| Vdl Db250 |
Article Index for Vdl |
Information AboutVdl Db250 |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT VDL DB250 | |
| buses | |
| double-decker buses | |
| vdl | |
| db250 | |
|
The original DB250 was sold on a variety of bodies, including Northern Counties Palatine and the Optare Spectra . The original design was based on the MCW Metrobus for which Optare and DAF Bus International (then VDL) bought the rights after MCW decided to end bus production. The DB250 is perhaps more well known as a low floor bus of which it was the first in the UK, originally sold with a modified Optare Spectra body. The low floor variant entered service in 1997 with AB Buses of Bristol , which narrowly beat a Travel West Midlands DB250 from being the UK's first low floor double decker bus. Despite the early entrance of DB250, DAF has always struggled to find orders, Travel West Midlands ordered 20 for instance, but after Volvo and Dennis entered the market it never ordered any more. Despite this DB250's are quite numberable, by far the biggest operator being Arriva , mostly for its London subsidiary but many of the type can be found with Arriva Midlands . The first DB250's were bodied by Optare , although the Spectra body is no longer available and was sold exclusively on the VDL. Alexander Dennis (formerly Transbus ) bodies were available, both the Alexander ALX400 and Plaxton President being available although the production of the latter on all chassis has now ended. East Lancashire Coachbuilders also provide the Myllenium Lowlander body for the bus. The most recent development being the availability of a Wright body in the form of the Pulsar Gemini, almost identical to the Eclipse Gemini sold on the Volvo B7TL chassis. The development of a Wright alternative was because Arriva wished to buy both the Wright body and VDL chassis and despite taking over 100 Volvo B7TL's, Wright developed the Pulsar Gemini in order to win more orders from. The Pulsar Gemini version has been ordered almost exclusively by Arriva. Apart from Arriva, other sizeable operators are Travel West Midlands and Bus Éireann in the Republic Of Ireland . The new version of DB250 was launched in 2004 which is officially known as DB250+. The design has received a number of modifications, one of the new designs used is the independent front suspension. EXTERNAL LINK SEE ALSO Competitors: Other bus products from VDL: |
|
|