B5TL and Gemini 3 show the way ahead for bus design

摘要

Many thanks for your excellent article 'Seeds of Success' in March Buses, which described the development of the Volve B5TL/Wright Gemini 3 double-decker. All I can say to about this project is 'full marks' and 'about time too'. For far too long the bus operating industry has been putting out messages about greener travel, environmental concerns and low carbon vehicles without seemingly doing much about one fundamental key issue of bus weight. I know there will be counter-arguments about seating capacities, DpTAC features, engine sizes and transmission types, but over the years the 9tonne Atlantean became the 10tonne Olympian and then the 11 to 12tonne Trident/Volvo/Scania, with even the Enviro400H hybrid reaching 11.6tonnes. Regardless of all the bus company rhetoric, there is absolutely nothing environmentally friendly about accelerating a 12tonne mass from rest to 20mph eight times a mile, when it might have been only 10tonnes instead.