B15 glides into business
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THE FIRST prototype of Leyland's new-generation doubledecker — the B15 — is scheduled to go into passenger carrying service with London Transport this week.
Although the B15 development programme was initiated in 1972, Leyland has up to now been keeping the engineering details very closely guarded. But at a press demonstration this month the veil of secrecy was breached and I was able to talk to the Leyland engineers working on the project and also try my hand at the wheel.
From the inception of the project the Leyland design team have worked closely with the bus operators, bus users and bus crews to adapt their Utopian ideals into a bus that will be both marketable to operators and which will catch on with the travelling public.
The entry of a prototype into service should allow Leyland to answer the remaining questions that are bothering the company. Is the vehicle less intrusive in environmental terms? Is it an efficient mover in dense traffic?
Leyland is already convinced that the vehicle is economical to build, pleasant to ride in, easy to service and comfort able to drive.
When the decision to begin work on the B15 design was taken Leyland was set to produce single-deck Nationals to satisfy all the needs of British bus operators. The Atlantean, Fleetline and Bristol VR chassis would have been retained to fill the needs of the diminshing double-deck market. But an upsurge in demand for deckers aided by the agreement of the TGWU to allow double-deck vehicles to be used for one-man operation swung favour back.