[GB] Transdev London SP25

2007 and, so far, 2008 have been very good years for Scania in London, having secured a significant number of high profile orders at the expense of Volvo, whose B9TL was temporarily banned from being ordered for London Buses operations. One of Scania's latest order is these Scania Omnicity double deckers with Transdev. These buses may not look as striking than Wright's Gemini or ADL's Enviro 400, but it still look rather handsome and classy, and also seems quite well built as well. The new headlamps also make the look even better.

I actually prefer the polish-built bodywork from Scania rather than the E400 and the Olympus.

原帖由 smal 於 2008-4-19 17:17 發表
I actually prefer the polish-built bodywork from Scania rather than the E400 and the Olympus.

I think the Olympus doesn't look too bad, but this Polish body has an air of quality that neither the Olympus or, in particular, the E400, have. The E400 body, I think, is over-styled and looks cheap.

Why B9TL was temporarily banned from being ordered for London Buses operations?

It looks like ASU

I am just wondering if this Polish-built body will release a 3-axle version soon or later~

原帖由 epsilon 於 2008-4-19 20:25 發表
Why B9TL was temporarily banned from being ordered for London Buses operations?

They were banned because the type failed the maximum noise level at 77db imposed by TfL. The original ban was imposed on the B7TL in early 2006 due to problems with their excessive noise of the radiator/cooling fan system, and was carried forward to the B9TL as (at the least ones built up to last year) has the same system fitted.

Volvo uses a hydralic cooling fan system on its range, which includes the B7TL, B9TL and of course, the B10TL. The system has a hydralic clutch actuator in the fan drvie motor to regulate the hydralic pressure to the fan's drive shaft, thereby controlling the speed of the fan motor. When the actuator or the clutch fails, the hydralic pressure is no longer regulated and, as a fail-safe system, the fan speeds up at a faster rate to ensure the engine does overheat and damages itself. As the speed and volumn of air drawn through the grille, radiator and intercooler increases as a result, the resulting vibration causes the loud noise. The other circumstances for that to happen is, of course, when the engine gets hot, the fan speeds up to cool it down. The latter case it probably more common in HK, when the weather is obviously much hotter.

Interesting note is that apparently Volvo has fitted a new cooling system on new built B9TL, and it sounds a bit different than before. Hopefully it should fix the problem by now.

[ 本帖最後由 NV58 於 2008-4-20 13:59 編輯 ]

The first 15 Polish built in Poland, delivered to Transdev/London United were actually fitted with Euro3 emission standard [as well as the other 2 of the batch- one is with TWM, and the final one is the Ehtanol bus now in Reading].
The new batches, starting with the 5 delivered to TWM are Euro4 compliant, so they differer externally and internally from the initial batch.

You may find the newer batch in London on route 482 [HH garage] , 267 [and other routes ] at FW garage , and now at S garage- 9 are being delivered to replace the 9 Olympus bodied Scanias, which will be returned off lease in due course.
Additional examples of the SP would be delivered to East London [nominally for routes 106 & 177], Blue Triangle [route 425], and an order of 2 from Metrobus- nominally for route 612. Transdev have committed to buy more of them- when they need to buy new buses.

In London, Volvo have still not resolved the noise issue; London Buses agreed to allow 4 volvo B9s with E400 bodies to be used on suburban route 85 as a test. Tthose buses are due in late 2008.
When I visited Hong Kong a few weeks ago , it was very easy for me o tell a volvo B9 Wright bodied bus [AVBW] from the Super Olympian [AVW] bus- the noise of course!
Wright have announced a newer, lighter bodywork; some volvo B9 [and hybrids too] will be built for route 23 in London 'later in 2008' to quote the press release.
One of the main issues with the existing Wright d/d body is that it is heavy- compare- for instance the weight of the E500 AVBE class and the AVBW class in HK...
[However, in London, the noise from volvo d/d buses is common to the alx400, President and East Lancs bodies too...]

In the meanwhile, the one-and-only Olympus bodied trident has been delivered to HCT and should enter service on school service W13- perhaps as early next week, the bus should have been delivered 12 months ago!

regards

Yoram.

原帖由 yblumann 於 2008-4-20 14:16 發表
In London, Volvo have still not resolved the noise issue; London Busesagreed to allow 4 volvo B9s with E400 bodies to be used on suburbanroute 85 as a test. Tthose buses are due in late 2008.
When I visited Hong Kong a few weeks ago , it was very easy for me otell a volvo B9 Wright bodied bus [AVBW] from the Super Olympian [AVW]bus- the noise of course!

Volvo has not fixed the existing in service B7TLs in London and around the country. What I'm saying is they seems to have fixed it by putting a new engine cooling system in new built B9TLs recently. I cannot tell for definite, but having rode on a recently delivered example with First Manchester, the noise certainly was different - they in fact sound a bit like a Citaro. I reckon the new B9TL/E400 ordered by Go-Ahead London is to evaluate this - I wonder whether the B9 demonstrator was refitted with that cooling system as well, after it's spell back to Volvo late last year?

原帖由 yblumann 於 2008-4-20 14:16 發表
When I visited Hong Kong a few weeks ago , it was very easy for me otell a volvo B9 Wright bodied bus [AVBW] from the Super Olympian [AVW]bus- the noise of course!

Of course, they got different engine in the first place. The thing is the B9TLs in HK also sounds quite similar to the B7TLs as well. The other thing I notice is the cooling fan on the B10TLs seems to be noisier than the B9s in most of the time, although I suspect that the age of the vehicles is a factor.

原帖由 yblumann 於 2008-4-20 14:16 發表
Wright have announced a newer, lighter bodywork; some volvo B9 [andhybrids too] will be built for route 23 in London 'later in 2008' toquote the press release.

The new Wright body is not (yet) for the B9TL chassis. What Wrightbus have announced is an integral bus, using chassis components from VDL Bus, which is the type ordered by First London. Of course, I will be very surprised in the new "Gemini" (or whatever it will be called) do not make it on the B9TL chassis as well. The only B9TLs ordered in London operations are 3 B9TL/E400s as mentioned above, and another 3 B9TL/Eclipse Geminis by First Berkshire for the Gren Line service 702.

原帖由 yblumann 於 2008-4-20 14:16 發表
[However, in London, the noise from volvo d/d buses is common to the alx400, President and East Lancs bodies too...]

The noise have nothing to do with the bodywork at all, as long as they are mounted on the same chassis (B7TL in this case).

here are my remarks:

Route 702:
I know it sounds really complicated, but this reflects the legal status of PSV services in Greater London...sorry!
The order for the V9TL for route 702 did not need approval from TfL, as the 702 is a commercial and not a TfL route- so it is not a  normal 'london bus route', therefore the buses need to comply only with the LEZ regulations [low emission zone]- which they will do...[which is why I did not refer to this order].
[one good test is that you can not use Travelcards on the 702! ]
The buses should come in a green livery and 'coach seats'- and be single door. in fact, they should be a standard First Wright bodied B9 volvo with more comfortable seats.

The B9TL wright demonstrator is in service on route 74-and it sounds the same.  I have no idea if any modifications were made to the bus.
The batch of VLWs on route 74 are almost the newest batch of volvo B7TL, and have not developed the noise problem as the older buses.

a bit more re: volvo B7L noise problem:
The problem with the noise in London seems to relate to the time the bus has spent in service- and,  it takes about  24-36 months in service before the noise becomes a problem.
If we take for an example the batch of B7s delivered for route 390, they started being noisy about 9 months ago. the same applies to the huge batch delivered for the conversion of routes 6 & 98- the number of noisy buses have  been increasing steadily. Routes 6 98 & 390 lost their Routemasters in 2004-5...
Another factor seems to be good engineering- and Arriva and Go Ahead buses in London seems to be less effected than buses from First and Metroline.

and finally: volvo B9TL orders for TfL bus route network:
The order for the wright bodied buses also includes 9 [or 10] Wright bodied buses for route 23 in London. some are understood to by hybrids and some would be B9TLs. Interestingly, the public announcement concerning this order have been rather lacking - when it comes exact details. Most experimental buses for London are ordered nowadays by London Buses [through a leasing arrangement with Dawson Rentals].

regards

Yoram