Karosa B 961 is an articulated urban bus produced by bus manufacturer

Karosa Karosa ( cs, Továrna na Kočáry, Automobily, Rotory, Obráběcí stroje, Sekací stroje a Autobusy, en, Factory for carriages, cars, rotors, machine tools, cutting machines and buses) was a bus manufacturer in Vysoké Mýto in the Czech Republi ...

from the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, in the years of 2002 to 2006. Modernised version, Karosa B 961E, was introduced in the year 2003. In many towns, they replaced

Karosa B 741 Karosa B 741 is an articulated urban bus produced by bus manufacturer Karosa from the Czech Republic, in the years of 1991 to 1997. In many towns they replaced Ikarus 280 made in Hungary. In production was succeeded by Karosa B 941 in 1997. Con ...

. It was last high-floor bus built in

, before it was renamed to Iveco Czech Republic.

Construction features

Karosa B 961 is a model of the

Karosa 900 series Karosa 900 series is a collective term for several modifications of a bus which was produced by Czech company Karosa in the town Vysoké Mýto from 1994 to 2007. The basic models of this series are intercity bus Karosa C 934 and later produ ...

. The B 961 is derived from its predecessor the

Karosa B 941 Karosa B 941 is an articulated urban bus produced by bus manufacturer Karosa from the Czech Republic, in the years of 1997 to 2002. Modernised version, Karosa B941E, was introduced in the year 1999. In many towns they replaced Ikarus 280 made in H ...

, and also unified with city bus models such as the B 951 and the B 952. The body was assembled to the skeleton, which has undergone a dip stage, sheets were galvanized and painted and then to have it installed additional components. The body is made of two rigid sections linked by a pivoting joint. The body is semi-self-supporting with

frame A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...

and

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

with

automatic gearbox An automatic transmission (sometimes abbreviated to auto or AT) is a multi-speed transmission used in internal combustion engine-based motor vehicles that does not require any input from the driver to change forward gears under normal driving c ...

is placed in the rear part. The engine drives only the third C axle, meaning that this articulated bus has a

pusher configuration In an aircraft with a pusher configuration (as opposed to a tractor configuration), the propeller(s) are mounted behind their respective engine(s). Since a pusher propeller is mounted behind the engine, the drive shaft is in compression in nor ...

. The front, middle and rear axles are solid. All the axles are mounted on

air suspension Air suspension is a type of vehicle suspension powered by an electric or engine-driven air pump or compressor. This compressor pumps the air into a flexible bellows, usually made from textile-reinforced rubber. Unlike hydropneumatic suspension, ...

. On the right side are four doors (first and last are narrower than middle doors). Inside are used plastic Vogelsitze or Ster seats. The driver's cab is separated from the rest of the vehicle by a glazed partition. In the middle part and in the rear part, is room for a pram or wheelchair. Buses have an enclosed design of the turntable.

Production and operation

Prototype of Karosa B 961 was built in 2000. Later it was given to Prague Transport Company as a help after floods in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

in 2002. It operates until now with number 6360. It has ZF gearbox and Iveco engine.
Serial production started in the year 2002, when first buses were delivered to first operators in

and

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

, and continued until 2006. Since 2003 were buses produced only modernised version B 961 E, which had glass glued to skeleton, instead of glass mounted in rubber and better ventilation of the engine compartment. Last B 961 E left the production line in 2006, it was bus which is now operated by Martin Uher in

under the number 1147. Prototyp BK4

Historical vehicles

* private collector (1 car no.17, ex Transport Company Tabor) * Transport Company Prague (1 car no.6366)

Construction features

Production and operation

Historical vehicles

See also