The Optare MetroDecker is an integral twin-axle

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 ...

produced by British bus manufacturer

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 ...

since 2014. The bus bears resemblance to the

Optare MetroCity The Optare MetroCity is an integral midibus manufactured by Optare since 2013. Originally aimed at the London market, the MetroCity is based on the Optare Versa which was introduced in 2009. In the UK market, longer variants of the MetroCity ha ...

, sharing similar interior and exterior features. The MetroDecker was designed as the successor to the

Optare Olympus 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 built by Optare. It could be built as a body available on Alexander Dennis Enviro400, Volvo B9TL or ...

and

Scania OmniDekka The East Lancs OmniDekka (later sold as the Darwen OmniDekka and Optare OmniDekka) is a double-decker bus built for sale in the UK market, introduced by East Lancashire Coachbuilders in 2003. Originally built on Scania N94UD chassis at Euro 3, ...

double-deckers, which were both discontinued in 2011, however unlike these, the MetroDecker is only available in integral form. Optare initially aimed to have MetroDeckers in service in

London London is the capital and 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 down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

by the end of 2014 and sales of over 100 MetroDeckers within eighteen months of launch; this did not occur, with no orders placed until June 2018.

Variants

MetroDecker

The Optare MetroDecker was launched in 2014 initially with the 4 cylinder

Euro VI The European emission standards are vehicle emission standards for pollution from the use of new land surface vehicles sold in the European Union and EEA member states and the UK, and ships in EU waters. The standards are defined in a seri ...

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 ...

OM934LA engine with a 6-speed

ZF EcoLife The ZF EcoLife transmission is a 6 speed planetary transmission for medium capacity applications with rapid speed variation, such as city buses and diesel commuter rail, designed by ZF Friedrichshafen. It features boosted operating economy, longer ...

transmission fitted. The bus is built on an integral Optare chassis, making the bus lighter than its body-on-chassis predecessors. In June 2018,

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 ...

placed the first order for five diesel MetroDeckers with high specification interiors for use on Green Line route 702, following a period of demonstration. Due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Reading Buses cancelled the order in July 2020. Three pre-production demonstrators were built by Optare for bus operators to trial around the United Kingdom. Two of these entered service with

First South Yorkshire First South Yorkshire is a major bus operator providing bus services within and across South Yorkshire. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup. History In 1989, South Yorkshire Transport introduced the ''Mainline'' brand on certain bus routes aro ...

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 ...

and the

NAT Group Adventure Travel (stylised as Adventuretravel; formerly NAT Group and New Adventure Travel) is a bus and coach company in South Wales. It is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro. History Established in 2008 with four buses, Adventure Travel has now gr ...

, and a demonstrator built to Transport for London specification commenced trials with

Go-Ahead London Go-Ahead London is the trading name used collectively for the London bus operations of the Go-Ahead Group. The name first appeared in August 2008, before which the company had traded under separate names and brands. It is currently (as of 2021) ...

in August 2016. None of these demonstration periods resulted in orders for the diesel MetroDecker.

MetroDecker EV

The Optare MetroDecker EV

battery electric bus A battery electric bus is an electric bus that is driven by an electric motor and obtains energy from on-board batteries. Many trolleybuses use batteries as an auxiliary or emergency power source. In 2018, the National Renewable Energy Laborato ...

was launched in late 2015, complementing Optare's single decker range that already have battery electric variants. The battery supports 250 kW of power with an electric ZF AxTrax AVE powertrain, resulting in an electric range of . The first MetroDecker order for a Transport for London operator came in 2019 when 31 MetroDecker EVs were delivered to

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 ...

for operation on route 134. 37 MetroDecker EVs were later delivered to

Tower Transit A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specifica ...

in November 2020 for operation on routes 23 and C3, and

ordered 17 Metrodecker EVs for delivery in May 2021 for operation on route 200. In March 2019,

First York First York operates local bus services, with a network centring around the cathedral city of York, North Yorkshire, England. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup, which operates bus, rail and tram services across the United Kingdom and Ireland. His ...

ordered 21 MetroDecker EVs for the city's rebranded York Park & Ride operations. The first of these buses entered service from July 2020. A hybrid-electric variant was announced during the initial launch of the MetroDecker in 2015, however no orders materialised. A major fire in May 2022 that destroyed six buses at Metroline's

Potters Bar Potters Bar is a town in Hertfordshire, England,in the historic County of Middlesex Hertsmere Borough Council – Community Strategy First Review (PDF) north of central London. In 2011, it had a population of 21,882. In 2022 the population was ...

garage, two of which were MetroDecker EVs, caused Switch Mobility to order all MetroDecker EVs to be taken out of service for safety precautions.

MetroDecker H2

The Optare MetroDecker H2

fuel cell bus A fuel cell bus is a bus that uses a hydrogen fuel cell as its power source for electrically driven wheels, sometimes augmented in a hybrid fashion with batteries or a supercapacitor. The only emission from the bus is water. Several cities arou ...

was announced by Optare in partnership with Arcola Energy in April 2020. The MetroDecker H2 is based on existing EV platform, utilising Arcola's A-Drive hydrogen fuel cell electric powertrain with a claimed range of up to . Optare aims to establish an export market aimed at countries within a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

requiring use of

air conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...

for the MetroDecker H2, however orders are yet to be placed by potential operators.

References

External links