Lower Scania arrives in UK
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• Scania's first right-handdrive low-floor N113CRB chassis has arrived in Britain. So far the Milton Keynes-based importer has not nominated a bodybuilder to take the chassis, but Ballymena-based Robert Wright & Son is expected to be one of the first in line when it becomes available in the autumn.
"We are very interested in making a very good low-floor bus," says Wrights, which is considering at least one other chassis. The Scania has an entrance height of 320mm and slopes up to 350mm (CM 16-22 April).
Nearly 100 of the 10.5m-12m buses have been sold since the design was launched at the 1991 UITP show. It costs about 30% more than a standard singledecker, with most of the extra cost coming from a steel or aluminium body, which has to be of a semi integral design, fitted with a steel floor.
Scania had thought it would be another five years before it brought the chassis to Britain, when it expected legislation or an improvement in the economy to encourage sales. But "an undercurrent of interest" and the London Buses tender for low-floor buses brought the plan forward.
▪ John Chatley has become Scania's UK bus and coach technical manager.