1.
Selkent
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Selkent is a bus company operating in South London. It is a subsidiary of Stagecoach and operates services under contract to Transport for London, Selkent shares its headquarters with sister company East London at West Ham. Selkent began as a district of London Transport in the early 1980s. On 1 April 1989, London Buses was divided into 11 separate business units, in September 1994, Selkent was sold to Stagecoach and renamed Stagecoach Selkent. In November 2000, Stagecoach consolidated its London operations under the Stagecoach London brand, in August 2006, Stagecoach sold its London bus operations to Macquarie Bank. The new owner restored the Selkent name and logo, in October 2010 Stagecoach reacquired its old London operations with Selkent once again rebranded as Stagecoach London. Between 1988 and 1994 Selkent, along with the other London Buses subsidiaries, following privatisation, Selkent adopted an all-red livery. In November 2000, Stagecoach introduced a new livery of white with a dark blue skirt and orange. For Selkent, the white was replaced by red, to conform with a requirement for London buses to be 80% red. After the sale to Macquarie Bank, an all-red livery was reintroduced. As of 19 September 2016, Bromley garage operates routes 61,146,208,227,261,269,314,336,636,637,638,664, R5, R7, on 19 September 2015, route 246 will pass to London General. Bromley garage was opened by the London General Omnibus Company in April 1924, built at a cost of £23,000, it was originally designed to house 60 buses, although the plan was to ultimately enlarge it to take an additional 40 when operations required it. This was made possible by the hire of 17 AEC Regents from Leeds City Transport, between 1972 and 1979, Daimler Fleetlines joined the AEC Regent III RTs, running alongside them. AEC Routemasters were not introduced to Bromley until 1975, being replaced in 1984 by Leyland Titans, with regards to single-deckers, Bromley first housed RF-class AEC Regal IVs, arriving in 1952, which were gradually replaced by AEC Swifts between 1968 and 1971. FS-class Ford Transit minibuses were introduced in 1972 for local route B1 and these were in turn replaced by longer, BL-class Bristol LHs in 1978. In 1977 Leyland Nationals replaced the last of the SMSs, and ran alongside the BLs until 1985, in the early 1990s, the Nationals were replaced by Carlyle bodied Dennis Darts and MCW/Optare MetroRider midibuses. After the takeover by Stagecoach, some of the Titans were replaced by Volvo Olympians, before the fleet at Bromley began to be standardised on the Dennis Trident 2, as of 2015, Bromley Garage has a fleet of 103 buses, 85% being Enviro 200 and 400s. The only route that utilises the older TAs is route 269s
2.
Whitehall
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Whitehall is a road in the City of Westminster, Central London, which forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Square, consequently, the name Whitehall is used as a metonym for British civil service, and as the geographic name for the surrounding area. The name was taken from the Palace of Whitehall that was the residence of Kings Henry VIII through to William III, before its destruction by fire in 1698, only the Banqueting House survived. Whitehall was originally a road that led to the front of the palace. As well as government buildings, the street is known for its statues and monuments, including Britains primary war memorial. The Whitehall Theatre, now the Trafalgar Studios, has been a place for farce comedies since the mid-20th century. The name Whitehall was used for buildings in the Tudor period. It either referred to a made of light stone, or as a general term for any festival building. This included the Royal Palace of Whitehall, which in turn gave its name to the street, the street is about 0.4 miles long and runs through the City of Westminster. It is part of the A3212, a road in Central London that leads towards Chelsea via the Houses of Parliament. It runs south from Trafalgar Square, past numerous government buildings, including the old War Office building, Horse Guards, the Ministry of Defence, the Cabinet Office and it ends at the Cenotaph, the road ahead being Parliament Street. Great Scotland Yard and Horse Guards Avenue branch off to the east, the nearest tube stations are Charing Cross at the north end, and Westminster at the south. Numerous London bus routes run along Whitehall, including 12,24,53,88,159 and 453. It had become a street by the 16th century, and had become a popular place to live by the 17th, with residents including Lord Howard of Effingham. The Palace of Whitehall, to the east of the road, was originally named York Palace, the palace was redesigned in 1531–32 and became the Kings main residence later in the decade. He married Ann Boleyn here in 1533, followed by Jane Seymour in 1536, Charles I owned an extensive art collection at the palace and several of William Shakespeares plays had their first performances here. It ceased to be a residence after 1689, when William III moved to Kensington Palace. The palace was damaged by fire in 1691, following which the front entrance was redesigned by Sir Christopher Wren, in 1698, most of the palace burned to the ground owing to an accident started by a careless washerwoman
3.
Wrightbus
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Not to be confused with Wightbus, the bus operator. Wrightbus is a Northern Irish coachbuilder and pioneer of the low-floor bus based in Northern Ireland, it was established in 1946 by Robert Wright, Wrightbus was founded in 1946 as Robert Wright & Son Coachbuilders. In its early years it rebodied lorries, in 1978, the company released its first aluminium-structured bus bodywork. Wrights breakthrough into the bus bodybuilding sector came in the early 1990s. Other Wright products introduced in this included two Mercedes-Benz-based products, the O405 based Cityranger and the OH1416 based Urbanranger. This was launched around the bus operators in the UK began switching to low floor chassis. As a consequence the Urbanranger only attracted a handful of orders, however Wright had become well established in the bus bodybuilding sector by then and was more than able to exploit the opportunities the low-floor revolution would offer it from mid-1990s onwards. In 1993, the Pathfinder on low floor Dennis Lance SLF, the Axcess-Ultralow was introduced in 1995 and offered on the Scania L113 chassis. A major customer for the Axcess-Ultralow was FirstGroup taking approximately 240, next up was the Volvo B10L based Liberator introduced at the end of 1995. Notable came from the National Express Group who ordered 120 in 1997, next came the Renown body built on the Volvo B10BLE which went on to become the standard bus of the Blazefield Group. However Renown production was stopped when the B10BLE was replaced by the Volvo B7L on the new Wright Eclipse, however Wright didnt lose custom and many operators including the likes of Ulsterbus simply switched to the incline-engined Scania L94UB, on a similar Wright Solar body. Another bodywork, which resembles the current Solar/Eclipse range is the Meridian, the most distinctive product of Wright is the New Routemaster London bus, introduced on 27 February 2012 as an update of the AEC Routemaster. By the end of 2016,1,000 will be in service, the first Wright Eclipse Gemini double-decker was first built on the Volvo B7TL chassis in 2001. A similarly styled bus entered service with Arriva London in August 2001 as the Wright Pulsar Gemini on the VDL DB250 chassis, large operators of Gemini-bodied buses include Arriva, FirstGroup, Go-Ahead Group, Lothian Buses and National Express. In 2016, the Wright SRM was introduced on the Volvo B5LH, since May 2013, Wrightbus has also built its own chassis, the StreetLite single-decker and StreetDeck double decker. In 1997, an order for 25 Wright Crusader bodied Dennis Darts were delivered to Australian operator ACTION. Between 2003 and 2006, Kowloon Motor Bus received a total of 164 Wrightbus three-axle double-deckers,100 of them were on Volvo Super Olympian and 64 of them were on Volvo B9TL chassis. In 2009, Kowloon Motor Bus had order a total 291 buses which including one demonstrator with 2-axle, in 2010, the first of 450 Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TLs was delivered to SBS Transit, Singapore till end 2012
4.
Ballymena
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Ballymena /ˌbæliˈmiːnə/ is a large town in County Antrim, and the eighth largest in Northern Ireland. It is part of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council and it had a population of 29,467 people in the 2011 Census. The town is built on land given to the Adair family by King Charles I in 1626, as of 2016, the Saturday market still runs. Ballymena is the hometown of notable actor Liam Neeson, who was awarded Freedom of the Borough in 2013, the town used to host Irelands largest one-day agricultural show at the Ballymena Showgrounds. The town centre has many historic buildings, the Town Hall was built in 1924 on the site of the old Market House, and was refurbished in 2007 at a cost of roughly £20 million. The recorded history of the Ballymena area dates to the Early Christian period from the 5th to the 7th centuries, ringforts are found in the townland of Ballykeel and a site known as Camphill Fort in the townland of Ballee may also have been of this type. There are a number of sites within a 1 1⁄4 miles radius of the centre of Ballymena. Two miles north in the townland of Kirkinriola, the ancient parish church and graveyard possess several indicators of Early Christian settlement, also in 1868, a gravedigger found a large stone slab on which was carved a cross with the inscription ord do degen. This refers to Bishop Degen, who lived in Ireland during the 7th century and this stone is now in the porch of St. Patricks Church at the end of Castle Street. At the end of the 5th century, a church was founded in Connor and this was followed by a monastery at Templemoyle, Kells. In 831, however, the Norse invaded the Ballymena area, in the 12th century, the Normans conquered much of County Antrim and County Down after having taken over England the century before. They created the core of the Earldom of Ulster, during this campaign, they built great mounds of earth topped by wooden towers, referred to as mottes, as defensive structures. The Harryville areas motte-and-bailey is one of the best examples of type of fortification in Northern Ireland. In 1315, Edward Bruce invaded Ireland, on 10 September 1315, at the Battle of Tawnybrack, Edward conquered the army of Richard De Burgo, the Norman Earl of Ulster. In 1576, Queen Elizabeth I granted land, including the town of Ballymena, the lands had been forfeited to the crown after Shane ONeills resistance in the 1560s. Smith brought English settlers to the area, among the first pioneers in planting English, by 1581, Smiths settlement failed and the lands reverted to the crown. On 10 May 1607, King James I granted the native Irish chief, the estate passed through several owners, eventually passing into the possession of William Adair, a Scottish laird from Kinhilt in southwestern Scotland. The estate was temporarily renamed Kinhilstown after Adairs lands in Scotland, the original castle of Ballymena was built in the early 17th century, situated to take advantage of an ancient ford at the River Braid
5.
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
6.
Volvo B7TL
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Volvo B7TL is a low-floor double-decker bus which was launched in 1999 and replaced the 2-axle version of Volvo Olympian. It was built as the British bus operators seemed hesitant to purchase the B7L double decker with a rear overhang. The B7TL chassis was designed by the Leyland Product Developments consultancy based at the Leyland Technical Centre and it was initially built in Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotland. In 2000, production was transferred to Sweden. In mid-2004, production of MkII version of B7TL was started, like the Olympian, the B7TL features a transversely-mounted rear engine and a shorter rear overhang, but the radiator was mounted on the right side of the engine compartment. It was equipped with Volvo D7C engine and ZF or Voith gearbox, the B7TL was initially available with Alexander ALX400 and Plaxton President bodywork, later followed by East Lancs Vyking and Myllennium Vyking bodies, and also the Wright Eclipse Gemini. The Volvo B7TL was very popular in the United Kingdom, with a number being purchased by most of the major bus groups such as FirstGroup. Also Travel West Midlands purchased over 320 B7TLs with Plaxton President, Alexander ALX400, translink of Northern Ireland also purchased over 150 B7TLs. London Central AVL1 cited to be the first example of a production B7TL and it was also popular in the Republic of Ireland, Dublin Bus acquired 648 B7TLs between 2000 and 2007, all with Alexander/TransBus/Alexander Dennis ALX400 bodywork. Bus Éireann also purchased more than twenty B7TLs, on the other hand, a batch of 150 B7TLs had been delivered to Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002 and were fitted with Marcopolo Viale DD bodywork. The Volvo B7TL was superseded by 2-axle version of the Volvo B9TL in late 2006, competitors Dennis Trident 2 Scania OmniDekka VDL DB250 List of buses
7.
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
8.
Volvo B5LH
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The Volvo B5LH is a low-floor hybrid electric bus chassis for both single-decker buses and double-decker buses manufactured by Volvo since 2008. It is the basis for Volvos integral 7700 Hybrid full low floor city bus and its successor, in 2008, pre-production batches of both types of chassis were manufactured. Serial production started in June 2010, from 2013 it is also available as an articulated bus chassis. First entering service in London, the B5LH is the current double decker type in service in the United Kingdom that uses a parallel hybrid drive system. The B5LH is powered by Volvos in-house parallel hybrid drive train that couple its I-SAM motor to a 5-litre D5-series diesel engine, the drive train is connected to the Volvo I-Shift automatic transmission that drives the rear axle. The whole drive train is mounted in-line at the rear of the chassis. A lithium battery pack is mounted just behind the front left wheel, the B5LH features stop-start system that allows its engine to cut off when the bus is stationary, and the battery is sufficiently charged. It is also capable to drive at full electric mode from standstill to up to 20 kph, in service, Volvo claims that the B5LH achieves 35% improvement on fuel consumption and reduces the emission of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide by an equivalent amount. In service data in London shows that the B5LH is demonstrating between 25 and 40% of fuel consumption improvement, initially, Wrightbus has been the solitary double-decker body supplier of the chassis. The pre-production batch were fitted with Eclipse Gemini bodywork, and production chassis to date received Eclipse Gemini 2 body, currently a lighter Eclipse Gemini 3 & Gemini 3 bodywork are offered to the Euro VI version of the chassis. Alexander Dennis is also offering its Enviro 400 bodywork to the chassis, in early 2012 two of them ended up in the rather small city of Alta in Finnmark, Norway for a year-long testing in the arctic climate with local operator Boreal Transport. The first batch of six pre-production B5LH double-deckers entered service with Arriva London in 2009, following successful trial, Arriva has followed up with further orders for its operations in London, Kent, Manchester, Merseyside, Northumbria and Yorkshire. With 259 examples, it is currently the largest operator of the type, the B5LH has gained increasing popularity with other operators in the UK, with Go-Ahead London, London Sovereign, Metroline and Stagecoach London operating the type in London. In many cases, a number of operators are operating the B5LHs alongside its main rival, in March 2014, Volvo also secured a landmark order of the type with Stagecoach for use on its Tayside operations. This batch of 18 buses will be, for the first time, as of April 2014,434 B5LHs were in service in the UK, with a further 73 on order. Outside the UK, a Euro VI B5LH demonstrator was delivered to Dublin Bus in early 2014 for evaluation
9.
Volvo B5TL
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The Volvo B5TL is a 2-axle low-floor double decker built by Volvo. It replaced the B9TL as Volvos Euro 6 2-axle double decker product for the UK, the B5TL is powered by Volvos new 5.1 litre D5K-240 engine, which is rated at 240 bhp/177 kW. The move to an engine is one of the weight-reduction measures implemented to the new bus. Along with its bodybuilding partner Wrightbus, the whole bus achieves a reduction of 1,000 kg comparing to its predecessor, Volvo stated that, with the smaller engine and weight reduction, the B5TL will achieve 10% improvement on fuel economy. Wrightbus currently offers the lightened Gemini 3 bodywork for the B5TL, MCV is also offering their body as an alternative to the Wrighbus design. The first example appeared in London in autumn 2013, entering service with Go-Ahead London in October 2013 for evaluation and it remained until late February 2014 before being returned to Volvo. Three further B5TL demonstrators have appeared in early 2014, one was trialed by Lothian Buses, before moving to Go North East. The other two were delivered to London General and Metroline and placed in service on routes 12 and 297 respectively. In March 2014, Translink of Northern Ireland, placed an order for 42 buses with the new Wright Gemini 3 bodywork, in May 2014, Lothian Buses had ordered for 25 buses, all of them were Wright Gemini 3 bodied. Outside the UK, a B5TL demonstrator was delivered to Dublin Bus in early 2014 for evaluation, a batch of 70 were subsequently ordered by Dublin Bus with deliveries commencing in August 2014. In 2015 Bus Éireann took delivery of 25 B5TLs while Dublin Bus ordered a further 90 examples
10.
Volvo Super Olympian
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The Volvo Super Olympian was a low-floor double-decker bus manufactured by Volvo. It replaced the 3-axle version of Volvo Olympian, the chassis had the designated manufacturer code B10TL. The Volvo Super Olympian was unveiled in 1998, with one chassis being sent to Hong Kong for a show held by International Union of Public Transport in the same year. The chassis was later returned to the United Kingdom, the Super Olympian chassis was based on the Volvo Olympian. The front radiator was moved behind the front axle on the 12 metre version, in order to lower the chassis further, the assisted steering function of the middle axle was cancelled. The suspension system has also been modified so that it is electronically controlled instead of moving passively. One special feature is that after turning, the unit does not return to normal, remaining tilted to either the left or right. An option for 11.3 metre length of Super Olympian was also available, the Super Olympian was powered by the Volvo D10A285, with a maximum power of 285 hp. Its somewhat insufficient engine power has earned some mildly derisive nicknames in Hong Kong, the most common are 豬, 扒 and 豬扒. Initially, the Super Olympian chassis were built in Volvos factory in Irvine, after the closure of the factory in mid-2000, production was moved to Wrocław, Poland. Kowloon Motor Bus ordered the first batch of 61 Alexander ALX500 bodied B10TL Super Olympians with ZF 4HP590 transmission, all except the prototype 3ASV3 had narrow 2+2 seats on the upper deck. A further 80 Super Olympians entered service in 2000/01 and these buses have electronic route displays and ZF 5HP590 transmission. 3ASV78 was the 3, 000th Alexander bodied bus supplied to KMB, the last 351 Super Olympians, including 21 which were fitted with Australian Volgren CR223LD bodywork, entered service in 2001/02. All of these buses had their chassis built in Poland and their D10A285 engines were built to meet Euro III emission standards and had aluminium alloy front wheels supplied by Alcoa. 3ASV297 was coated with metallic paint, which shows different colours. Kowloon Motor Bus was the buyer of 10.6 metre Super Olympians. The first 4910. 6m Alexander ALX500 bodied Super Olympians were introduced in 2001 and they are equipped with D10A285 Euro II engines and had Alcoa front wheels. ASV50, which was put into service in 2002, is a prototype short-wheelbase Super Olympian and it is equipped with a Euro III D10A285 engine and ZF 4HP590 transmission rather than the previous 5HP590 as fitted to older ASVs
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Media related to Wright Eclipse Gemini at Wikimedia Commons