Harrogate Bus Company has described the new bus unveiled today for its iconic Leeds-Ripon 36 service as a “step up”.
The first of 19 ordered Alexander Dennis (ADL) Enviro400EVs was presented in Harrogate today, with the battery-electric double-deckers set to be rolled into service from early September onwards.
The interior of the bus currently in operation on the 36, a Wright Eclipse Gemini with Volvo chassis, was a ground-breaker in terms of passenger comfort and eye-catching features when it was launched in 2016.
However, Vittorio Pizzuti, Operations Director for parent company Transdev Blazefield, says the new vehicle delivers “another level”.
The Alexander Dennis Enviro400EV will take advantage of pantograph charging at Harrogate to fulfil the high mileage requirements of the service.
The customised interior will, like the current iteration of the 36, feature 2+1 seating upstairs but with rarely seen recliners on the singly-arranged seats.
It will also have the latest Navaho information screens showing live bus and train times, with a lower-level forward-facing equivalent for the two wheelchair bays.
The leather seats seen on the current bus will be replaced by “ethical” fabric with nevertheless coach-style comfort in response to findings of a passenger survey which helped inform the design.
Other features include double-glazed windows to prevent them steaming up in the rain, contactless and USB charging and a stop bell on the back of every seat. Meanwhile, the “library 36” book shelf at the front of the lower deck remains.
Mr Pizzuti says: “The 36 was already an amazing bus, so to make something better than that was a challenge.
“To convert something like the 36 into electric, when we started three years, ago was impossible. Nobody was doing the specification. With having electric, you have batteries on, so you have weight limits.
“When you’re looking at vehicles with coach seats, double glazing, and all the rest of it, it was just not technically feasible.”
However, he explains the newest technology on ADL’s latest vehicle made it possible to fulfil requirements.
“We really pushed Alexander Dennis to create something that was befitting of the brand and this was the result,” he says. “I think it’s the best vehicle in the UK by far at the moment.
“The 36 has been around in many people’s hearts in Harrogate for many years. Everyone knows the quality of it and to step it up again and to introduce new technology was quite a nerve-wracking thing.
“We asked our seat suppliers to make them reclining, which is something they’d never done before.
“Having all these different partners step up is amazing really. We’re always taking it up another level.”
Following ADL’s launch of the new Enviro400EV last autumn, Transdev was one of the first to place an order, but Mr Pizzuti believes the operator’s trust in the manufacturer over a new vehicle has been rewarded.
He says: “We had to be a bit brave and trust the people we work with it and now we see the end product and it’s going to work perfectly for us.”
Also demonstrated at the event in front of Harrogate’s The Yorkshire Hotel was a Mercedes-Benz eCitaro battery-electric single-decker, the first of a batch of 20 of which Transdev will put into service this autumn on three routes out of Harrogate.
