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Euro Bus Expo 2006 - Hybrids... and Spin?
What do you do if you need to make an impact but have nothing to display; when you wish to “launch” something you haven’t yet put on the shelf; when the next large bus show is two years off?
You do what Alexander Dennis did at Euro Bus Expo 2006 on Tuesday.
It’s a mock bus queue – patiently waiting for and drawing attention to ADL’s Ecoturas, ADL’s offering in the hybrid market, something that won’t actually arrive till 2007/08.
We’ve no idea whether the people here present are actors, models or ADL employees. Whatever, they certainly looked like typical bus passengers. The fact that they had to pose all day is actually quite difficult for them (not to mention tiring).
But it worked. There was more interest in ADL’s announcement (rather than launch) than when the under secretary of state opened the show.
ADL has spent some £1mil on developing Ecoturas so far, with a further £3.5m planned to take the project to volume production.
Wright’s, on the other hand, had a tangible hybrid product to display – it showed off the world’s first ever hybrid double deck, based on the Gemini, for Arriva London.
“Hybrid buses can make a real contribution to a cleaner, greener public transport network for the capital”, said mayor Livingstone. We reported in March 2006 on Livingstone’s greener credentials. 
Six Wright Electrocity single decks are currently under evaluation with Go Ahead’s London subsidiary, alongside conventionally-engineered vehicles.
Not to be outdone, Volvo showed a city bus hybrid single deck. It was a three door left hand drive parallel hybrid, based on the 7000.
Friday, 10 November 2006
Show Stoppers – 4
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8 comments:
I'm guessing it was the Bristol VRL. Oh, that was 10 years later : )
That is a rather fascinating concept, the mock passengers. But where's the smashed bus shelter, the drunken trackied chavs graffiti-ing said shelter. And nobody in a wheelchair, shock horror.
Great reports - I didn't end up going myself, but these are better than I would have done. At the 2001 show I actually got bored and left after 45 minutes - I prefer to see buses in their natural environment, so I went up to Birmingham with the camera.
1956 - My guess would be the Atlantean - or was that to early?
We can all assume that the ADL hybrid is going to be really something worth seeing, if they are prepared to pay for six people waiting around doing nothing than looking the part! They same six were (as far as I recall) present on the Wednesday and I bet also yesterday. I felt a little sorry for them
Fifty years ago? I was going to say the Daimler 30 footer, which was the first of its breed (and which appeared as such in a trade mag this week) but seeing DBG's comment I wonder whether it is, indeed, the Atlantean?
P.S. regarding Delaine (yesterday's post), why don't they go for market growth and use single decks every 30 mins rather than a double every hour???
DBG – correct! You win. It’s interesting that the Atlantean made its first real appearance 50 years before the last of Plymouth’s was withdrawn!
Matt – I take your point about shows being a somewhat alien environment. I would agree that the best place to see a bus is on the street–preferrably *full* of passengers. But for those involved in the industry, shows are so necessary. A great deal of serious business, networking and behind the scenes work goes on. There’s an opportunity for both suppliers and operators to interact. And where else is there such a choice of products, especially this year, the biggest and best for some time?
Matt – I somehow think a few chavs and a broken shelter may have spoilt ADL’s concept! I actually think ADL should’ve included a passenger in a chair especially as there were a number of visitors on the floor in them. Those of us who are “able bodied” are only disabled people in waiting, so to speak.
Dmeuf – yes, ADL *has* put a lot of work into this project. They also seem confident that the ADL Ecoturas will be cheap compared to its rivals. For the industry’s sake, let’s hope so.
Ticket – sorry, the Daimler/Willowbrook for Walsall 74 seat half-can to which you refer *was* premiered at the show up to the then max of 40 ft
That should be 30ft for the Daimler at the 1956 Show, of course! Not 40!
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