ecession, coupled with the continued uncertainties of coming to terms
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with the deregulated market, have created real problems for bus manufacturers and operators
Testers' Choke:
ACE Cougar alike. Falling revenues and lower load
ings seem to point to the mid-range 10-11m single-decker as the optimum local bus for the nineties, and all three local buses tested in 1991 fell into this category.
"Thoroughly practical" is how we described the mid-engined Volvo B1 OM Citybus with its East Lancs body.
A passenger capacity of 70 really puts it in the same class as 12m singledeckers and double-deckers, but while it undoubtedly has much to offer in terms of performance and back-up, its relatively high floor and its high price per passenger counted against it.
$ a coachbuilder Optare has undoubtedly done much to bring style back to the local bus. Its 10m Vecta bus on a MAN 10.180 HOCL chassis is good looking and eyecatching. It also benefits from a quiet, environmentally friendly engine, a strong AluSuisse body construction which is easy to repair and a fully automatic gearbox incorporating a retarder. Counting against it were its stepped interior floor and its relatively high price.
Perhaps surprisingly, our Testers' Choice was from what must be Britain's smallest chassis maker. The Perkins Phaser-powered 10.5m ACE Cougar is a good all-rounder. Its chassis design provides a low entrance step and a totally flat floor to give easy accessibility to all parts of the saloon. Its 2.35m width offers good manoeuvrability in crowded streets too. And on value-formoney the Cougar comes top.