The Optare Olympus (introduced in 2006 as the East Lancs Olympus, and sold as the Darwen Olympus between 2007 and 2008) is a

double-decker bus A double-decker bus or double-deck bus is a bus that has two storeys or decks. They are used for mass transport in the United Kingdom, the United States, New Zealand, Europe, Asia and also in cities such as Sydney; the best-known example is the ...

built by

Optare Switch Mobility (originally called Optare) is an English bus manufacturer based in Sherburn-in-Elmet, North Yorkshire. It is a subsidiary of Indian company Ashok Leyland. The company would be responsible for the EV operations of the group with ...

. It could be built as a

body Body may refer to: In science * Physical body, an object in physics that represents a large amount, has mass or takes up space * Body (biology), the physical material of an organism * Body plan, the physical features shared by a group of anima ...

available on Alexander Dennis Enviro400,

Volvo B9TL The Volvo B9TL is a low-floor double-decker bus built by Volvo from 2002 until 2018. It superseded the Volvo Super Olympian and the Volvo B7TL. The 2-axle version has been superseded by the Volvo B5TL in 2014 and the 3-axle version has been su ...

or Scania N230UD/N270UD chassis with the 2-axle and 3-axle variants. It is the double-decker equivalent of the

Optare Esteem The Optare Esteem was a low-floor single-decker bus body manufactured by East Lancashire Coachbuilders, Darwen East Lancs and Optare between 2006 and 2009 on Scania N94UB, Scania N230UB, Volvo B7RLE, MAN 12.240, Alexander Dennis Dart SLF, Al ...

. Some 3-axle Olympus buses were built.

History

The Olympus was launched by

East Lancashire Coachbuilders East Lancashire Coachbuilders Limited was a manufacturer of bus bodies and carriages founded in 1934 in Blackburn, Lancashire, England. The company went into administration for a short while in August 2007, before being bought by Darwen Group a ...

in November 2006. The first example, built on a

chassis for

Delaine Buses Delaine BusesCompanies House extract company no 367317
Delain ...

, was displayed a
Euro Bus Expo
2006. It had been the intention to exhibit a higher specification model for Ham's of Flimwell, but this was not ready in time for the show, meaning the bus didn't show its full potential. The Olympus replaced the OmniDekka on Scania chassis (though was still sold alongside the bus until 2011), which is 10.6 or 11.9 metres in length. On Volvo chassis, it replaced the Myllennium Vyking and the Myllennium Nordic. On Alexander Dennis chassis, it replaced the Myllennium Lolyne. At the beginning of January 2007,

Reading Buses Reading Buses is a bus operator serving the towns of Reading, Bracknell, Newbury, Slough, Windsor, Maidenhead, Wokingham and the surrounding areas in the counties of Berkshire, Oxfordshire, and Hampshire, England, as well as parts of Greater L ...

ordered six Olympus with Scania chassis for their Loddon Bridge FastTrack park and ride contract to replace

Optare Excel The Optare Excel was a low-floor full-size single-decker bus manufactured by Optare. Manufactured as an integral bus, the Excel was launched in 1995 as one of the first low floor single-deck vehicles, replacing the step-entrance Optare Sigma. T ...

s. They entered service in a yellow and blue livery in July 2007. In

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, some bus operators purchased Olympus with Scania chassis. Transdev London and

Metroline Metroline is a bus company operating services in Greater London and south Hertfordshire. It is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Corporation and operates services under contract to Transport for London. As at March 2021, the fleet consisted of 1,5 ...

had these buses operating on routes 148, 7 and 297 respectively. Due to problems with the new Transport for London specified air-conditioning units, some buses failed the tilt test by one degree, and entered service late. Stephensons Route 25 Yn08 OAP (13888060699)

Stephensons Route 25 Yn08 OAP (13888060699)

Acquisition by Darwen

East Lancs East Lancashire Coachbuilders Limited was a manufacturer of bus bodies and carriages founded in 1934 in Blackburn, Lancashire, England. The company went into administration for a short while in August 2007, before being bought by Darwen Group ...

went into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, admini ...

in August 2007 and was bought by the

Darwen Group The Darwen Group was a bus manufacturer located in Blackburn, Lancashire, England. The company originated from the purchase of East Lancashire Coachbuilders who went into administration in August 2007. After a series of developments, in June 20 ...

. The body was therefore renamed Darwen Olympus. The first buses to be delivered under the Darwen name were those ordered by

Cardiff Bus Cardiff Bus ( cy, Bws Caerdydd) is the dominant operator of bus services in Cardiff, Wales and the surrounding area, including Barry and Penarth. The company is wholly owned by Cardiff Council and is one of the few municipal bus companies to ...

(one of which was shown at Coach and Bus live 2007) and

Arriva Yorkshire Arriva Yorkshire is a major bus operator providing services primarily within and across West Yorkshire, although it also provides service in some parts of South Yorkshire, East Riding of Yorkshire and southern areas of North Yorkshire. It is a ...

has numerous examples bodied by Darwen, in addition to a few built by East Lancs before they went into administration.

Reverse takeover by Optare Olympus

Following the reverse takeover of

in June 2008, the Olympus was again renamed, becoming the Optare Olympus.

London General London General is a bus company operating in Greater London. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group and operates services under contract to Transport for London. The company is named after the London General Omnibus Company, the principal ...

ordered the Olympus with Alexander Dennis Enviro400 chassis instead of Scania which

and Transdev London had inherited. Metrobus have 30 buses on

Scania N230UD The Scania N series is a line of low-floor bus chassis with straight-up, transversely mounted Euro IV or newer engine at the rear, built by Scania AB, Scania since 2006, replacing the Scania N94. It is available as the N UB (N230UB, N270UB, N280 ...

chassis, which were used on London routes 54 and 75 In 2009, Optare announced that it had designed its own chassis for the Optare Olympus, with a

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

engine, as per previous products. A single prototype integral Olympus, designated the Olympus O1030, was built; this later became the basis for the new Optare MetroDecker and was subsequently launched in 2014.

Open top variant

An open-top

version of the Olympus, named the Visionaire, was also built. Like the Olympus, it was also built on the same chassis.

References

External links

*
Product brochure (East Lancs)
* {{Optare timeline, state=collapsed Double-decker buses Low-floor buses Tri-axle buses Olympus Vehicles introduced in 2006