rams, were called siege engines, the word gin, as in cotton gin, is short for engine. Most mechanical devices invented during the revolution were described as engines—the steam engine being a notable example. However, the steam engines, such as those by Thomas Savery, were not mechanical engines. In this manner, an engine in its original form was merely a water pump. Devices converting heat energy into motion are commonly referred to simply as engines, examples of engines which exert a torque include the familiar automobile gasoline and diesel engines, as well as turboshafts. Examples of engines which produce thrust include turbofans and rockets, the term motor derives from the Latin verb moto which means to set in motion, or maintain motion. Thus a motor is a device that imparts motion, motor and engine later came to be used largely interchangeably in casual discourse. However, technically, the two words have different meanings, however, rocketry uses the term rocket motor, even though they consume fuel. A heat engine may also serve as a prime mover—a component that transforms the flow or changes in pressure of a fluid into mechanical energy. An automobile powered by a combustion engine may make use of various motors and pumps. Another way of looking at it is that a motor receives power from an external source, simple machines, such as the club and oar, are prehistoric. More complex engines using human power, animal power, water power, wind power and these were used in cranes and aboard ships in Ancient Greece, as well as in mines, water pumps and siege engines in Ancient Rome. The writers of those times, including Vitruvius, Frontinus and Pliny the Elder, treat these engines as commonplace, by the 1st century AD, cattle and horses were used in mills, driving machines similar to those powered by humans in earlier times
4.
Transmission (mechanics)
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A transmission is a machine in a power transmission system, which provides controlled application of the power. Often the term refers simply to the gearbox that uses gears and gear trains to provide speed. In British English, the term refers to the whole drivetrain, including clutch, gearbox, prop shaft, differential. In American English, however, the term more specifically to the gearbox alone. The most common use is in vehicles, where the transmission adapts the output of the internal combustion engine to the drive wheels. Such engines need to operate at a high rotational speed, which is inappropriate for starting, stopping. The transmission reduces the engine speed to the slower wheel speed. Transmissions are also used on bicycles, fixed machines. Often, a transmission has multiple gear ratios with the ability to switch between them as speed varies and this switching may be done manually or automatically. Directional control may also be provided, single-ratio transmissions also exist, which simply change the speed and torque of motor output. The output of the transmission is transmitted via the driveshaft to one or more differentials, while a differential may also provide gear reduction, its primary purpose is to permit the wheels at either end of an axle to rotate at different speeds as it changes the direction of rotation. Conventional gear/belt transmissions are not the mechanism for speed/torque adaptation. Alternative mechanisms include torque converters and power transformation, automatic transmissions use a valve body to shift gears using fluid pressures in conjunction with an ecm. Early transmissions included the right-angle drives and other gearing in windmills, horse-powered devices, and steam engines, in support of pumping, milling, most modern gearboxes are used to increase torque while reducing the speed of a prime mover output shaft. This means that the shaft of a gearbox rotates at a slower rate than the input shaft. A gearbox can be set up to do the opposite and provide an increase in speed with a reduction of torque. Some of the simplest gearboxes merely change the rotational direction of power transmission. Many typical automobile transmissions include the ability to select one of several gear ratios, in this case, most of the gear ratios are used to slow down the output speed of the engine and increase torque
5.
Volvo Olympian
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The Volvo Olympian was a rear-engined 2-axle and 3-axle double decker bus chassis manufactured by Volvo at its Irvine, Scotland factory. The first was built in 1992 and entered production in March 1993, the early Volvo Olympians were offered with Cummins L10 or Volvo TD102KF engine, coupled to Voith DIWA or ZF Ecomat gearbox. From late 1996, only the Volvo D10A-245 Euro II engine with electronic control was offered. It was available with Alexander R-type, Northern Counties Palatine and East Lancs E Type/Pyoneer bodywork, the Volvo Olympian is likely to be built as either closed top or open top. The Volvo Olympian remained as popular as the Leyland Olympian in the United Kingdom, large number of Olympians were exported to Hong Kong and Singapore, most of them being air-conditioned. The buses were popular in the United Kingdom, most of the UK versions had two rather than three axles. London United, Metroline, Stagecoach London, London Central, London General, Capital Citybus, MTL London, Harris Bus, because of a low-floor rule that had to be complied with by 2006, these buses were not in service for long. Only two buses from London United survived for rail replacement services, many other operators outside London do receive Volvo Olympians. Dublin Bus had continued their orders with the RA batch being ordered first,150 buses in 1994, in January 1997, Dublin Bus ordered further 315 Volvo Olympians, which is RV. During the period, new liveries had been introduced, of which it is CitySwift, all buses were withdrawn in 2011. Kowloon Motor Bus had ordered 531 Volvo Olympian 11m,338 Volvo Olympian 12m and 30 Volvo Olympian non-aircon buses between 1994 and 1999, long Win sold 10 12-metre Volvo Olympians to KMB in 1999. Due to the modernisation of the fleet, all Volvo Olympians have been withdrawn, Citybus had ordered 10 Volvo Olympian 10. 4m,2 Volvo Olympian 12m,310 Volvo Olympian 12m and 142 Volvo Olympian 11m between 1994 and 1998. Due to the modernisation of the fleet, most of the buses were either withdrawn, china Motor Bus ordered 64 Volvo Olympians between 1996 and 1998. 62 were sold to New World First Bus in 1998 and 5 of them were converted to open-top for Rickshaw Sightseeing Bus, New World First Bus received 2 12-metre Volvo Olympians from HACTL in 1999 and 10 from Citybus in 2014. All buses were withdrawn as they aged 16 –17 years, Singapore Bus Services had ordered 100 Volvo Olympian 2-Axles and 201 Volvo Olympian 3-Axles in 1993. The Volvo Olympian 3-Axles has been delivered between June 1994 and June 1995 and these buses were extended to 2 years in 2011, and some to 6 months/permanent 1 year extension in 2013 -2014. About 7 buses were retired before June 2013,29 buses were extended to 1 year to facilitate retirement of Volvo Olympian 3-Axle as well as to facilitate deployment of Volvo B9TLs on Jurong Industrial services after all the buses were retired. It thus followed by 200 Volvo Olympian 3-Axles again in 1995, in July 2004, only 246 and 251 became non air-con until the Volvo Olympians were transferred over in 2009
6.
Volvo B9TL
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The Volvo B9TL is a low-floor double-decker bus built by Volvo Buses since 2002. It superseded the older Volvo B10TL and the Volvo B7TL, and was superseded by the Volvo B5TL in Europe, production of the 3-axle B9TL is currently built, the 2-axle version has ceased production in 2013/2014 and was superseded by the Volvo B5TL. The B9TL chassis shared the design of the B7TL. The key difference from both its predecessor, the B10TL Super Olympian and B7TL, is the new 9. 3-litre engine originally designed by Renault Trucks, the radiator is located at the rear offside, similar the smaller B7TL. The front module design is shared with other low-floor bus chassis built by Volvo, the B9TL was initially offered in three-axle format, and the two-axle variant was added in 2006 to replace the B7TL. The driveline comprises a Volvo D9A Euro III engine, which was replaced by the Volvo D9B Euro IV/V/EEV engine. Volvo also offer the Voith four-speed gearbox as an option, the front wheels of three-axle B9TL are usually supplied by ALCOA of the USA, but some buses have all their wheels supplied by ALCOA. A Volvo B9TL prototype was delivered to Hong Kong in July 2003 for Kowloon Motor Bus as a demonstrator for the Eco-Driveline concept, however, the Volgren CR223LD body had a width of only 2500mm instead of the usual 2550mm. After months of testing, the bus was registered as LJ7006 and it was put into service in April 2004. As a result of tests, Volvo Buses and ZF adopted the Eco-Driveline system as the primary driveline option on the B9TL. Later it was confirmed that AVD1 would leave Hong Kong after its evaluation, the bus was de-licensed on 15 December 2004 and left Hong Kong at noon on 21 December 2004. In August 2005, AVD1 was shipped back to Hong Kong after its D9A engine was replaced by a D9B unit, pre-October 2005, the bus was kept by Volvo in the Hong Kong United Dockyard. Later in 2005, the bus was transferred to KMB for installation of service equipment, the bus was re-licensed as MF5119 in February 2006, and re-entered service on 24 May 2006. The bus is one of the first two to meet the Euro IV emissions standards in Hong Kong, in early 2004, a Volvo B9TL prototype with a facelifted version of the TransBus Enviro500 body arrived in Hong Kong. It had a different front and rear design, and its rear route box was moved beneath the upper deck rear window. After TransBus International was renamed Alexander Dennis in May 2004, it became the only TransBus Enviro-series bus with a non-Dennis chassis, later in the same year, a Wright-bodied B9TL prototype was also delivered. The rear design of its Wright body was different from that of the Wright-bodied Volvo Super Olympian, on 12 January 2005, the TransBus Enviro 500-bodied B9TL was finally licensed as LU3721 with fleet number AVBE1, and the Wright-bodied B9TL was registered as LU3739 with fleet number AVBW1. Both of them entered service on the night of 8 February 2005, in early 2005 Kowloon Motor Bus ordered 25 B9TL chassis with Wrightbus bodywork, which entered service in 2005/2006
7.
Low-floor bus
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A low-floor bus is a bus or trolleybus that has no steps between one or more entrances, and low floor for part or all of the passenger cabin. Buses with partial low floor may also refer as low-entry bus in some locations, Low floor refers to a bus deck that is accessible from sidewalk with only a single step within a small height difference, caused solely by the difference between the bus deck and sidewalk. This is to distinguished from high-floor, a bus deck design that requires climbing one step or more steps to access the interior floor that is placed at a higher height. Being low-floor improves the accessibility of the bus for the public, particularly the elderly and people with disabilities, in North America, both types are commonly called low-floor, as the majority of the vehicle has a low floor, without steps at the doors. Some manufacturers use the initials LF or L in their model designations for fully low-floor models, in some countries, LE, short for Low Entry, is used by some manufacturers in their model designations for low-entry buses. Some full low-floor buses also have a rear axle, while the rear axle is not an issue on a low-entry bus. Many low-floor buses, including the Irisbus Citelis, has the engine in a cabinet at the rear of the bus. Van Hool have a series of side-engine mid-drive buses that puts the engine off to one side of the cabin longitudinally between the first and the axle, to maximize usable cabin space. The same concept was also utilized by Volvo on their B9S articulated chassis, for smaller buses, such as midibuses, the low-floor capability is achieved by placing the front wheels ahead of the entrance. Accessibility was previously achieved in paratransit type applications, which use small vehicles with the fitment of special lifts, the inception of small low-floor buses has allowed the development of several accessible demand-responsive transport schemes using standard off-the-shelf buses. A disadvantage of the low floor is accommodating the buss own wheels, with the low floor, the wheels protrude into the passenger cabin, and need to be contained in wheel pockets of waist height, and this occupies space which would otherwise be used for seating. Seating layout for a low-floor bus therefore requires careful design, Low-floor buses usually include an area without seating next to at least one of the doors, where wheelchairs, walkers, perambulators, and where allowed even bicycles, can be parked. This is sometimes not the purpose of this area, though. Despite the space existing, operators may also insist that one or two wheelchairs or pushchairs can be accommodated unfolded, due to space/safety concerns. Depending on how close to the curb the bus is parked and wheelchair design, many vehicles are also equipped with wheel-chair lifts, or ramps which, when combined with a low floor, can provide a nearly level entry. An interesting implementation of the low floor design exists in Australia and these buses combine a smaller low floor area with a small underfloor bin for some luggage. Whilst these buses do not provide an amount of luggage space. These buses also lack the ability to have a center door, many bus rapid transit systems employ a level boarding by using high-floor buses stopping at station style bus stops
8.
Double-decker bus
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A double-decker bus is a bus that has two storeys or decks. Double-decker buses are used for transport in the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia and many former European possessions. Early double-deckers put the driver in a separate cab, passenger access was via an open platform at the rear, and a bus conductor would collect fares. Modern double-deckers have an entrance door at the front, and the driver takes fares, thus halving the number of bus workers aboard. The rear open platform, popular with passengers, was abandoned for safety reasons, double-deckers are primarily for commuter transport but open-top models are used as sight-seeing buses for tourists. William Gladstone, speaking of Londons double-deck horse drawn omnibuses, once observed. the best way to see London is from the top of a bus, cities listed here have double-decker buses as part of their regular mass transit fleet. Cities with only tourist and sightseeing buses are excluded. Double-decker coaches in the UK have traditionally been 12.0 metres in length, articulated double-deckers are also allowed at a maximum length of 18.75 metres. In 1941, Miss Phyllis Thompson became the first woman licensed to drive a vehicle in the United Kingdom. She drove for the bus company Messrs, felix Motors Ltd, then at Hatfield near Doncaster. The red double-decker buses in London have become a symbol of England. The majority of buses in London are double-deckers, a particularly iconic example was the AEC Routemaster bus, which had been a staple of the public transport network in London for nearly half a century following its introduction in 1956. Because of cited difficulties accommodating disabled passengers, the last remaining Routemasters in use finally retired from service in 2005. In 2007, a hybrid-powered double-decker entered service on London Buses route 141, by late 2008, more hybrid double-deckers from three manufacturers entered service in London. A New Routemaster was developed that year, and entered service on 20 February 2012, in October 2015, London added five all-electric double-decker buses - the worlds first - made by Chinese firm BYD. Bus Vannin operate several double-deckers on routes all across the island, in the Republic of Ireland, nearly all of buses operated in and around Greater Dublin by Dublin Bus are double-deckers. There are 936 double-decker buses in the fleet of 942. The Bus Éireann company also utilises double-decker buses on some of its short-haul routes, double-deckers are also common on some of the companys suburban routes in Cork city
