| Volvo B609/B6F/B6FA | |
|---|---|
A Van Hool Alizée bodied B6F in Denmark. | |
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Volvo |
| Production | 1976-1987 |
| Assembly | Sweden |
| Body and chassis | |
| Class | Midibus chassis |
| Floor type | Step entrance |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | Front-mounted I-6 Volvo TD60 [1] |
| Capacity | 5.5 litres |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor | Volvo B54 |
Volvo B609, Volvo B6F and Volvo B6FA were a series of front-engined midibus chassises manufactured by Volvo between 1976 and 1987. Its predecessor, the B54 was not a success, while the interim replacement, the BB57 was too large, so in 1976 Volvo launched the B609, which was in many ways just a Volvo F6 truck chassis without the cab, which meant it had the engine mounted on top of the front axle. In 1978 it was replaced by the B6F, which was built in the same way, but a bit more adapted to bus needs. Volvo also introduced the B6FA, which was a more conventional front-engined chassis, and a bit larger too. While the B6F had max gross weight of 9.3 tonnes the B6FA would manage 12 tonnes. While production of the smaller B6F ended in 1982, the B6FA lasted until 1987.
Volvo Buses is a subsidiary and a business area of the Swedish vehicle maker Volvo, which became an independent division in 1968. It is based in Gothenburg.
Volvo B54 was a front-engined midibus chassis manufactured by Volvo between 1966 and 1971. It was technically more or less just a Volvo F85 truck chassis without the cab. The engine was mounted on top of the front axle, giving the buses very little front overhang. Before the end of production in 1971, it was in a way replaced by the larger BB57, but the true successor was the F6-based B609 that came in 1976, half a decade later. The B54's predecessor had gone out of production in 1964, so it was clearly not a model that Volvo put a lot of effort into at the time. Only 533 chassis were built.
There were no successors to this series, but in 1991 the B6 name was used again when a new rear-engined chassis was introduced.
The Volvo B6 was a 5.5-litre engined midibus chassis manufactured by Volvo between 1991 and 1999. It was also available as the low-entry Volvo B6LE.
In Australia, the B6FA was purchased by Western Road Transport in Sydney [2] [3] and US Bus Lines in Melbourne. [4]
Sydney is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Port Jackson and extends about 70 km (43.5 mi) on its periphery towards the Blue Mountains to the west, Hawkesbury to the north, the Royal National Park to the south and Macarthur to the south-west. Sydney is made up of 658 suburbs, 40 local government areas and 15 contiguous regions. Residents of the city are known as "Sydneysiders". As of June 2017, Sydney's estimated metropolitan population was 5,230,330 and is home to approximately 65% of the state's population.
US Bus Lines is a bus and coach operator in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It a Melbourne bus company that operates six bus routes under contract to Public Transport Victoria.
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Its name refers to an urban agglomeration of 9,992.5 km2 (3,858.1 sq mi), comprising a metropolitan area with 31 municipalities, and is also the common name for its city centre. The city occupies much of the coastline of Port Phillip bay and spreads into the hinterlands towards the Dandenong and Macedon ranges, Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley. It has a population of approximately 4.9 million, and its inhabitants are referred to as "Melburnians".
