Street Light or Street Cred?

Yesterday, Wrightbus officially revealed its new midi, christened the Streetlite. “Lite” because it promises to be lighter because:

1. It’s an integral


2. It comes with a higher than usual proportion of composites for this size of vehicle and


3. It offers more seats per metre than competitors.

When Wrightbus first poked the then unnamed midi’s nose into the public domain, the builder revealed little. We had to guess based on the careful statements made by Wrightbus sales people. Now, importantly, we know that Streetlite will:

• Come as a Solo competitor, with the expected forward control layout, with the service door set behind the front axle. We expected this.


• Also be available in a more conventional service door forward of the front axle, competing against the Versa. This was unexpected.


• Offer class leading accommodation for its length, no matter that length. The 8.8m Streetlite will carry 33 passengers when compared to equivalent lengths of Solo (29 passengers) and E200 (typically 24).


• Similarly, the 9.5m version offers four more seats than the equivalent Solo.


• The conventionally laid out front overhang 10.2m length Streetlite seats one passenger more than the 10.4m Versa; and the 10.8m Streetlite seat an additional capacity when compared to the 11.1m Versa. You need to stretch the E200 to 11.3m to get 40 passengers seated.

And what about street cred? We’re still not sure about the vehicle’s looks and its curved profile, though. The waistline step is however nowhere near as bad as first imaged.

We’re still awaiting details of the vehicle’s weight and the therefore its critical power/weight ratio. Of the existing moels, the PWR is typically more impressive on the Solo than Versa and E200. Streetlite seems to come with a smaller engine as standard but there’s a bigger option available. It all depends upon the Streetlite’s supposedly class-leading weight.

Now all we need is an upturn in the bus manufacturing market. Loss-making Optare has predicted such a change of fortune towards the end of the year but that was before Wrightbus introduced the Streetlite to compete in the midibus sector in which Optare is currently strong. As you might expect of a vehicle of this size, Mistral has ordered 60 for onward speculative sale to the independent sector, while the Isle of Man has ordered 12. Much to the relief of lower cost, smaller operators, the often unpopular exclusivity deal between Optare & Mistral has ceased, with Optare trumpeting that it has cut out the middleman.