The Optare Visionaire (introduced in 2006 as the East Lancs Visionaire, and branded the Darwen Visionaire between 2007 and 2008) is an
open top 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 ...
body 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 is in terms of engineering an open top
Olympus (itself a
double-decker variant of the
Esteem) in all but name. The Optare Visionaire was also built for
tri-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 ...
chassis.
History
The first orders were made in November 2006 by
Arriva
Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.[The Original Tour
Tootbus London, formerly The Original Tour is a London bus tour operator using open-top double-decker buses. It also holds the franchise to run City Sightseeing's London tour. Based in Wandsworth, it is a subsidiary of RATP Dev.
History
T ...]
for a £1.6 million order for ten, built on
Volvo
The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...
's
B9TL Euro IV
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 ...
chassis. These all entered service and were the only order for the ''East Lancs'' Visionaire.
Acquisition by Darwen
After
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 in 2007, the business 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 ...
, and the East Lancs Visionaire was renamed the Darwen Visionaire. During this time, an order was received for a number of Visionaires.
Omnibus blog - "Managing growth is sometimes far more difficult than managing decline…"
Accessed 1 September 2008
An open top 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 ...
, the Panaire, was also offered at the time and none were built.
Reverse takeover by Optare
Since the order for the Darwen Visionaires, 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 ...
performed a reverse takeover
A reverse takeover (RTO), reverse merger, or reverse IPO is the acquisition of a public company by a private company so that the private company can bypass the lengthy and complex process of going public. Sometimes, conversely, the public compan ...
with 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 ...
. Ten Optare Visionaires entered service on Big Bus Tours
Big Bus Tours (formerly ''Les Cars Rouges'' and ''The Big Bus Company''), is the largest operator of open top bus sightseeing tours founded in May 2011 after "Les Cars Rouges" and the "Big Bus Company" merged. The company operates in 23 citie ...
London tour. These were ordered in the Darwen
Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners".
The A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to the sout ...
period, but have been built under the new Optare name. Therefore, no Visionaires were built under the Darwen name, despite orders being taken. received 9 Visionaires for use on the Purbeck Breezer services linking Swanage
Swanage () is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck and one of its two towns, approximately south of Poole and east of Dorchester. In the 2011 census the civil ...
with Wareham, Poole
Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Counc ...
and Bournemouth
Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...
.
See also
*List of buses
Year refers to the first year introduced. A range of years is the period the bus was manufactured.
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I
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References
{{Optare timeline, state=collapsed
Visionaire
The VisionAire VA-10 Vantage is a prototype single-engined light business-jet (or "very light jet") designed and developed by the American company VisionAire Jets Corporation. Originally planned for production in the late 1990s, the original Visio ...
Vehicles introduced in 2006
Open-top buses
Low-floor buses
Double-decker buses
Tri-axle buses