Highway to the city
In April 2008, with little fanfare, a spectacular bus landed in Brisbane. Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL) brought one of its Enviro500 double deckers to Australia for a five-week road show.
Robert Birrell, former Editor of Australasian Bus & Coach Magazine, took the Enviro 500 from Brisbane to Yeppoon and back on what was Australia's longest road test for many years.
It was a cold and dark morning when I turned up for a drive that I had been looking forward to for a long time. The Queensland Bus Industry Council (QBIC) was holding its annual convention at Yeppoon and I was to drive the Alexnader Dennis Enviro500 double decker to the conference and back.
The decker, due to become number 5504 in the fleet of New World First Bus (NWFB), is one of 28 currently under construction in Hong Kong. The buses are assembled from kits supplied from ADL in the UK and need limited expertise and minimal factilities to complete.
What was most impressive initially was the size of the bus. It really looks much bigger than it is. It has been many years since double deckers have been used for regular urban commuter service in Australia, so we are used to the rigid or articulated or 14.5m buses on our city streets. Whilst this bus looks huge in fact it is only big upwards and then not overly so. The Enviro 500 is just fractionally shorter than 12m and under 4.4m in height.
It was fitted with 80 seats covered in heavy duty 'graffiti' vinyl, high 'vis' hand rails and straps and a bright interior that gives a spacious feel to the inside. Eventually it will be licenced for 53 seated upstairs, 27 on the lower deck and 44 standees. Now if your math's is good that’s an all up load of 124. With 80 seated passengers the advantages of the 'decker' are obvious especially when latest articulated deliveries carry only mid-60's.
And speaking of advantages lets not forget the road space that the 'decker' doesn't take up. In these days of city congestion remember that the bus' footprint is only 12m. This means many more passengers to the metre when compared to longer units.
We have already spoken of the dimensions now to what makes it the Enviro 500 perform. Engine wise a Cummins ISLe Euro 4 8.9 litre 6-cylinder engine sits in the rear. This provides 340hp and is coupled to a six speed ZF gearbox with integral retarder. The engine can be re-rated to Euro 5 with little difficulty. Air conditioning is by Denso and is 'very' effective. All this with an unladen weight of around 15 tonnes.
It should be remembered that this bus is 'specced' to be operated in Hong Kong where the conditions are quite different to Australia. However because of the upcoming trip the engine had been reconfigured to a speed limit of 100kph as opposed to Hong Kong's 70kph.
The round trip to Yeppoon was to be over 1500km, which in Chinese terms is like driving to mainland places such as Quanzhou, Henyang and Nanning. Something that is not conceivable for a Hong Kong operator, pretty normal for us in Australia, but perhaps not for a citybus.
The trip started from Chermside about six on a cool Brisbane morning. Chermside is already on the road north and so it was a case of 'just following the white line'. Southbound city traffic was already building up and the decker was already attracting some attention. After all it was displaying 'Reaching New Heights in Australia' on the biggest mobile billboard round. Passing a number of well filled rigid buses from Brisbane Transport and Hornibrook Bus Lines drew astonished looks.
Performance from a dead stop was initially slow but as soon as the power cut in speed built up very quickly. Gear changes were almost unnoticeable such was the quietness of the ZF box. At this stage of the day the a/c was not used, as the outside temperature was only 16 degrees.
At 100kph on the Bruce Highway the decker held the road without any body roll. Good seat positioning and a curved windscreen without pillar intrusion made for excellent viewing. Fitted mirrors were on the small side but this is a bus made for Hong Kong. There were no blind spots. The retarder was very effective and the bus could be brought to a stop only by light pressure on the pedal. On one occasion a very rapid stop was required and the Enviro 500 didn't disappoint.
At road speed on highway sections speed could easily be maintained at 100kph. Speed loss on moderate hills was negligible and the torque generated was more than enough to provide sprightly performance. It was said on many occasions by the road crew that to pass the decker you had to exceed the speed limit, as it certainly held its own.
Remembering that this is a bus built for urban service, it performed excellently on to outbound and inbound trips. Engine temperature varied only by a few degrees at any time during the trip. Regulation stops were made for the driver but the decker seemed that it would go on forever.
Urban driving around Brisbane, Rockhampton and Yeppoon proved that the decker worked very well in its home environment. It certainly was very manoeuverable in city streets, indeed at one U turn turning 'inside' a preceding 12.7 school bus. All done at slow speed of course.
On display at the QBIC conference the Enviro 500 attracted much attention, indeed you could say it stood 'way above the crowd'. Comments about applicability, configuration and build quality abounded. Even one Australian bodybuilder said the bus was very well finished.
For the record the Enviro 500 also caters for the disabled and visually impaired. Already mentioned has been the bright interior with its yellow handrails. A flip out wheelchair access flap is standard equipment. This is easily lifted by means of a 'D' shackle that if properly used will not contravene any WH&S requirement. Also fitted is a kneeling device with black (tarmac) lower and blue (sky) raise function. Suitable interlocks are also fitted.
Cameras are fitted to view the upper deck and for reversing and are located requiring the driver to raise vision only slightly. The dashboard is well laid out with most displays being coloured electrical.
The air conditioning was absolutely outstanding. The temperature was very little different wherever you sat in the bus and performance was unaffected. The driving position was especially well catered for with six vents for the driver's exclusive use.
Surprisingly riding on the upper deck gave the impression of a slower trip than down below. Considering that some of the roads to the north of Maryborough are well used and battered, the Enviro 500's suspension gave a good ride.
The entire trip was completed without incident and in excellent time.
Summary
Past road tests have sometimes highlighted some shortcomings in test units. Well you would have to work hard to find anything with ADL's Enviro500. It is a superb vehicle. It drives like a car, handles both urban and open roads with ease and certainly turned heads wherever it went.
Its performance was very good. The Enviro 500 did more than keep up with the traffic, for most of the time it led it!
Ride is superb with only the occasional B-double creating buffeting on the narrower roads. At other times it 'stuck like glue'.
Around town, its habitat, it's a natural. Very manoeuverable, quick off the mark and good stopping all the driver needs to worry about is how tall he/she is.
To conclude
I was looking forward to driving this bus and it was worth the wait. I have tested many buses over the past few years, and there have been many good ones, but I think that the Enviro500 was perhaps the most anticipated and exciting.
Many years have passed since the use of deckers in Australian cities, indeed they never dominated as they do in London, Hong Kong and now in North America. However the time may be here for the decker. Perhaps not for short hops as they do in London or Hong Kong, but certainly on limited stop and trunk routes. They would be ideal for example on commuter routes to the expanding north-west of Sydney, areas of Redcliffe, Logan and the Bayside in Brisbane, or the trunk routes between Belconnen, Civic and Tuggeranong in the ACT. Additionally with its wide roads Adelaide would be a good operating area, as would Perth.
With patronage growing at an increasing rate, road space being more and more at a premium, the double decker surely has a place. With the Enviro500 low floor, high capacity, Euro 4 double decker, ADL might just have the answer to some of the critical public transport problems. And the price compares very favourably with less capacity, longer articulated bus. For the future the ADL Enviro500 is definitely 'The Highway to the City'.
About the Author
Robert Birrell has been in the Logistics and Transportation field for over 20 years. For three years he was the Editor of Australasian Bus & Coach Magazine and conducted bus road tests in Australia and internationally. He is currently Group Operations Manager for the Hornibrook Group in Brisbane. He has also written articles for other magazines and publications in Australia and overseas.
