Wright StreetCar
First York Wright StreetCar in York in April 2007
Overview
ManufacturerWrightbus
Production2006–2009
AssemblyBallymena, Northern Ireland
Body and chassis
Doors2 or 3
Floor typeLow floor
Chassis
Powertrain
Engine
Transmission
Dimensions
Wheelbase6,410 mm (252+1⁄2 in) (F)[1]
7,110 mm (280 in) (R)[1]
Length18,620 mm (61 ft 1 in)[1]
Width2,530 mm (99.5 in)[1]
Height3,400 mm (134 in)[1]
Curb weight22,000 kg (48,600 lb)[1]
Chronology
PredecessorWright Eclipse Fusion

The Wright StreetCar is an articulated bus developed by Wrightbus and Volvo for FirstGroup. It was built on the Volvo B7LA chassis, featuring a separate driver compartment at the front, resembling to some extent similar designs in Europe.

It features wrap-around seating arrangement at the rear. They were designed to mimic trams and used on FirstGroup's FTR services with high frequencies and dedicated stops to further enforce the impression of a premium service.[2][3][4]

Operations

United Kingdom

The StreetCar's only UK customer is First Bus, where they were introduced on First York's route 4 between Acomb and the University of York on 8 May 2006, after the City of York Council had made significant alterations to the road layout to accommodate the new vehicles.[5][6][7] Further examples entered service with First Leeds,[8] on First Capital Connect's Luton Airport Parkway railway station to Luton Airport shuttle and with First Cymru in Swansea.[9][10]

York's StreetCars were withdrawn in 2012, following the end of a five-year contract which the city council refused to renew.[11] These StreetCars were transferred over to Leeds to operate on the Leeds-Bradford bus corridor,[12][13] but StreetCars there were later withdrawn in 2016. Swansea's StreetCars, which caused major road layout changes around the city centre to fit the buses, of which would later be blamed as a cause for two fatal accidents, were withdrawn in 2015 due to them proving too expensive to run.[14]

United States

In 2008/09, 50 StreetCar Rapid Transit Vehicles were built for Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada in the United States for use on the RTC Transit.[15][16][17] Developed from the Wright StreetCar, they were built on Carrosserie Hess chassis. They first arrived in December 2008.

Gallery

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g STURAA Test: 12 Year / 500,000 mile bus from Wright Group Ltd., Model Streetcar RTV (PTI-BT-R0906) (Report). Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, Bus Testing and Research Center. October 2009. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  2. ^ "StreetCar from the Wright Group". Wrightbus. 23 September 2004.
  3. ^ "StreetCar creates Desire". Wrightbus. 10 March 2005.
  4. ^ "First confirms orders for 39 Streetcars". Bus & Coach Professional. 22 July 2005.
  5. ^ City first to use new bus fleet BBC News 22 February 2006
  6. ^ It's the ftr of city travel The Press 24 April 2006
  7. ^ The ftr of city travel arrives The Press 8 May 2006
  8. ^ Jagdev, Rav (29 August 2007). "Leeds partnership: Spirit of Leeds". Bus & Coach Professional. Archived from the original on 11 September 2007. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  9. ^ "StreetCars upgrade Luton airport link". Bus & Coach Professional. 30 January 2008. Archived from the original on 16 January 2009. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  10. ^ "First's Swansea Metro service launched". Bus & Coach Professional. 16 September 2009. Archived from the original on 5 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  11. ^ "Row over York StreetCars". Bus & Coach Professional. 5 January 2012. Archived from the original on 8 January 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  12. ^ "First to redeploy York ftr's to Leeds-Bradford corridor in local authority backed project". TransportXtra. 15 June 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2021.(subscription required)
  13. ^ "First to launch new StreetCar buses in Bradford". Telegraph & Argus. Bradford. 24 October 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  14. ^ Bendy buses in Swansea to be scrapped over cost BBC News 24 June 2015
  15. ^ StreetCar Breaks New Ground For The Wright Group Wrightbus 12 June 2006
  16. ^ Wrightbus celebrates £31m deal for its new StreetCar Belfast Telegraph 8 October 2008
  17. ^ Fifty Wrightbus New StreetCar RTV Vehicles for Southern Nevada Bus World 19 October 2008

External links

Media related to Wright StreetCar at Wikimedia Commons

 Buses portal

Wrightbus, bus and coach timeline, 1990–present
Categories