MetroRider Transport Graphics
'York's Purple People Eater' - Wright StreetCar, Volvo B7LA - First York, 19004, B7 FTR
In 2006, First's big story of the year was the FTR as York received the first batch of the long articulated buses which are the longest in the UK so far as they are 18.75m. One of them 19004 has a special registration plate (B7 FTR) as the B7 in the reg meaning its on a Volvo 'B7' LA underframe which seems to be a stupid chassis to be placed on as the B7LA also found on the Wright Eclipse Fusion is underpowered and with the StreetCar being really heavy, the combination is not practical. However Las Vegas also has Wright StreetCars but these are on the Swiss-built Hess underframes and they are hybrid.
UPDATE: These vehicles are no longer operational in York as they damaged roads so these were withdrawn from York the same way the Citaros did from London after Boris Johnson banished the artics as they were 'dangerous'. But it doesn't mean the end for the StreetCars, as all but about 3 are now on the Hyperlink 72 (Leeds/Bradford).
Sadly 19004 is now withdrawn from use as the 72 service now sees mostly brand new Wright StreetDecks on the route which now carry branding for the city wide "Pulse". And in response, the X6 will in turn see blue buses which also will be Wright StreetDecks. It is not known whether or not this bus will enter service, infact it's life in service was so short, it only lasted 10 years and two months in service whereas the Wright Fusion bodied Volvo B10LAs lasted nearly 10 and a half years.
The Wright StreetCar was launched in 2005 in York for trials on the P&R routes. The demonstrator certainly turned a few heads whilst going round York and other cities around the UK which were trialling these buses also. It was launched in York, Leeds, Swansea and Luton Airport. The StreetCars were built on a heavily modified Volvo B7LA chassis but a very large batch of StreetCars were also launched in Las Vegas, Nevada alongside other British buses like the Enviro500 although those StreetCars were built on the Swiss built Hess chassis and were also hybrids. The StreetCars here in the UK gained their name 'purple people eaters' and also 'purple slugs' thanks to their speed. Like the Wright Fusions, these were initially built for First Group fleets and proved even more troublesome as their built-in ticket machines never worked so conductors were brought in and too the buses proved unreliable and underpowered and were the reason for poor punctuality of service with the routes they were on which often lead to route changes, quite notably in Leeds with route 4 which also led to changes on the 16 as both routes were similar, and since the route 4 was proven unsuitable, the 72 had some changes done to it aswell, thus frustrating passengers.
But to this day only a handful of StreetCars exist, including one from York but its now under Wrightbus' ownership. Luton Airport's are still in service with the rest being scrapped as most didn't quite make it to 10 years, some StreetCars were withdrawn at the age of just 5... The Las Vegas fleet are still going without any controversy or any reliability issues as far as I know.
The route 4 in York has seen many Wright Volvos in its time even to this day. In pre-FTR years, the 4 was the Overground Turquoise line with dedicated rigid Wright Eclipse bodied Volvo B7Ls. One of the buses caught fire and was eventually rebuilt then of course in 2006 these new Wright StreetCars took over, as the route was heavily publicised during this time. But in 2012 second hand Volvo B9TLs from First South Yorkshire took over as the whole fleet moved to Leeds for the Hyperlink 72 service. Today the 4 remains almost the same although the terminus at York University has been altered and the route still sees double deckers with a mixed variety of Volvo B7TLs, B9TLs and heavily rebuilt Gemini 2 DL hybrids.
To this day though, no further Wright StreetCars have been ordered but Translink Metro in Belfast ordered a large batch of similar buses in the shape of articulated Van Hool ExquiCity 18s in purple livery which many compared to the ftr services as Wrightbus even offered the StreetCar to Translink but were left disappointed with the decision for Van Hool to make the new buses.
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'York's Purple People Eater' - Wright StreetCar, Volvo B7LA - First York, 19004, B7 FTR
In 2006, First's big story of the year was the FTR as York received the first batch of the long articulated buses which are the longest in the UK so far as they are 18.75m. One of them 19004 has a special registration plate (B7 FTR) as the B7 in the reg meaning its on a Volvo 'B7' LA underframe which seems to be a stupid chassis to be placed on as the B7LA also found on the Wright Eclipse Fusion is underpowered and with the StreetCar being really heavy, the combination is not practical. However Las Vegas also has Wright StreetCars but these are on the Swiss-built Hess underframes and they are hybrid.
UPDATE: These vehicles are no longer operational in York as they damaged roads so these were withdrawn from York the same way the Citaros did from London after Boris Johnson banished the artics as they were 'dangerous'. But it doesn't mean the end for the StreetCars, as all but about 3 are now on the Hyperlink 72 (Leeds/Bradford).
Sadly 19004 is now withdrawn from use as the 72 service now sees mostly brand new Wright StreetDecks on the route which now carry branding for the city wide "Pulse". And in response, the X6 will in turn see blue buses which also will be Wright StreetDecks. It is not known whether or not this bus will enter service, infact it's life in service was so short, it only lasted 10 years and two months in service whereas the Wright Fusion bodied Volvo B10LAs lasted nearly 10 and a half years.
The Wright StreetCar was launched in 2005 in York for trials on the P&R routes. The demonstrator certainly turned a few heads whilst going round York and other cities around the UK which were trialling these buses also. It was launched in York, Leeds, Swansea and Luton Airport. The StreetCars were built on a heavily modified Volvo B7LA chassis but a very large batch of StreetCars were also launched in Las Vegas, Nevada alongside other British buses like the Enviro500 although those StreetCars were built on the Swiss built Hess chassis and were also hybrids. The StreetCars here in the UK gained their name 'purple people eaters' and also 'purple slugs' thanks to their speed. Like the Wright Fusions, these were initially built for First Group fleets and proved even more troublesome as their built-in ticket machines never worked so conductors were brought in and too the buses proved unreliable and underpowered and were the reason for poor punctuality of service with the routes they were on which often lead to route changes, quite notably in Leeds with route 4 which also led to changes on the 16 as both routes were similar, and since the route 4 was proven unsuitable, the 72 had some changes done to it aswell, thus frustrating passengers.
But to this day only a handful of StreetCars exist, including one from York but its now under Wrightbus' ownership. Luton Airport's are still in service with the rest being scrapped as most didn't quite make it to 10 years, some StreetCars were withdrawn at the age of just 5... The Las Vegas fleet are still going without any controversy or any reliability issues as far as I know.
The route 4 in York has seen many Wright Volvos in its time even to this day. In pre-FTR years, the 4 was the Overground Turquoise line with dedicated rigid Wright Eclipse bodied Volvo B7Ls. One of the buses caught fire and was eventually rebuilt then of course in 2006 these new Wright StreetCars took over, as the route was heavily publicised during this time. But in 2012 second hand Volvo B9TLs from First South Yorkshire took over as the whole fleet moved to Leeds for the Hyperlink 72 service. Today the 4 remains almost the same although the terminus at York University has been altered and the route still sees double deckers with a mixed variety of Volvo B7TLs, B9TLs and heavily rebuilt Gemini 2 DL hybrids.
To this day though, no further Wright StreetCars have been ordered but Translink Metro in Belfast ordered a large batch of similar buses in the shape of articulated Van Hool ExquiCity 18s in purple livery which many compared to the ftr services as Wrightbus even offered the StreetCar to Translink but were left disappointed with the decision for Van Hool to make the new buses.
Please like my Facebook page! :D www.facebook.com/MichaelsBusDrawings?fref=ts