Bonito

The Optare Alero was possibly the best-looking minibus ever built. It looked more like an inflated MPV than a bus. The peaked destination box (not shown here) actually enhanced the design. Alero set itself apart from all the other van-derived 16 seaters then available. It made them all look either old fashioned or like welfare vehicles. There was also little competition, perhaps the small 16-seat SLF Mercedes Sprinter being the most obvious. The Merc couldn’t hold a candle to the Alero in the looks department, though.

But the Alero didn’t sell particularly well (and neither did the SLF Sprinter). Over its six or seven year life, Optare pushed only about 300 of them. Why? There were four reasons.

• First, at 12, 14 or 16 seats, Alero was simply just too small for any sort of mainstream bus application. Gone are the days, now 25 years ago, when 16 seater Gen 1 minibuses were incredibly popular.


• Secondly, when compared to a standard, high frame minibuses adapted to carry a wheelchair lift, Alero was hideously expensive. But Alero wasn’t a mere conversion.


• Thirdly, some community transport-type operators found Alero just that little bit too big (in terms of dimensions) to be comfortable.


• Fourthly, it was hardly reliable, with a suite of problems befalling them.
  

This meant that by 2008, the Alero was officially retired. This left nothing of any particular note on the SLF minibus market save, perhaps, the growing presence of Bluebird. Bluebird was a new start that has developed products to fit the community transport and welfare market.

Based on either a VW or Fiat chassis cab, it has 16 seaters and, now, even longer minibuses seating 22. The Orion Plus was launched at the 2011 trade show. The 22-seat Orion Plus and 16-seat Orion are more specifically developed for dial-a-ride and local bus-type services and feature a wider body with a wide entrance and without a rear lift (unless specified). They look slightly ungainly outside and a little spartan inside. Like Alero, they aren’t especially cheap (though it is much cheaper than a baby Solo) but, unlike what you might call conventional minibuses, they do offer kerbside boarding without the need for lifts. This is by far the best solution for people who suffer from mobility problems.

It’s still a specialised market so it was interesting—and surprising—to learn that, by June, Optare will have re-entered this segment with its new Bonito. There are no details of specific seating capacities but expect it to be around 16. The vehicle lines itself up as a direct competitor to the Orion/Oriuon Plus. It even comes with Fiat running gear. The body is made for Optare in the Netherlands by Plastisol, a rather oddly named company that produces a range of highly specialised bodywork including anti-riot trucks. And containers.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course it is, but at first glance this is a vehicle like no other in its segment, one that stands out and one that doesn’t look at all institutionalised, though Optare may have bus operations more in mind than welfare applications. Its key to success will be to conquer the four Alero problems listed above.

Not to be confused with:

• Streetlite, in spite of a vaguely similar front
• Bonito Mk 1, a swollen Optare minicoach based on Ford Transit chassis cab
• Benito Mussolini