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Scania OmniCity | |
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Overview | |
Manufacturer | Scania |
Production | 1996–2012 (Europe) 2002-2011 (UK, Single Decker) 2005-2012 (UK, Double Decker) |
Assembly | Silkeborg, Denmark (DAB) Katrineholm, Sweden Słupsk, Poland |
Body and chassis | |
Class | Complete bus |
Body style | Single-decker/double-decker city bus |
Layout | Transverse rear-engine design |
Doors | 1, 2, 3 or 4 |
Floor type | Low floor |
Related | Scania OmniLink |
Powertrain | |
Engine | |
Power output | 250–310 hp |
Transmission | ZF |
Dimensions | |
Length | 10000mm, 10600mm, 10900mm, 11950mm, 12200mm, 18100mm |
Width | 2500mm |
Height | 3000mm, 4200mm and 4380mm |
Chronology | |
Successor | Scania Citywide LF Scania Fencer (UK Market) |
The Scania OmniCity is an integrally constructed transverse-engined low floor city bus that was available from Scania on the European market between 1997 and 2012.
The OmniCity was introduced in September 1996 as the first product based on the 4-series bus range. [1] The first prototypes were built in the former DAB plant in Silkeborg, Denmark, and serial production continued there in 1997, joined by Scania's plant in Katrineholm, Sweden. From 1999 it was also built at the plant in Słupsk, Poland. Production in Silkeborg ended in early 2000, and Katrineholm in 2004, with only a few test buses in 2005 to 2006. Since then all have been built in Poland. [2]
In 2006, the OmniCity was upgraded from the 4-series to the new N-series, which also included a thorough facelift, with the large rectangular front headlamps being replaced by smaller, round items, and further tweaks carried out to the rear styling. [3]
The Scania Citywide was launched in 2011 as a replacement for the OmniCity, except for the right-hand drive markets, where Scania have chosen to rely on external bodywork manufacturers, including Alexander Dennis. With a total of more than 2200 units for the United Kingdom, the last few OmniCities were built in 2012.
The single-decker and articulated Scania OmniCity were popular in continental Europe.
Omnicities were popular in most of the Nordic countries. In Norway, Omnicities were delivered to operator Norgesbuss AS in 2006 for service in the capital Oslo. Some of these would later be sold on for further use in the Polish city of Koszalin in 2015. [4] Omnicities were also sold to Concordia Bus in Norway, Linjebuss in Sweden, the Helsinki Public Transport Authority and to Strætó bs in Reykjavík. [5] OmniCities were also sold to the Estonian cities of Tallinn and Tartu. [6]
OmniCities were also popular in many regions of Poland. 108 rigid OmniCities were delivered to Warsaw operator PKS between 2007 and 2008. Two buses replacing accident-damaged models were also delivered to PKS in 2011. [7] [8] In Kraków, 15 articulated OmniCities were delivered from 2001 to 2003, [9] while OmniCities also entered service in the cities of Koszalin, Konin, Grudziądz and Słupsk, where a batch of OmniCities running on ethanol fuel were delivered in 2007. [8]
In France, Parisian municipal operator RATP ordered over 300 OmniCities from 2006 to 2010 in both rigid 12m and articulated 18m lengths, the latter of which were operated on 'Orlybus' express services to Orly Airport. [10] [11] 50 Omnicities were also ordered in 2003 for service in Amiens, [12] while fleets of OmniCities were sold to operators in Angers and Calais. [13] OmniCities were sold to Italian operators in Milan, Genoa, Bergamo and Venice, [14] [15] [16] while in Spain, Valencian operator EMT purchased a total of 81 rigid Omnicities from 2000 to 2004. [17] [18]
The single-decker OmniCity was first introduced in 2002 in right-hand drive for the United Kingdom market.
The earlier version of the single-decker OmniCity was known as the CN94UB. The Euro IV version was known as the CN230UB or CN270UB, the 230 and 270 indicate the maximum power (in hp) of the engine.
The Scania OmniCity single-decker has a rounded roof dome with a single-curvature windscreen and a separate destination display. Unlike the Scania L94UB and OmniLink, the OmniCity features a full low floor without the need for steps or ramps to reach the rear seats, similar to the Volvo B7L.
The Go-Ahead Group were the most popular customer of the rigid single-decker OmniCity, purchasing a total of 132 of the type, seventy of these going to Metrobus of Crawley for both its London and south-east England operations. [19] [20] [21] Additional operators of rigid single-decker OmniCities included 78 with Menzies Aviation, 42 with the FirstGroup, 48 with both Arriva UK Bus and Nottingham City Transport, and 24 with Cardiff Bus. [22] Newport Bus, a popular operator of Scania buses, purchased 38 single-deckers throughout the OmniCity's UK production run, buying no more Scania products after production ended in 2011. [19]
In September 2004, Scania announced the introduction of the OmniCity 2-axle double-decker bus to complement its OmniDekka double-decker bus sold in the United Kingdom, with the first examples entering production at Scania's Słupsk factory in January 2005. The 9 metres (30 ft) OmniCity double-decker is built to full low-floor configuration and is a complete Scania integral product on the N94UD chassis, unlike the OmniDekka, which features a body by East Lancashire Coachbuilders on the same chassis. [23]
An N94UD OmniCity demonstrator was delivered to Travel West Midlands in November 2005, with five more OmniCitys on Scania N230UD chassis subsequently following. [19] The first production order was made by Lothian Buses of Edinburgh, who took delivery of five N230UD OmniCitys during 2006 for the 'Airlink' express network. [24] Lothian Buses subsequently ordered a further 10 buses to replace the Dennis Tridents on the network; these buses entered service in late 2007. [25]
Initially, the OmniCity double-decker was in limited production until the Euro IV version was launched. The reason for this was that the new Euro IV Scania engine was a five-cylinder 9-litre EGR engine as opposed to its Euro III predecessor, which was a six-cylinder 9-litre engine. The chassis designation had also changed to N230UD or N270UD.[ citation needed ]
462 double-decker OmniCities were produced for London's bus operators, with London United and London Sovereign, then owned by Transdev, purchasing 206 OmniCities, while the East London Bus Group, the former operations of Stagecoach London owned by Macquarie Bank, purchased 174 OmniCities. [26] London United donated their first double-decker OmniCity to the London Bus Museum in February 2022. [27] Outside of London, many Go-Ahead companies purchased OmniCities, with Bluestar, Southern Vectis and Wilts & Dorset purchasing 61 as part of Go South Coast. 33 OmniCities were also purchased by Metrobus and Brighton & Hove. [19]
The single-decker articulated (or "bendy bus") version of the OmniCity was first introduced in 1996. The articulated OmniCity built by 2006 was known as the CN94UA.
In the United Kingdom, a demonstrator toured London between 2004 and 2005, but failed to win any orders in place of the Mercedes-Benz Citaro. [28] After other trials around the country, this bus was bought by Lothian Buses in April 2008, and then acquired by Nottingham City Transport after it left Lothian Buses in late August 2009. In 2005, Travel West Midlands ordered a batch of eleven articulated OmniCities, while First Greater Manchester placed eighteen in service, predominantly on services between Manchester and Bury. [29] A batch of nineteen of high-specification artics also entered service with Cardiff Bus in 2006 on the high-profile 'Baycar' network. [19] [30]
The Euro IV/V/EEV articulated version of the OmniCity was known as the CN280UA. In the United Kingdom, eleven were purchased by Menzies Aviation for use on shuttle services around Heathrow Airport, after purchasing ten on the previous chassis. [19]
Competitors
Scania AB, stylised SCANIA in its products, is a major Swedish manufacturer headquartered in Södertälje, focusing on commercial vehicles—specifically heavy lorries, trucks and buses. It also manufactures diesel engines for heavy vehicles as well as marine and general industrial applications.
The Volvo B7TL is a low-floor double-decker bus chassis which was launched in 1999 and replaced the 2-axle version of the Volvo Olympian. It was built as the British bus operators seemed hesitant to purchase the B7L double decker with a long rear overhang.
The Alexander ALX400 is a 2-axle double-decker bus body built by Walter Alexander Coachbuilders. It was one of the ALX-series bodywork, all of which featured the same designs on the front and rear panels that were originally designed for the new generation of mainly low-floor bus chassis produced since the late 1990s.
The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 is a twin-axle low-floor double-decker bus that was built by the British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis between 2005 and 2018. It replaced the Alexander ALX400. In 2014, the Enviro400 was succeeded by the updated Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC and production of the classic Enviro400 ceased in 2018.
The Wright Eclipse Gemini is a low-floor double-decker bus body that was built by Wrightbus since 2001, based on the single-decker Wright Eclipse design. The second-generation Eclipse Gemini 2 was launched in 2009, followed by the third-generation Gemini 3 in 2013. Additionally, the body was available on Volvo Super Olympian chassis in Hong Kong between 2003 and 2005, marketed as the Wright Explorer.
The Volvo B10M is a mid-engined city bus and coach chassis manufactured by Volvo between 1978 and 2003. It succeeded the B58 and was equipped with the same 9.6-litre horizontally mounted Volvo diesel engine mounted under the floor behind the front axle. An articulated version under the model name Volvo B10MA was also offered, as was a semi-integral version known as the C10M, with the engine in the middle of the chassis.
The Dennis Trident 2 is a 2-axle low-floor double-decker bus chassis originally manufactured by Dennis, which was unveiled in 1997 and replaced the Dennis Arrow. It was built by TransBus after Dennis was incorporated into the group in 2001, then from 2004, it was built by Alexander Dennis following the collapse of TransBus.
East Lancashire Coachbuilders Limited was a manufacturer of bus bodies and carriages founded in 1934 in Blackburn, Lancashire, England. The company went into administration for a short while in August 2007, before being bought by Darwen Group and performed a reverse takeover with Optare when its parent purchased the company in 2008 and its site and business was later closed in 2012.
The Scania OmniLink is a series of integrally constructed rear longitudinal-engined low-entry city buses available on the European market. It is a complete integral product built by Scania of Sweden.
The East Lancs OmniTown was a low-floor midibus body sold in the United Kingdom by East Lancs and Scania. It used the Scania N94UB chassis, which is the single-decker version of the N94UD double-decker chassis, with East Lancashire Coachbuilders bodywork. It is sometimes mistakenly referred to as the OmniTown chassis. The confusion concerning the chassis, and indeed the buses, arises due to the complexity of the OmniTown's and other Scania products' histories.
The East Lancs Cityzen is a double-decker bus body that was built on the Scania N113DRB chassis by East Lancashire Coachbuilders between 1995 and 2000. The name started East Lancs' tradition of using 'misspelt' product names.
The Scania K series is a series of chassis in Scania's city bus and coach range with longitudinally, straight-up mounted engine at the rear, replacing the K- and L-type (L94) chassis of the 4 series. The K series was first presented on Busworld 2005 in Kortrijk, Belgium, and models were available from 2006.
The Scania 4-series low floor city bus and coach range was introduced by Scania in 1997 as a successor to the 3-series bus range.
The Scania N series is a line of low-floor bus chassis with straight-up, transversely mounted Euro IV or newer engine at the rear, built by Scania since 2006, replacing the Scania N94.
The Optare Olympus is a double-decker bus built by Optare, East Lancs and Darwen. It could be built as a body available on Alexander Dennis Enviro400, Volvo B9TL or Scania N230UD/N270UD chassis with the 2-axle and 3-axle variants. It is the double-decker equivalent of the Optare Esteem. Some 3-axle Olympus buses were built.
The Darwen Group was a bus manufacturer located in Blackburn, Lancashire, England. The company originated from the purchase of East Lancashire Coachbuilders who went into administration in August 2007. After a series of developments, in June 2008 Darwen performed a reverse takeover with the then bus manufacturer Optare, with the Darwen name disappearing.
Articulated buses, colloquially known as "bendy buses", were rarely used in the United Kingdom compared to other countries, until the turn of the millennium. This was due to a preference for the double-decker bus for use on high capacity routes. In June 2006, there were over 500 articulated buses in the United Kingdom, although they were still heavily outnumbered by double deckers. The majority of this fleet was used in London, although these buses would be withdrawn by end of 2011.
The Alexander PS-type was a step-entrance single-deck bus body built by Walter Alexander Coachbuilders in Falkirk, Scotland and was produced from 1988 to the late 1990s on the Dennis Lance, Mercedes-Benz O405, Scania N113 and Volvo B10M chassis.
The Volvo B5LH is a low-floor hybrid electric bus chassis for both single-decker buses and double-decker buses manufactured by Volvo since 2008. It is the basis for Volvo's integral 7700 Hybrid full low floor city bus and its successor, the 7900 Hybrid from 2011. In 2008, pre-production batches of both types of chassis were manufactured. Serial production started in June 2010. From 2013 it is also available as an articulated bus chassis. First entering service in London, the B5LH is the only current double decker type in service in the United Kingdom that uses a parallel hybrid drive system.
The East Lancs OmniDekka is a double-decker bus body built by East Lancashire Coachbuilders on a range of Scania bus chassis between 2003 and 2011. A modification of existing East Lancashire double-deck bodywork originally launched in 2003 on the Euro III Scania N94UD chassis, the OmniDekka was later built on Scania N230UD and N270UD, certified at Euro IV and Euro V emissions standard respectively.
In terms of investment, First Manchester added 140 Volvo B7RLEs and 18 Scania OmniCity artics to its fleet in 2005-06, and this year will see a further 120 B7RLEs being delivered.