In spite of tangible cuts in near enough ¾ of local transport authority supported services’ budgets; and in spite of a fall in total bus & coach new registrations owing to economic uncertainty, Arriva yesterday unveiled details of a massive order.
One of Arriva North West’s VDL SB200/Wrightbus vehicles when days old, assisting in Altrincham during a tram possession
Of the 419, we’d already heard of Optare’s quota. Mere crumbs, though significant for Optare. If Optare felt pleased with its 69 vehicles, Wrightbus will be delighted, for the Ballymena builder will body 334 buses and build another five integrals, though the 207 ordered DB300/Gemini 2 DL double decks are what might be termed semi-integral.Mind you, 117 are for London to TfL specifications and, as such, don’t represent a true commercial investment on Arriva’s part.
In a sense, there are no surprises. Wrightbus is Arriva’s favoured bodybuilder. The bulk of the chassis are from VDL, Arriva’s favoured bus manufacturer. These include 96 SB200s. Arriva has consistently been the major purchaser of the successor to the SB220. Heavier than the Dart but lighter than the 21 Volvo B7RLEs also ordered by Arriva, the SB200 carries Dart-sized, eight-stud wheels compared to the B7RLE’s 10 studs, and these make the VDL a little lighter and passengers should notice a little less wheel intrusion, if they cared about such things and were able to make a comparison.
Arriva is the major patron of the SB200 but others also take them. Here is a brand new SB200 recently delivered to Fishwick
Presumably for evaluation, Arriva has ordered five Wrightbus Streetlite minibuses against 13 Optare Solos. Though the Solo has its critics, regular Solo users know what they’re getting. Would this be true of the Streetlite, a concept yet to have proved itself?It’s worth noting that there are no repeat Temsa Avenue orders. The Avenues were pitted against the SB200. Hmmm. May be it’s too soon to tell...
Images: Omnibuses’ Northern Correspondent
11 comments:
Good to see such a major operator place a suitably large order. VDL chassis with Wrights bodywork certainly seems to be an excellent combination.
Its also worth remembering that the large TfL order will release dozens of Citaro artics, so with the new low height double deckers Arriva will have plenty of high capacity buses for non-London services
Wright-VDL deckers in London seem to vibrate a lot more while stationary compared to the Wright-Volvo deckers.
Can't say I'd noticed. But then TfL buses are loud upstairs anyway due to the extractor fans.
That said, the fans do do a very good job of preventing steamed-up windows and buses that smell of damp and general mustiness, so short of going for air-con I'd keep it and also install them on non-London buses.
Arriva have actually invested quite heavily for years, but unlike Stagecoach haven't tended to trumpet their orders with an annual press release.
Almost all buses in Western Europe outside Britain and Ireland are double glazed. Double glazing stops windows steaming up even better than air cooling.
First is the only company that routinely buys double glazing and that is only for single decks. Arriva and Stagecoach hardly ever buy double glazing, except for coaches.
"Almost all buses in Western Europe outside Britain and Ireland are double glazed. Double glazing stops windows steaming up even better than air cooling."
This is true. It also makes the body more rigid, thus reducing the number of squeaks and rattles.
That said, it doesn't stop the upper deck smelling of rot because the air is too damp.
...thinking about it, double glazing also makes windows harder to break (by stones etc), and if they do break it's normally only the outside pane that breaks, meaning that the bus could stay in service until the end of the day as happens with trains with broken windows.
I wonder if this might offer bigger savings than the capital cost of adding it?
"meaning that the bus could stay in service until the end of the day as happens with trains with broken windows"
personally I'd rather see the investment made in catching the culprits, and in mounting some very high profile test cases on charges such as 'endangering life' that carry worthwhile penalties.
In short, we need to deter vandalism, not think how best to build living with it into our operations and costs.
Double glazing also adds further weight to the vehicle. This may cause problems with maximum weight limits and increased fuel consumption.
"Double glazing also adds further weight to the vehicle. This may cause problems with maximum weight limits and increased fuel consumption."
Correct. Indeed, London double decks with their air cooling systems are right on the weight limit anyway and double glazing would result in an unacceptable decrease in maximum legal capacities.
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