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Only four years after the oduction of MAN's SL202 • bus, which was designed )e in production for at least years, rapidly changing marrequirements have led to launch of an entirely new -floor model.
he NL202, with a boarding ght of only 315mm at the yard door, could eventually ninate the German manufacET's PSV production as it Dws the Continental trend lards "passenger friendly" an transport.
vIAN has incorporated much be experience gained with standard city bus and also :s some of the technology died in the rear-engined double-deckers which are It for BVG of Berlin. In only months MAN bus tecluiiis have designed and built ee prototypes which are inded to be the first of a new lily of city transport vehicles t will include articulated and ible-deck buses.
vIAN's current doubleter already feature a singlep floor, but restricted gangy width at the front wheel hes and other layout considEons led it to start with a an sheet. Many mechanical ails have been derived from
truck designs, such as
• turbocharged, charge)led 1)08 engine which is !cl in the M90 range. For bus use the 6. 6-litre engine been tuned to suit stoprt urban operation and now iduces 150kW (201hp). MaxInt torque of 780Nm
'51bft) betters the rating of ; D2566 naturally-aspirated 3-litre engine that powers kN's current city bus range. The DOS's specific fuel connption of 194g/kWili also suits it to PSV work. The unit is rear mounted on the offside to make room for a third floor. Transmission options include Voith, Renk and ZF automatics, and the rear axle is an HOYF-1180 type with offset input using A-frame location.
In addition to the engine, components in the beam-axle layout at the front, such as the stub axles and power steering, are also derived from the F90 truck programme. Unusually, both the floor and the wheelarches are structual members.
Depending on the interior arrangement unladen weight varies from 9,400 to 9,700kg. Passenger capacity in the 11.7m bus matches that of the SL 202 within the 17,600kg GVW. From the front door (all doors are 1,250mm, with a sill height of 315mm), the floor is ramped at about 5% to the centre platform and door where space is provided for a wheelchair.
The floor then rises at 8% to the rear platform where a 245mm step is fitted at the door.
An optional "kneeling" feature allows the floor level at the front door to be lowered another 80rnm to 235mm to enable handicapped passengers and wheelchair users to board without using a lift. To suit operators which do specify a lift platform, however, MAN has collaborated with IBEG of Marl to develop a lift big and strong enough to handle heavy battery-powered wheelchairs.
The 104-passenger NIL 202 has the same 5.87m wheelbase as the standard bus but although its floor is 340mm lower, overall height is reduced by only 188mm.
An interesting departure from current design buses is the use of fully-glazed flushclosing doors and the option of a window below the waistrail at the centre platform position for wheelchair passengers.
Two of the three prototypes are destined for trials with operators in Munich and Berlin, followed by a preproduction run of 20 vehicles later in 1989 and full-scale production in 1990.
It is believed that MercedesBenz is also developing prototypes of low-floor city buses, but these are unlikely to be revealed before the Frankfurt Motor Show next autumn. 0 by Bill Godwin