The Mellor Orion (previously known as the Bluebird Orion) is a

minibus A minibus, microbus, minicoach, or commuter (in Zimbabwe) is a passenger-carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, th ...

body manufactured on

Fiat Ducato The Fiat Ducato is a light commercial vehicle jointly developed by FCA Italy and PSA Group (currently Stellantis), and mainly manufactured by Sevel, a joint venture between the two companies since 1981. It has also been sold as the Citroën C25, ...

chassis since 2011, introduced by Bluebird Vehicles and subsequently built by

Mellor Coachcraft Mellor Coachcraft,Companies House extract company no 02691794
Mellor Coa ...

since 2014. Several variants are produced, including the long-wheelbase Orion Plus and the fully electric Orion E. In 2021, Mellor launched an updated version known as the Orion Evolution. An eight-seater private hire

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice ...

variant, known as the Mellor Pico, was launched in 2019 on short-wheelbase Fiat Ducato chassis.

Operators

Orion

The Mellor Orion has proven popular with local councils in providing accessible transport, home-to-school transport and demand responsive or low-demand rural services. One of the largest customers for the Orion has been

Dorset County Council Dorset County Council (DCC) was the county council for the county of Dorset in England. It provided the upper tier of local government, below which were district councils, and town and parish councils. The county council had 46 elected council ...

, who took delivery of 39 Orions between 2016 and 2018 in a major renewal of their minibus fleet. Other large customers for the Orion include

Nottinghamshire County Council Nottinghamshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Nottinghamshire in England. It consists of 66 county councillors, elected from 56 electoral divisions every four years. The most recent election ...

, who have taken delivery of eleven examples;

Durham County Council Durham County Council is a local authority administering all significant local government functions in the unitary authority area of County Durham in North East England. The council area covers part of the ceremonial county of County Durham, e ...

, who operate seven Orions; and

Edinburgh City Council The City of Edinburgh Council is the Local government in Scotland, local government authority for the city of Edinburgh, capital of Scotland. With a population of in mid-2019, it is Subdivisions of Scotland#Council areas, the second most populo ...

, who ordered twelve vehicles in 2019. The Orion has also been offered to foreign markets. In early 2014, a Bluebird Orion Plus was exported to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and tested by several operators after being route tested by ''Australasian Bus & Coach'' magazine.

Orion E

The first production Orion E entered service in 2019 with the

National Galleries of Scotland National Galleries of Scotland ( gd, Gailearaidhean Nàiseanta na h-Alba) is the executive non-departmental public body that controls the three national galleries of Scotland and two partner galleries, forming one of the National Collections o ...

on a shuttle service between its three sites. Seven Orion Es were delivered to

First West Yorkshire First West Yorkshire operates both local and regional bus services in West Yorkshire, England. It is a subsidiary of the FirstGroup, and is made up of three sub-division brands: First Bradford, First Halifax, Calder Valley & Huddersfield and Firs ...

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

in 2021 for the new ''Flexibus East Leeds''

demand responsive transport Demand-responsive transport (DRT), also known as demand-responsive transit, demand-responsive service,
US National Trans ...

service.

Cheshire West and Chester Council Cheshire West and Chester Council is the local authority of Cheshire West and Chester. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government services ...

took delivery of an Orion E in 2022 to join their existing fleet of diesel Orions, marking the council's first investment in electric buses. Other customers include

Nottingham City Council Nottingham City Council is the local authority for the unitary authority of Nottingham in Nottinghamshire, England. It consists of 55 councillors, representing a total of 20 wards, elected every four years. The council is led by David Mellen, of ...

, who are evaluating a single Orion E alongside other electric vehicles as part of their Project EVE.

Pico

The Mellor Pico was launched at the Busworld exposition in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

in October 2019. Aimed at the

and demand responsive market, the Pico is built on the shortest wheelbase Fiat Ducato chassis and contains up to eight passenger seats, competing with contemporary taxis such as the

LEVC TX The LEVC TX (previously known as the TX5) is a purpose-built hackney carriage manufactured by the British commercial vehicle maker London EV Company (LEVC), a subsidiary of the Chinese auto-maker Geely. It is the latest in a succession of purpose ...

References

{{Mellor Coachcraft Fiat vehicles Mellor Coachcraft Minibuses