Bi-articulated bus
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A Bi-articulated bus is an extension of an articulated bus in that it has three cabin sections instead of two. This also involves the addition of an extra axle. Due to the extended length, bi-articulated buses tend to be used on high frequency core routes or bus rapid transit schemes rather than conventional bus routes.
The first city in the world to use the bi-articulated bus was Curitiba, Brazil. They began in 1992 with buses, manufactured by Volvo chassis and Marcopolo body, can carry 270 passengers. Each bi-articulated bus is constructed with five doors where passengers can quickly load and unload. These buses (along with other bus routes in Curitiba) were the first to stop on tube stations. These stations allow passengers to pre-pay the fare and enter the vehicle at level, allowing Curitiba's bus system to be a much more affordable solution compared to subway. Curitiba has over 170 bi-articulated buses circulating the city along five major structural axis of dedicated bus lanes. These buses run on an average frequency of fifty seconds during peak hours.
The Brazilian bus body manufacturer Marcopolo and CAIO have made many bi-articulated buses on top of Volvo chassis. They are currently used in São Paulo (without air conditioning) and Curitiba (with air conditioning). Those buses, called Top Bus by Induscar, were nicknamed metrô sobre pneus (metro over tires) in Curitiba, and Martão (Big Marta) in São Paulo, referencing the mayor, Marta Suplicy, whose public transport program, Interligado, included those buses.
Volvo have made a few bi-articulated buses running in Gothenburg. They are based on their pusher articulated low-floor bus model with the engine mounted on the floor on the side of the bus, and the cooling system on the roof.
The Belgian manufacturer Van Hool offers a 25 m (82 ft) bi-articulated bus with a capacity of about 180 passengers. In September 2002, fifteen were deployed on lines 11 and 12 in the Dutch city of Utrecht, connecting the downtown railway station to office, college and university buildings at the edge of the city.[1] More have been added since. These buses are also used in the German cities of Hamburg (Metrobus 5) and Aachen (lines 5 and 45), where single articulated buses alone were not able to handle the huge number of passengers per day.
The French manufacturers Renault and Heuliez developed the "Mégabus" (officially the Heuliez GX237), a bi-articulated high-floor bus, in the late 1980s. The demonstrator Mégabus visited transit agencies throughout France, but the only city to order them was Bordeaux (for an order of 10 buses, built in 1989.) These buses, now retired, operated Bordeaux's heavily-used bus route 7 until the city's tramway was built in 2004 over the previous route of the Mégabuses. [1]
The Chinese manufacturer Zhejiang Youngman (Jinhua Neoplan) has developed the 25-meter JNP6280G bi-articulated bus, deemed the "world's largest", with assistance from Neoplan. These buses will be put into service on Beijing and Hangzhou's Bus Rapid Transit lines. [2]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Photo of an early Van Hool AGG300
- Image gallery of Volvo BRT systems, some bi-articulated
- Details of the Renault Heuliez Mégabus
- Press release about introduction of Volvo bi-articulated buses in Gothenburg, Sweden
- 25-meter JNP6250G, Youngman Automobile Group (2nd picture down)
- Youngman-Neoplan China (Flash + JavaScript)
[edit] References
- ^ Geschiedenis in vogelvlucht (Dutch). Het GVU - Openbaar Vervoer in Utrecht en omgeving. Retrieved on 2007-01-07.
- ^ article in Shanghai Daily - 'World's largest' bus debuts in Shanghai By Kat Jiang 2007-3-14
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