Single-decker bus
Encyclopedia
A single-decker bus or single-decker is a bus
that has a single deck for passenger
s. Normally the use of the term single-decker refers to a standard two-axle
d rigid bus, in direct contrast to the use of the term double-decker bus
, which is essentially a single decked bus with an extra deck and staircase. These types of single-deckers may feature one or more doors, and varying internal combustion engine
positions.
In regions where double-deckers are not common, the term single-decker may lack common usage, as in one sense, all other main types of bus have a single deck. Also, the term may become synonymous with the name transit bus
or related terms, which can correctly be applied to double-deckers too.
With the exception of regions of major double deck or articulated bus
operation, usually urban areas, the single decker is the standard mode of public transport
bus travel, increasingly with low floor features.
With their origins in van
chassis, minibus
es are not usually considered single-deckers, although modern minibus designs blur this distinction. Midibus
es can also be regarded as both included with and separate from standard single-deckers, in terms of full size length and vehicle weights, although again design developments have seen this distinction blurred. Some coach
style buses that do not have underfloor luggage space can also be correctly termed as single-deckers, with some sharing standard bus chassis designs, such as the Volvo B10M
, with a different body style applied.
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
that has a single deck for passenger
Passenger
A passenger is a term broadly used to describe any person who travels in a vehicle, but bears little or no responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination....
s. Normally the use of the term single-decker refers to a standard two-axle
Axle
An axle is a central shaft for a rotating wheel or gear. On wheeled vehicles, the axle may be fixed to the wheels, rotating with them, or fixed to its surroundings, with the wheels rotating around the axle. In the former case, bearings or bushings are provided at the mounting points where the axle...
d rigid bus, in direct contrast to the use of the term double-decker bus
Double-decker bus
A double-decker bus is a bus that has two storeys or 'decks'. Global usage of this type of bus is more common in outer touring than in its intra-urban transportion role. Double-decker buses are also commonly found in certain parts of Europe, Asia, and former British colonies and protectorates...
, which is essentially a single decked bus with an extra deck and staircase. These types of single-deckers may feature one or more doors, and varying internal combustion engine
Internal combustion engine
The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high -pressure gases produced by combustion apply direct force to some component of the engine...
positions.
In regions where double-deckers are not common, the term single-decker may lack common usage, as in one sense, all other main types of bus have a single deck. Also, the term may become synonymous with the name transit bus
Transit bus
A transit bus , also known as a commuter bus, city bus, or public bus, is a bus used for short-distance public transport purposes...
or related terms, which can correctly be applied to double-deckers too.
With the exception of regions of major double deck or articulated bus
Articulated bus
An articulated bus is an articulated vehicle used in public transportation. It is usually a single-deck design, and comprises two rigid sections linked by a pivoting joint...
operation, usually urban areas, the single decker is the standard mode of public transport
Public transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
bus travel, increasingly with low floor features.
With their origins in van
Van
A van is a kind of vehicle used for transporting goods or groups of people.In British English usage, it can be either specially designed or based on a saloon or sedan car, the latter type often including derivatives with open backs...
chassis, minibus
Minibus
A minibus or minicoach is a passenger carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, the word "minibus" is used to describe any full-sized passenger carrying van. Minibuses have a...
es are not usually considered single-deckers, although modern minibus designs blur this distinction. Midibus
Midibus
A midibus is a classification of single-decker minibuses which generally are larger than a traditional minibus but smaller than a full-size single decker and can be anywhere between and long...
es can also be regarded as both included with and separate from standard single-deckers, in terms of full size length and vehicle weights, although again design developments have seen this distinction blurred. Some coach
Coach (vehicle)
A coach is a large motor vehicle, a type of bus, used for conveying passengers on excursions and on longer distance express coach scheduled transport between cities - or even between countries...
style buses that do not have underfloor luggage space can also be correctly termed as single-deckers, with some sharing standard bus chassis designs, such as the Volvo B10M
Volvo B10M
The Volvo B10M is a popular mid-engined bus and coach chassis built by Volvo between 1978 and 2001. It was built as the successor of the B58 and was equipped with a 9.6-litre horizontally-mounted Volvo THD100/THD101/THD102/THD103/THD104/DH10A diesel engine mounted under the floor, near the middle...
, with a different body style applied.
Types of single-decker buses (excluding midibuses and minibuses)
- Dennis FalconDennis FalconThe Dennis Falcon was a rear-engined bus chassis built by Dennis Specialist Vehicles between 1981 and 1993. It was mostly built as a single-deck bus, although some express coaches and a small number of double-deckers were also produced...
- Dennis LanceDennis LanceThe Dennis Lance is a single-decker bus built by Dennis between 1991 and 2000, replacing the Dennis Falcon. Its low-floor variant, the Dennis Lance SLF, was built between 1993 and 1996...
- Leyland-MCW OlympicLeyland-MCW OlympicThe Leyland-MCW Olympic was a successful underfloor-engined single-deck bus built for at least eighteen countries from 1949 to 1971. 3,564 Olympics were built at four factories from 1949 to 1971, with 1,299 Olympics built as right hand drive and 2,265 as left hand drive...
- Leyland-MCW OlympianLeyland-MCW OlympianThe Leyland-MCW Olympian was an integral single-deck bus built by Weymann Coachbuilders of Surrey for the Metro Cammell Weymann group using Leyland Tiger Cub units....
- Leyland NationalLeyland NationalThe Leyland National is a British single-deck bus built in large quantities between 1972 and 1985. It was developed as a joint project between two UK nationalised industries - the National Bus Company and British Leyland. Buses were constructed at a specially built factory at the Lillyhall...
- Leyland LynxLeyland LynxThe Leyland Lynx is a single-decker bus built by Leyland between 1984 and 1992. It was designed to replace the ageing Leyland National.Production vehicles began to enter service in 1986. From 1990 to 1992 the updated Lynx II version was produced...
- Mercedes-Benz O305Mercedes-Benz O305Mercedes-Benz O305 is a rear-engined bus model built in West Germany between 1967 and 1987. The O305 was built as a successor of the O317 and was the Mercedes-Benz adaptation of the first so called "Standard-Linienbus" design, that was produced by many different German bus manufacturers. The...
- Mercedes-Benz O405Mercedes-Benz O405The Mercedes-Benz O 405 was a highly successful single-decker bus chassis built by Mercedes-Benz from the mid-1980s to the early 2000s. It was the replacement for the Mercedes-Benz O305 chassis and was widely used in Europe, Australia and Singapore....
- Mercedes-Benz Citaro
- Volvo B7RVolvo B7RThe Volvo B7R is a coach chassis available with a range of bodies. It is promoted as a rear engined lightweight coach chassis. It is primarily intended for tourist and long-distance duties...
- Volvo B7LVolvo B7LVolvo B7L was a low floor citybus chassis with a rear engine mounted vertically on the left of the rear overhang, it was built as a replacement for the Volvo B10L...
- Volvo B7RLEVolvo B7RLEVolvo B7RLE is a low-floor single-deck citybus launched initially in Australia in 2001, and then in the United Kingdom in 2003 to supplement the B7L single-decker, which was unsuccessful in both countries. It is similar to the B7L's predecessor, the B10BLE...
- Volvo B10R
- Volvo B10BVolvo B10BThe Volvo B10B was a rear-engined high-floor bus chassis manufactured by Volvo Buses from 1990 to 2002. It superseded the Volvo B10R and its successor was the Volvo B12B....
- Volvo B10LVolvo B10LThe Volvo B10L is a rear-engined, low-floor single-deck city bus chassis built by Volvo between c. 1993 and c. 2005. An articulated version of the B10L, known as the B10LA, was also produced.-United Kingdom:...
- Volvo B10BLEVolvo B10BLEThe Volvo B10BLE is a low-entry city bus chassis which was popular in Scandinavia, the United Kingdom and Australia. It was launched around 1992 with the engine mounted on the rear overhang of the bus. It was the successor of the citybus version of Volvo B10B and is used as a base for single-deck...
- Volvo B10MVolvo B10MThe Volvo B10M is a popular mid-engined bus and coach chassis built by Volvo between 1978 and 2001. It was built as the successor of the B58 and was equipped with a 9.6-litre horizontally-mounted Volvo THD100/THD101/THD102/THD103/THD104/DH10A diesel engine mounted under the floor, near the middle...
- MAN NL262MAN NL262MAN NL262 is a low-floor single-decker bus made by MAN AG in 1990s. It was succeeded by the MAN NL263.- Citybus :Citybus is the launcher of this bus. 80 buses all in total .Two NL262 was written off by fire and traffic accident...
- MAN NL263
- MAN NL273
- MAN NL323
- Scania OmniCityScania OmniCityThe Scania OmniCity is an integrally-constructed transverse-engined low floor citybus available on the European market. The OmniCity is a complete product built in Poland by Scania AB, a company based in Sweden....
- Scania L94UB
- Scania L113CRLScania L113The Scania L113 was a single-deck bus built by Scania AB of Sweden between 1989 and 1998.-Design:The L113 was largely a cross between the N113 and K113, with the front section of its chassis of a similar height to that of the N113, and an 11-litre engine that was mounted longitudinally as per the...
- Alexander ALX300Alexander ALX300The Alexander ALX300 is a full size single-decker bus body built by Alexander at Falkirk, Scotland, United Kingdom, which was first built in 1997...
- Alexander Dennis Enviro300
- DAF SB220DAF SB220The DAF SB220 is a city bus chassis produced by DAF Bus International in the 1980s and 1990s.It has been superseded by the DAF/VDL SB200 and SB250.-United Kingdom :*Optare Delta*Ikarus Citibus...
- Optare ExcelOptare ExcelThe Optare Excel is a low-floor full-size single-decker bus manufactured by Optare.Manufactured as an integral bus, the Excel was launched in 1995 as one of the first low-floor single-deck vehicles. The styling of the body was in keeping with existing Optare products, especially at the rear...
- Optare EsteemOptare EsteemThe Optare Esteem is a single-deck bus body. It has been built on Scania N94UB, Scania N230UB, Volvo B7RLE, MAN 12.240, Dennis Dart SLF, Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Dart and Alexander Dennis Enviro300 chassis.The Esteem was launched by East Lancashire Coachbuilders...
- Optare TempoOptare TempoThe Optare Tempo is a full-size single-deck bus manufactured by Optare and was launched in late 2004. It is marketed and sold as the replacement for the Optare Excel.It is designed as a lightweight bus, to use less fuel than traditional heavy duty integrals....
- Bluebird A3 RE
- Blue Bird AARE
See also
- TramTramA tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
- Bus rapid transitBus rapid transitBus rapid transit is a term applied to a variety of public transportation systems using buses to provide faster, more efficient service than an ordinary bus line. Often this is achieved by making improvements to existing infrastructure, vehicles and scheduling...
- List of buses