Alexander Dennis Enviro500 – Container Office manufacturer – china Container Hou
Design
The Dennis chassis for Enviro500 (also known as Trident E500) was modified from Trident 3. It can be fitted with Cummins ISMe335 Euro III engine (later Cummins ISLe340 Euro IV engine which uses AdBlue to reduce emission of nitrogen oxides through selective catalytic reduction process), or ISM-330 engine for the buses delivered to North America, and coupled to Voith DIWA864.3E 4-speed or ZF 5HP602 5-speed gearbox. Later Voith DIWA864.5 4-speed gearbox, ZF 6HP602 6-speed gearbox and Allison B500R 6-speed gearbox became available and now they are the standard configurations.
Initially only the 12-metre (40 ft)-long version of the Enviro500 was built, but in 2007 Alexander Dennis announced the production of the 12.8-metre-long version, and an 11.3-metre-long variant followed in 2008.
Later Alexander Dennis developed the hybrid electric version of Enviro500, known as the Enviro500H, with GM-Allison’s parallel hybrid drive system, it was unveiled in late 2008.
The Enviro500 bodywork is also available with Volvo B9TL chassis.
External appearance
The body of the Enviro500 was based on the original style of the single-deck Enviro300, and the upper-deck frontal design was similar to the design used on the Plaxton President body.
The vehicle exceeded some design limitations in Hong Kong, prompting the local Transport Department to make some exclusions in order to make the buses available to KMB on time.
The width of the bus is 2550 mm (100.3 inches), exceeded the limit of 2500 mm (98.4 inches). The width of 2550 mm, approved by the EU, became the current standard.
A fixed glass replaced the emergency door at the rear of the upper deck, but with more hammers available for emergency.
The front indicators are the smallest of all current models of KMB.
The facelifted version of Enviro500 body, first built in late 2003, have revised frontal and rear designs.
Hong Kong
Two KMB Enviro500, ATE140 LJ5724 (left) and ATE233 ME8594 (right) seen on route 1A. ATE233 is the second bus in KMB to use the new modified bodywork (the first bus is AVBE1 LU3721).
Enviro500 of Long Win Bus
Enviro500 of Citybus
Enviro500 of MTR
Kowloon Motor Bus
The Enviro500 is the first model of second-generation low-floor buses for Kowloon Motor Bus, with straight staircase and plug door (only at the exit) fitted. All KMB’s Enviro500 buses had a bronze band added to the champagne livery to differentiate them from the first-generation low-floor buses.
When TransBus announced the development of the Enviro500, KMB became the launch customer by switching the last 20 of an order of 100 Dennis Trident 3 to the Enviro500 in 2002. Later in the same year, KMB placed a second order for a further 100 of the vehicles. The first Enviro500 arrived in Hong Kong on 12 November 2002 and was registered in January 2003. The remaining 119 buses entered service between March 2003 and November 2003.
In 2003 KMB placed the third order for 65 Enviro500s, quickly followed by a further 50. The bodywork of these buses received a number of minor modifications. The first 112 buses entered service between November 2003 and June 2005, and the remaining three buses were registered by its subsidiary Long Win Bus.
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 Enviro500 were delayed and some of them were stored for a long time before entering service.
In 2005, KMB placed a further order for 25 more vehicles with modified bodywork and new Alexander Dennis badge, 24 of them (five had their electronic route destination displays supplied by Gorba instead of Hanover) entered service in early 2006. The last one, a Euro IV-engined prototype, with fleet number ATEU1 (originally ATE257), has entered service on 24 May 2006. In 2009, it reemerged as a Euro V-engined bus.
In late 2005, KMB ordered 15 more buses which entered service in August 2006.
A further batch of 51 buses with Euro IV engines (ATEU2-ATEU52) had been ordered for delivery in 2009-2010, with the first nine entering service in August 2009. One of them was fitted with luggage rack after body assembly and entered service in July 2009. The rest of them are expected to be delivered and placed into service through 2010.
Early Withdrawal
In July 2008, one of KMB’s Enviro500 [Fleet number ATE180 (LN5481)] was written off after being burnt out in KMB’s depot in Tin Shui Wai on 31 March 2008.
Long Win Bus
Long Win Bus registered three Enviro500 buses, which were acquired from KMB, in August 2005 (with fleet number 801-803) to cope with the increased demand for bus services after the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland.
In late 2005, Long Win Bus ordered five more buses which had luggage racks fitted when new. The first four buses (804-807) entered service in June/July 2006. The last one (fleet number 601), which was fitted with coach seats, entered service in July 2006.
A further batch of seven buses with Euro IV engines had been ordered for delivery in 2009. The first six buses entered service in mid-late 2009. The last one, which was fitted with coach seats, entered service in October 2009.
Citybus
Citybus ordered 10 Enviro500s with Euro IV engine and luggage racks, soon after its sister company New World First Bus’s order. The first batch of chassis arrived Hong Kong in the third quarter of 2007 for body assembly in NWFB depot at Chong Fu Road. They entered service in December 2007/January 2008.
A further batch of 18 buses with Euro IV engines had been ordered for delivery in 2009. They entered service in 2009.
MTR
Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation originally ordered 9 12-metre long Euro IV-engined Enviro500 buses in early 2007 for its Feeder Bus service. The first completed bus arrived Hong Kong on November 24, 2007, then registered in February 2008 and entered service in March 2008; the rest of them entered service in March/April 2008.
Due to a railway merger between MTR and KCR in late-2007, they are now operated by MTR Corporation for running MTR Feeder Bus (previously known as KCR Feeder Bus) routes.
A further batch of 15 buses with Euro IV engines had been ordered for delivery in 2009, they were first registered in April-August 2009.
New World First Bus
New World First Bus ordered 18 Enviro500 buses with Euro IV engine in early 2007. 17 buses entered service in early/mid-2008, another one (fleet number 5504) was shipped to Australia in March 2008, after body assembly, for demonstration in several cities between April and May 2008, it finally entered service in June 2008.
A further batch of twenty 11.3m-long buses with Euro IV engines had been ordered for delivery in 2009. They entered service in July-October 2009.
CLP Group
CLP Group ordered 5 Enviro500 buses with Euro IV engines for its staff shuttle bus service in 2008. The specification is similar with Citybus’s Enviro500, but without wheelchair place and standees. They entered service in June 2009.
North America
An Alexander Dennis Enviro500 owned by BC Transit
In 2004, Alexander Dennis started to explore the North American market for its Enviro500. The American version of Enviro500 have modified bodies and redesigned fuel tanks, which enable the straight staircase to be moved forward. Alexander Dennis built two left hand drive Enviro500 (one 12m-long bus and one 12.8m-long bus) for demonstration in the United States and Canada.
In late 2008, Alexander Dennis announced the assembly of the American version of Enviro500 by ElDorado National of the United States.
Bus operators which had evaluated the Enviro500 include Community Transit of Snohomish County, Washington (December 2005), Unitrans of Davis (January 2006, two weeks), OC Transpo of Ottawa (June 28 to July 12, 2006 and February 2007) and the San Francisco Municipal Railway of San Francisco (November 2007 to January 2008).
Canada
BC Transit ordered nine Enviro500 which were allocated to Victoria, British Columbia and entered service in early 2005. Two of them had taken part in a promotional show in USA, which was organized by Alexander Dennis in January 2005, before entering service. These were followed by another 26 which entered service in 2008, sixteen of them were allocated to Victoria and the other ten were allocated to Kelowna. In 2009, BC Transit received one Enviro500H for evaluation.
GO Transit, Toronto’s regional transit authority, has purchased twelve 12.8-metre version of Enviro500s in a C$10.835 million deal and they were implemented in early 2008. Ten extra units entered service in early 2009.
OC Transpo also purchased 3 Enviro500s for further testings, after two trials in 2006/2007. The first unit arrived in November 2008 and the city of Ottawa currently operates them on a variety of routes.
United States
An Enviro500 in Las Vegas
An open-top Enviro500 in Washington DC
Gray Line New York, owned by Coach USA ordered 20 open-top Enviro500 for its sightseeing operations in New York and put them into service in spring 2005, these were the first open-top Enviro500 built (another 12 would later be ordered). Gray Line also received three single-door Enviro500 in summer 2005 for operation in San Francisco.
Citizens Area Transit (now RTC Transit) of Las Vegas had its first 50 Enviro500s entered service by October 2005. The service, marketed as “The Deuce”, runs along the Las Vegas Strip. Certain high-traffic routes, such as along Maryland Parkway and Nellis Boulevard, have also used these buses. They offer extra ventilation grilles outside engine compartment to cope with Nevada’s dry climate and high temperature. Las Vegas’s Enviro500s have the biggest air conditioning system ever created for a transit vehicle, with eight fans fitted on the air conditioning unit. As of October 2006, CAT had firm orders for another 41 of the type worth $29.8 million; these were delivered in late 2007. A further 40 had also been ordered for delivery in 2008; these were 12.8 meters long and had a second staircase to speed loading and unloading. All these vehicles were used for fixed-route operations, not for sightseeing operations.
Les Cars Rouges, a sightseeing company, ordered 16 open-top Enviro500 for sightseeing operations in the USA, delivery of these buses started in early 2007. Eight of the Enviro500 are destined for San Francisco, and the rest of them are destined for Washington D.C.
Community Transit put one Enviro500 into service on August 1, 2007, the bus would be used on commuter routes between Seattle and various points in Snohomish County during its first year in operation. Community Transit has put in an order for 23 buses for delivery in 2010, later followed by another 97 for delivery in 2011/2012.
Unitrans also ordered two Enviro500 for delivery in December 2009, the bodywork of these buses are assembled by ElDorado National.
Europe
United Kingdom
In August 2008, First Glasgow ordered a batch of 25 to add to its existing 3-axle Volvo B7L/East Lancs Nordics. They were put into service between April and June 2009.
Enviro500 bodywork on Volvo B9TL chassis
The back of a Long Win Bus’s Volvo B9TL with Enviro500 bodywork.
As of early 2009, Kowloon Motor Bus and Long Win Bus in Hong Kong and Dublin Bus of Ireland are operating buses with this combination. For more details, see Volvo B9TL.
References
^ Yung, Stanley (December 2006). The Fleet Directory of Hong Kong Buses: K.M.B. & Long Win Bus. BSI Hobbies (H.K.) Co.. p. 96. ISBN 962-8414-83-6. http://www.bsihobbies.hk/main-a2.htm.
^ Alexander Dennis – News: No stopping the bus as resurgent ADL steps up a gear for 2008
^ Bus and Coach.com – Analysis: ADL accelerates
^ a b Bus and Coach News – ADL announces US assembly deal
^ KMB Introduces the First Euro V Engine
^ a b Alexander Dennis – News: Flying start as market leader wins 25M of new orders in first week of 2007
^ Double Decker Bus Trial SFMTA Fact Sheet
^ Community Transit: Double Decker Bus
^ KING5 News: Community Transit orders 23 double-decker buses
See also
Competitors
Neoplan Centroliner
Scania K310UD
Volvo B9TL
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dennis Enviro 500
Product description in Alexander Dennis official website
Enviro500 in Queensland
Enviro500 in Sydney
v d e
TransBus/Alexander Dennis buses
Chassis
Dart SLF Javelin R-Series Trident 2 Trident 3
Bodies
DM5000 ALX200 ALX300 ALX400 ALX500 Pointer President
Enviro range
Enviro200 Enviro200 Dart Enviro300 Enviro400 Enviro500
Categories: Buses | Alexander Dennis | Dennis vehicles | Double-decker buses
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