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| Carrosserie HESS AG | |
| Industry | Automotive |
| Founded | 1882 |
| Founder | Heinrich Hess |
| Headquarters | Bellach, Switzerland |
Areas served | Worldwide |
Key people |
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| Website | hess-ag |
Carrosserie HESS AG is a bus, trolleybus and commercial vehicle manufacturer based in Bellach, Switzerland. Their products can be found operating in several countries, including the United States, Canada and Australia.
The company was founded in 1882, when Heinrich Hess set up business in Solothurn to build customised car bodies. The company first began building buses in 1919, and production reverted to aluminium products in 1933. It produced its first trolleybuses in 1940 for the Swiss cities of Basel and Biel/Bienne. In 1961, it commenced building of articulated vehicles, some of which were supplied to operators in the United States and Canada in 1975. The company soon began to expand, and businesses were set up in Portugal and Australia in 1957 and 1978 respectively. The U.S. business was set up in 1996. The company began production of low-floor buses and trolleybuses in 1991, and in 2003 built its first double-articulated trolleybuses.[ citation needed ] In 2022, the company delivered its first RHD variant of the lighTram 25 bi-articulated bus, to the Australian city of Brisbane. For use in the Brisbane Metro starting January 2025, [1]
As well as building complete vehicles, Hess also manufactures bus kits for its worldwide customers. These kits are imported and then assembled on reaching their destination.
Hess also builds smaller buses, mainly for the transportation of school children and persons with disabilities.
Hess builds vehicles designed for commercial purposes, such as vans, some of which are fitted with tipper equipment, loading ramps and trailers.
A bus is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for charter purposes, or through private ownership. Although the average bus carries between 30 and 100 passengers, some buses have a capacity of up to 300 passengers. The most common type is the single-deck rigid bus, with double-decker and articulated buses carrying larger loads, and midibuses and minibuses carrying smaller loads. Coaches are used for longer-distance services. Many types of buses, such as city transit buses and inter-city coaches, charge a fare. Other types, such as elementary or secondary school buses or shuttle buses within a post-secondary education campus, are free. In many jurisdictions, bus drivers require a special large vehicle licence above and beyond a regular driving license.
A trolleybus is an electric bus that draws power from dual overhead wires using spring-loaded trolley poles. Two wires, and two trolley poles, are required to complete the electrical circuit. This differs from a tram or streetcar, which normally uses the track as the return path, needing only one wire and one pole. They are also distinct from other kinds of electric buses, which usually rely on batteries. Power is most commonly supplied as 600-volt direct current, but there are exceptions.
An articulated bus, also referred to as a slinky bus, bendy bus, tandem bus, vestibule bus, stretch bus, or an accordion bus, is an articulated vehicle, typically a motor bus or trolleybus, used in public transportation. It is usually a single-decker, and comprises two or more rigid sections linked by a pivoting joint (articulation) enclosed by protective bellows inside and outside and a cover plate on the floor. This allows a longer legal length than rigid-bodied buses, and hence a higher passenger capacity (94–120), while still allowing the bus to maneuver adequately.
Budapesti Közlekedési Zrt. or BKV Zrt. is the main public transport operator in Budapest, Hungary. BKV was established in 1968 as a unified public transport company with the merger of the companies responsible for the different means of transport; bus operator FAÜ, tram and trolleybus operator FVV, suburban railway operator BHÉV and riverboat operator FHV. The metro was added in 1973. The transport in Budapest underwent another reorganization in 2010 when the BKK was founded for the management of the city transport and infrastructure.
A transit bus is a type of bus used in public transport bus services. Several configurations are used, including low-floor buses, high-floor buses, double-decker buses, articulated buses and midibuses.
Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich (VBZ) is a public transport operator in the Swiss city of Zurich, and is wholly owned by the city. Previously known as the Städtische Strassenbahn Zürich (StStZ), the organisation was founded in 1896 and adopted its current name in 1950.
Verkehrsbetriebe Luzern AG is the main provider of public transport in the Swiss city of Lucerne. It operates 8 Hybrid buses, 3 electric buses, 34 double-articulated trolleybuses, 30 articulated trolleybuses and 76 buses for a total of 159 buses on 23 daytime routes, as well as 11 overnight services and one funicular service.
A bi-articulated bus or double-articulated bus and sometimes train-bus, tram-bus, trackless tram or double bendy bus is a type of high-capacity articulated bus with an extra axle and a second articulation joint, as well as extended length. Bi-articulated buses tend to be employed in high-frequency core routes or bus rapid transit schemes rather than in conventional bus routes.
The Nantes Busways are bus rapid transit lines operating in the city of Nantes, France. The service was inaugurated on November 6, 2006, and is operated by Semitan. The line 4 runs from Place Foch to Porte de Vertou on a dedicated right-of-way, and interconnects with line 1 of the Nantes Tramway at Duchesse Anne Château station. Four park & ride facilities have been built along the construction of the line to encourage passengers to use public transport. Nantes Busway line 4 is NF certified. A victim of its own success, Busway line 4 attracts higher ridership than Semitan expected, pushing the system to saturation. Buses are overcrowded at peak times and nearly full off-peak. Semitan tested the Hess LighTram in November 2009 to eventually increase capacity of the system and relieve overcrowding at peak times. Though that solution wasn't implemented at that time, Semitan decided to increase passage frequencies to less than 3 minutes at peak times. If saturation recurs, Busway line 4 might be converted into a Tramway line in the future.
Trams in France date from 1837 when a 15 km steam tram line connected Montrond-les-Bains and Montbrison in the Loire. With the development of electric trams at the end of the 19th century, networks proliferated in French cities over a period of 15 years. Although nearly all of the country's tram systems were replaced by bus services in the 1930s or shortly after the Second World War, France is now in the forefront of the revival of tramways and light rail systems around the globe. Only tram lines in Lille and Saint-Étienne have operated continuously since the 19th century; the Marseille tramway system ran continuously until 2004 and only closed then for 3 years for extensive refurbishment into a modern tram network. Since the opening of the Nantes tramway in 1985, more than twenty towns and cities across France have built new tram lines. As of 2024, there are 28 operational tram networks in France, with 3 more planned. France is also home to Alstom, a leading tram manufacturer.
Rocar was a van, light truck, bus and trolleybus manufacturer based in Bucharest, Romania. The firm also produced light offroad vehicles and later heavy road vehicles. During its existence, the company produced over 350,000 vehicles.
The Salzburg trolleybus system forms part of the public transport network serving Salzburg, capital of the federal state of Salzburg in Austria. Opened on 1 October 1940, it replaced the Salzburg tramway network.
The La Chaux-de-Fonds trolleybus system forms part of the public transport network in La Chaux-de-Fonds, in the canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
The St. Gallen trolleybus system forms part of the public transport network of St. Gallen, the capital city of the canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland.
The Zurich trolleybus system is part of the public transport network of Zurich, Switzerland. Opened in 1939, it combines the Zurich S-Bahn, the Zurich tramway network and Zurich's urban motorbus network to form an integrated all-four style scheme.
The Schaffhausen trolleybus system is part of the public transport network of Schaffhausen, capital city of the canton of Schaffhausen, Switzerland, and the adjacent town of Neuhausen am Rheinfall in the same canton. It is also Switzerland's youngest and smallest such system. Its route, designated as line 1, connects among others Schaffhausen railway station with the Rhine Falls.
The TOSA concept and test bus is a full large capacity urban battery electric bus system built by Carrosserie Hess and developed together with ABB Sécheron, a subsidiary of ABB.
Autonomous Rail Rapid Transit (ART) is a lidar guided bi-articulated bus system for urban passenger transport. Developed and manufactured by CRRC through CRRC Zhuzhou Institute Co Ltd, it was unveiled in Zhuzhou in the Hunan province on June 2, 2017. ART is specifically referred to as a train or rapid transit as Digital-rail Rapid Transit and electric road by its manufacturer, however the public describes it as a bus or trolleybus and bus rapid transit. Its exterior is composed of individual fixed sections joined by articulated gangways, resembling a rubber-tyred tram and translohr.
Brisbane Metro is a high-frequency bus rapid transit system that services the city of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. It consists of two routes that will eventually run through the Brisbane CBD every three minutes during peak times (20bph), transporting up to 3,000 passengers per hour in each direction. The Metro temporarily operated a trial service on the 169 between UQ and Eight Miles plains between 21 October and 17 November. Metro Route M2 is expected to commence service on 28 January 2025 with the M1 route expected later in the same year.
The Nancy trolleybus system is part of the public transport network of the city of Nancy, France, and the neighboring comunes (municipalities) of Essey-lès-Nancy, Saint-Max and Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy. The trolleybus system opened in September 1982, and by one year later it had grown to three fully trolleybus routes. Three additional services were introduced that did not require any additional overhead trolley wires, as the fleet consisted of Renault dual-mode buses that could use the wiring of route 3 and then continue in diesel mode beyond the end of the wiring. Trolleybus service on route 3 ended in 1996, leaving only routes 4 and 19 in operation.
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