Alexander Dennis Enviro500

Alexander Dennis Enviro 500 is one of the Enviro-series bus models made by Transbus International (now renamed Alexander Dennis) of the United Kingdom. It is designed and built according to current European standards and the operating environment of Hong Kong. As of September 2005, there are 235 buses in service in Hong Kong, of which 3 belong to Long Win Bus. This bus model now serves on various routes all over Hong Kong, and good reputation was made by the passengers.

Design

The Enviro 500 was developed by Transbus itself, integrated with all advantages of Transbus and its subsidiaries. It is a 12-metre tri-axle double-decker with a Guildford-built chassis and Falkirk-built body designed to carry more than 120 people.

The Dennis chassis for Enviro 500 (also known as Trident E500) is actually a modified Trident 3. It can be fitted with Cummins ISMe335 Euro III engine, and coupled to Voith DIWA864.3E 4-speed or ZF 5HP602 5-speed gearbox. Voith DIWA864.5 4-speed gearbox is also available since 2003.

External appearance

The body of the Enviro 500 was based on the single-deck Enviro 300, and the upper-deck frontal design was similar to the design used on the Plaxton President body.

It has exceeded some design limitations in Hong Kong. Transport Department had to make some exclusions to make the buses of KMB available on time.

The width of the bus is 2550mm, beyond the past limit of 2500mm. The width of 2550mm has been approved by EU and becomes the current standard.
There is no emergency door at the rear of the upper deck, being replaced by a fixed glass.
The front indicators are the smallest of all current models of KMB.

The modified version of Enviro 500 body, first built in late 2003, has revised frontal and rear designs.

Hong Kong orders

KMB Enviro 500 serving route 1 on Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui.

The Enviro 500 is the first model of second-generation low-floor buses for KMB. All KMB's Enviro 500 are painted with champagne/bronze livery, in order to differentiate them from the first-generation low-floor buses.

When Transbus decided to develop the Enviro 500, KMB reacted by changing the last 20 of the original order of 100 Dennis Trident 3 to 20 Enviro 500 in 2002. Later in the same year, KMB placed the second order for 100 Enviro 500. The first Enviro 500 arrived Hong Kong on 12 November 2002 and was registered in January 2003, and the other 119 Enviro 500 entered service between March 2003 and November 2003.

In 2003, KMB placed the third order for 65 Enviro 500. The bodies of these buses received a number of modifications, mainly at the interior. They entered service between November 2003 and July 2004. The fourth order for 50 Enviro 500, which were almost identical to the previous batch in design, followed in the same year. 47 of them entered service between July 2004 and June 2005, and the last 3 were diverted to Long Win Bus and entered service in August 2005.

Due to the commencement of the KCR West Rail in late 2003 and KCR Ma On Shan Rail in late 2004, Transport Department of Hong Kong requested KMB to reduce its fleet size, so the registration of these four batches of KMB Enviro 500 were delayed and some of them were stored for a long time before entering service.

In 2005, KMB placed the fifth order for 25 Enviro 500 with modified bodies. These are the first Alexander Dennis-built Enviro 500 for KMB.

Interior design

Although the width was increased to 2550mm, but this slightly increased width should not be underestimated. With improved structure and change of many body parts, there is a great improvement on the lower-deck space. KMB can therefore install standard 430mm wide seats in the lower deck for the first time, making the seating standard consistant for upper and lower decks. Plug door is also introduced, which keeps the air-conditioning of the interior. According to the test result, it only occupies little space of the lower deck and there is no potential danger to the passengers.

The upper deck also has a bright colour combination. The straight staircase makes the corridor flat and straight. However, there is no emergency exit at the end of upper deck. To remedy this, Transbus has placed more hammers for emergency exit.

The seats are made by Lazzerini of Italy. It is designed according to somatic anthropology, making passengers more comfortable. This also makes transformation of seats difficult. Air-conditioning is produced by DENSO. On the other hand, KMB has finally fulfilled the standard of having independent air-conditioning for each passenger. The style of independent air-conditioning is spherical, which was first used in 1990 and later approved to be the best type of air-conditioning.

Operation

Since the introduction of the model, the buses were allocated to KMB routes such as 1, 1A, 6, 9, 87D, 101, 182, 968, etc. The longest route of which Enviro 500 buses were allocated is 968, which runs between Yuen Long (West) and Causeway Bay (Tin Hau). Later, ATE17 (KZ1026) became the first bus of the same model to have allover advertisement (Kumon), and the style was changed in 2005.

Orders from Northern America

In 2004, Alexander Dennis decided to explore the North American market for its Enviro 500. The American version of Enviro 500 have modified bodies and redesigned fuel tanks which enabled the straight staircase to be moved forward.

BC Transit in Canada ordered 9 Enviro 500 in 2004 (fleet number 9041-9049). 2 of them (9042, 9046) had taken part in a promotional show in USA, organized by Alexander Dennis in January 2005. These buses were allocated to Victoria, British Columbia and entered service in early 2005.

Gray Line in New York ordered 20 open-top Enviro 500 in 2004 for its sightseeing operations and put them into service in spring 2005. These are the first left hand drive Enviro 500 and also the first open-top Enviro 500 built. Gray Line of San Francisco received 3 single-door Enviro 500 in summer 2005. Citizens Area Transit of Las Vegas also ordered 50 Enviro 500 in 2004. They entered service in October 2005.

Enviro 500 with Volvo chassis

When the Enviro 500 was launched in 2002, Transbus stated that this type of bus was also available with Volvo chassis.

In early 2004, a Volvo B9TL with modified version of Transbus Enviro 500 body arrived Hong Kong, it finally entered service in February 2005 as Kowloon Motor Bus AVBE1. After Transbus International renamed Alexander Dennis in May 2004, this bus became the only Transbus Enviro-series bus which has a chassis from other builders.

In early 2005, Dublin Bus in Ireland ordered 20 Alexander Dennis Enviro 500 with Volvo B9TL chassis.

External links

References

Hong Kong Buses Yearbook 2003, Danny C.Y. Chan, (C)2003 Northcord Transport