Wright StreetCar
| Wright StreetCar | |
|---|---|
,_7_April_2007.jpg) First York Wright StreetCar in York in April 2007 | |
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Wrightbus |
| Production | 2006 - 2009 |
| Assembly | Ballymena, Northern Ireland |
| Body and chassis | |
| Doors | 2 or 3 |
| Floor type | Low floor |
| Chassis | Volvo B7LA Carrosserie Hess |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | Volvo (Volvo B7LA) Cummins (Carrosserie Hess) |
| Transmission | ZF Friedrichshafen Allison Transmission |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor | Wright Eclipse Fusion |
The Wright StreetCar was an articulated bus developed by Wrightbus and Volvo for FirstGroup. It was built on the Volvo B7LA chassis, featuring a separate driver compartment at the front, resembling to some extent similar designs in Europe.
It featured wrap-around seating arrangement at the rear. They were designed to mimic trams and used on FirstGroup's FTR services with high frequencies and dedicated stops to further enforce the impression of a premium service.[1][2][3] They gained the nickname of "understeer streetcar" with some drivers because of a tendency to understeer negotiating roundabouts.
They were introduced on First York's route 4 between Acomb and the University of York on 8 May 2006, after the City of York Council had made significant alterations to the road layout to accommodate the new vehicles.[4][5][6] Further examples entered service with First Leeds, on First Capital Connect's Luton Airport Parkway railway station to Luton Airport shuttle and with First Cymru in Swansea.[7][8][9]
In 2008/09, 50 StreetCar Rapid Transit Vehicles were built for Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada in the United States for use on the RTC Transit.[10][11][12] Developed from the Wright StreetCar, they were built on Carrosserie Hess chassis. The first arrived in December 2008.
References
- ^ StreetCar from the Wright Group Wrightbus 23 September 2004
- ^ StreetCar creates Desire Wrightbus 10 March 2005
- ^ First confirms orders for 39 Streetcars Bus & Coach Professional 22 July 2005
- ^ City first to use new bus fleet BBC News 22 February 2006
- ^ It's the ftr of city travel The Press 24 April 2006
- ^ The ftr of city travel arrives The Press 8 May 2006
- ^ StreetCars upgrade Luton Airport link Bus & Coach Professional 30 January 2008
- ^ First's Swansea Metro service launched Bus & Coach Professional 16 September 2009
- ^ Bendy buses in Swansea to be scrapped over cost BBC News 24 June 2015
- ^ StreetCar Breaks New Ground For The Wright Group Wrightbus 12 June 2006
- ^ Wrightbus celebrates £31m deal for its new StreetCar Belfast Telegraph 8 October 2008
- ^ Fifty Wrightbus New StreetCar RTV Vehicles for Southern Nevada Bus World 19 October 2008
External links
Media related to Ftr buses at Wikimedia Commons
