Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMC

The Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMC (sold as the Alexander Dennis Enviro200) is a single-decker city bus produced by Alexander Dennis since 2014, as the successor to the Enviro200 midibus and Enviro300 full-size bus. The first Enviro200 MMCs entered service with National Express West Midlands in 2015. Notably, Enviro200 MMCs have been modified by Fusion Processing to be used as the basis for the first driverless bus trials in the United Kingdom.

The Enviro200 MMC is available over a range of lengths, including 8.9 metres, 9.7 metres, 10.4 metres, 10.8 metres and 11.5/11.8 metres, as an integral twin-axle midibus or full-size bus. Additionally, the 12.7 metre tri-axle Enviro200 XLB is offered in the New Zealand market. The Enviro200 MMC bodywork is also available as an all-electric bus, known as the Enviro200EV, built on a BYD Auto battery electric chassis.

Introduction

The Enviro200 MMC can trace its lineage back to the original Dennis Dart midibus, introduced by Dennis Specialist Vehicles in 1989. One of the most successful bus models of all time, the original Dart was replaced by the low-floor Dart SLF in 1996. Through financial difficulties at the various parent companies, production of the Dart SLF passed first to TransBus International in 2001 and subsequently to Alexander Dennis in 2004.

The second-generation Alexander Dennis Enviro200 - then branded as the ''Enviro200 Dart'' - was introduced as the Dart SLF's replacement in 2006, based very strongly on the design of the previous model. The third-generation Enviro200 was launched in 2009, followed by the Enviro200 MMC in 2015. Production of the classic third-generation Enviro200 ultimately ceased in late 2018.

Variants

Enviro200 MMC

Alexander Dennis unveiled the Enviro200 MMC (short for ''Major Model Change'') at the Euro Bus Expo in Birmingham in November 2014. As well as replacing the classic Enviro200, it also superseded the Enviro300. The first production examples of the Enviro200 MMC entered service with National Express West Midlands in 2015, the operator having ordered 50 of the type.

Go South Coast were early customers of the Enviro200 MMC, with a first batch of 18 delivered to Bluestar in late 2015. Twelve more were delivered to Bluestar in 2016, followed by a third batch in 2019, some of which had air filters mounted on the roof following successful trials in Southampton. Swindon's Bus Company had 13 Enviro200 MMCs delivered in 2017, followed by another batch of six in 2020, and Morebus had 41 Enviro200 MMCs delivered in 2018 for services between Bournemouth and Poole.

The Stagecoach Group, the founders of which were shareholders of Alexander Dennis until 2019, operate a large number of Enviro200 MMCs across the group's operations in England, Wales and Scotland. After a first batch of eight built to Transport for London specification entered service with Stagecoach London in October 2015, Stagecoach's first regional Enviro200 MMCs entered service with Stagecoach South, Stagecoach East Scotland, Stagecoach Oxfordshire and Stagecoach Yorkshire between November 2015 and February 2016. Further examples have entered service with Stagecoach North East, who received eighteen for services in Newcastle upon Tyne in December 2016, Stagecoach East Midlands, where Enviro200 MMCs were introduced for services in Lincoln and Hull as well as on the ''Humber Fastcat'' service to Scunthorpe, and Stagecoach South West, where 14 Enviro200 MMCs entered service in Exeter in 2018. Some delivered to Stagecoach have been built to the company's high standard Stagecoach Gold specification, with 24 such Enviro200 MMCs delivered to Stagecoach South Wales in 2016, and another 25 being delivered to Stagecoach Midlands in 2018.

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