Plaxton: new alloy single
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• In a further move outside its traditional luxury coach business, Plaxton has developed a single-deck aluminium citybus.
The first prototypes are now being built on Scania N113 rear-engined underframes, but the 11.4m bus will also be available on other chassis. Production models are due to become available by next spring.
Last year Plaxton produced about 60 Derwent steel-framed buses — its only other contender in the urban bus market — compared with about 600 coaches. Plaxton's bus sales director Clive Hodgson says that the citybus "builds on the success of the Derwent bus, which will continue in production, and moves Plaxton into the mainstream low-floor citybus business with an attractive practical vehicle designed to win fleet orders."
The 52-seater meets the requirements of DiPTAC (the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee) with a wide door and low steps.
The front and rear corner panels of the body are made of fibreglass to ease maintenance. The rest of the body is aluminium, which is a move away from Plaxton's previous policy of using steel frames, and the windows are rubber mounted.
"We spoke to urban bus operators up and down the country and listened carefully to what they had to say," says Hodgson. "The result is a product which combines good, attractive design with the functionality — ease of repair and maintenance."