The Optare Excel was a
low-floor
Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i.e ...
full-size
single-decker bus
A single-decker bus or single-decker is a bus that has a single deck for passengers. Normally the use of the term ''single-decker'' refers to a standard two- axled rigid bus, in direct contrast to the use of the term double-decker bus, which ...
manufactured 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 ...
. 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
The Optare Sigma was a step-entrance single-deck bus body manufactured by Optare between 1994 and 1996 on the Dennis Lance chassis. The body was constructed from Alusuisse aluminium alloy with fiberglass front and rear panels.Daughters of Delta ' ...
. The styling of the body was in keeping with existing Optare products. At the front, a simple flat panel with the Optare name was set between two pairs of twin headlamps, below a very large front windscreen. Approximately 600 were built.
[Optare Excel]
Bus Lists on the Web
Powertrain
Power came from a
Cummins
Cummins Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and distributes engines, filtration, and power generation products. Cummins also services engines and related equipment, including fuel systems, controls, air ...
6BT, a 6-cylinder turbo diesel engine. 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 ...
OM906LA engine was an option with the Excel 2. Both transmitted their power via an
Allison
Allison may refer to:
People
* Allison (given name)
* Allison (surname) (includes a list of people with this name)
* Eugene Allison Smith (1922-1980), American politician and farmer
Companies
* Allison Engine Company, American aircraft engine ...
B300R gearbox.
Lengths
The Excel was built in a range of lengths, and in Optare tradition, the chassis code reflected this. An L960 was 9.6m in length; an L1000 was 10.0m in length, and so on; with L1070 and L1150 variants built. Seating ranged from 27 in the L960, 35 in the L1070, 43 in the L1150 and 45 in the L1180, although these figures can vary.
Excel 2
The Excel was updated in 1999, with the front similar to that of the
Optare Solo
The Optare Solo is a low-floor minibus/midibus with one or two doors manufactured by Optare in the United Kingdom since 1998. The Solo name is a play on its low-floor status, the manufacturer marketing its vehicle as having an entrance that is ...
and with round headlights, two less rear lights, and a repositioned fuel-filler cap. This was known as the Excel 2, which also replaced the
Delta
Delta commonly refers to:
* Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet
* River delta, at a river mouth
* D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta")
* Delta Air Lines, US
* Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19
Delta may also ...
which by then had finished production, as well as the original Excel, which was still being sold until late 2000. Excel 2s were only built in L1070, L1150 and L1180 configurations.
Operators
The first production examples of the Excel were purchased by
in 1996, followed by orders from
and
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 ...
.
Reading, a popular customer of Optare buses, would later go on to purchase 45 Excels from 1997 to 2000, as well as taking on second-hand acquisitions. These included 15 Excels purchased new 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 r ...
in 1997.
Trent Buses were the biggest operator of Excels, ordering a total of 112 of the type from 1998 to 2001.
East Yorkshire Motor Services
East Yorkshire operates both local and regional bus services in the East Riding of Yorkshire and North Yorkshire, England. Prior to acquisition by the Go-Ahead Group in June 2018, the company was known as East Yorkshire Motor Services.
History
...
purchased a total of 24 Excels between 1996 and 1999 for low-floor operations in
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England.
It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-east ...
and
Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to:
People
* Scarborough (surname)
* Earl of Scarbrough
Places Australia
* Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth
* Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong
* Scarborough, Queensland, su ...
,
while 16 Excels were purchased by the
Stagecoach Group
Stagecoach Group is a transport group based in Perth, Scotland. It operates buses, express coaches and a tram service in the United Kingdom.
History
Stagecoach was born out of deregulation of the British express coach market in the early ...
in 2001 for operation in
Worksop
Worksop ( ) is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located east-south-east of Sheffield, close to Nottinghamshire's borders with South Yorkshire and Derbyshire, on the River Ryton and not far from the nor ...
with their
East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Li ...
subsidiary.
purchased ten Excels in 1997, while
Go North East
Go North East operates both local and regional bus services in County Durham, Cumbria, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear, England. It was previously known as the Northern General Transport Company and Go-Ahead Northern. The compa ...
also purchased examples.
In London,
London United purchased six Excels in 1997, initially branded for use on route 371, while
Metrobus purchased ten a year prior.
Other London operators included
Travel London
Travel London was a bus company operating services in Greater London. It was a subsidiary of National Express before being sold in May 2009 to NedRailways. In October 2009, it was rebranded as Abellio London. and
Thorpes
Thorpes was an English bus operator. It operated services under contract to Transport for London.
History
Thorpes was a coach operator that diversified into operating bus services under contract to Transport for London in the 1990s. Their St ...
, the latter purchasing four Excels for operation on the wheelchair-friendly ''Stationlink'' network.
Optare also built a small export market for the Excel, selling examples to Malta and Hungary. The Hungarian models were badged as the
NABI
Nabi may refer to:
People
* Adil Nabi (born 1994), English footballer
*Heiki Nabi (born 1985), Estonian wrestler
*Isadore Nabi, satirical pseudonym of Richard Levins and Richard Lewontin, scientists in the 1960s
*Mohammad Nabi (born 1985), Afghan ...
700SE and had three-door Excel bodies built on the
Scania L94UB
The Scania 4-series low floor city bus and coach range was introduced by Scania in 1997 as a successor to the 3-series bus range.
The 4-series bus range was first presented in September 1996, when the integral low-floor city bus OmniCity w ...
chassis.
Replacement
The Excel was replaced by the
Optare Tempo
The Optare Tempo is an integral low-floor, full-size rigid single-deck bus manufactured by Optare and was launched in late 2004. It is marketed and sold as the replacement for the Optare Excel. It is designed as a lightweight bus, to use less ...
, but the design is used for another Hungarian market bus, this time the NABI 700SE, which uses a
Scania
Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conte ...
powerplant.
Gallery
File:Lodges Coaches bus Optare Excel V936 VUB (1).jpg, Lodges Coaches Optare Excel 1 in High Easter in August 2010
File:Arriva Shires & Essex 3002 V392 KVY.jpg, Arriva Shires & Essex
Arriva Shires & Essex is a bus operator providing services in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire, with services extending to Oxfordshire and Greater London. Until 2002 its operations included Colchester. It is a subsidiary o ...
Optare Excel 1 in Bletchley
Bletchley is a constituent town of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated in the south-west of Milton Keynes, and is split between the civil parishes of Bletchley and Fenny Stratford and West Bletchley.
Bletchley is best known ...
in July 2010
File:Reading Transport bus Optare Fastrack Park and Ride livery, Reading, 1999.jpg, 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 ...
Optare Excel 1 in Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...
in 1999
File:Optare Excel 35001, Claycross.jpg, Stagecoach Chesterfield Optare Excel 2 in Clay Cross
Clay Cross is a town and a civil parish in the North East Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England. It is a former industrial and mining town, about south of Chesterfield.
It is directly on the A61. Surrounding settlements include North W ...
in March 2009
File:Port bus service (Optare) P&O Ferries - Dover.JPG, P&O Ferries
P&O Ferries is a British shipping company that operates ferry, ferries from United Kingdom to Ireland, and to Continental Europe (France, Belgium and the Netherlands). The company was created in 2002 through mergers and acquisitions within P&O ...
Optare Excel 2 running a port bus service in Dover
Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...
in September 2012
File:Safeguard Coaches X308 CBT rear.JPG, Safeguard Coaches
Safeguard Coaches is a bus and coach operator based in Guildford.
History
Safeguard was established in 1924 by Arthur Newman, when he converted an accident damaged lorry to carry passengers, and by 1927 was running bus services to the newly con ...
Optare Excel 2 in Guildford
Guildford ()
is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...
in January 2009
References
External links
{{Optare timeline
Low-floor buses
Midibuses
Excel
ExCeL London (an abbreviation for Exhibition Centre London) is an exhibition centre, international convention centre and former hospital in the Custom House area of Newham, East London. It is situated on a site on the northern quay of the ...
Vehicles introduced in 1996