The Wright Solar Fusion was a type of
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. ...
articulated bus
An articulated bus, also referred to as a banana bus, bendy bus, tandem bus, vestibule bus, wiggle wagon, stretch bus, or an accordion bus, (either a motor bus or trolleybus) is an articulated vehicle used in public transportation. It is usua ...
body built on the
Scania L94UA
The Scania 4-series Low-floor bus, low floor city bus and coach (bus), coach range was introduced by Scania AB, Scania in 1997 as a successor to the Scania 3-series (bus), 3-series bus range.
The 4-series bus range was first presented in Septe ...
chassis by
Wrightbus
Wrightbus is a Northern Ireland based bus manufacturer and a pioneer of the low-floor bus. The company was established in 1946 by Robert Wright and was later run by his son William Wright, until it was acquired in 2019 by British businessman ...
. It was the articulated version of the
Wright Solar
The Wright Solar is a low entry single-decker bus body that was built on Scania L94UB and Scania K UB chassis by Wrightbus between 2000 and 2011. The Wright Solar Fusion is an articulated version.
Most of the buses are fitted with the same d ...
. Only 11 were produced with
purchasing five,
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 ...
purchasing four and
and Doig's of
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
one each.
The Solar Fusion shares a similar bodywork style to the
Wright Eclipse Fusion
The Wright Eclipse Fusion was a low floor articulated single-decker bus body built on the Volvo B7LA chassis by Wrightbus. It was the articulated version of the Wright Eclipse, succeeding the Wright Fusion.
Of the 88 produced, FirstGroup purc ...
with the main differences being the window and seating before the rear exit doors, and the full rear window due to the
transverse engine
A transverse engine is an engine mounted in a vehicle so that the engine's crankshaft axis is perpendicular to the direction of travel. Many modern front-wheel drive vehicles use this engine mounting configuration. Most rear-wheel drive vehicles ...
of the Scania L94 chassis, rather than the vertically mounted fitted to the B7LA chassis.
A First Manchester Solar Fusion was involved in an accident in 2016 on the
M60 motorway
The M60 motorway, Manchester Ring Motorway or Manchester Outer Ring Road is an orbital motorway in North West England. Built over a 40-year period, it passes through most of Greater Manchester's metropolitan boroughs except for Wigan and Bol ...
. Although there were no casualties, the bus was later scrapped after being stored at Manchester's Oldham depot.
One of Nottingham City Transport's Solar Fusions was preserved by Nottingham Heritage Vehicles, while another was converted into a static library for the Alderman Pounder Infant School in
Chilwell
Chilwell is a village and residential suburb of Nottingham, in the borough of Broxtowe of Nottinghamshire, west of Nottingham city. Until 1974 it was part of Beeston and Stapleford Urban District, having been in Stapleford Rural District until ...
.
References
External links
{{Wrightbus, state=collapsed
Articulated buses
Low-entry buses
Low-floor buses
Vehicles introduced in 2001
Solar Fusion