The Wright StreetCar is an articulated bus developed 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 ...

and

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 ...

for

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Volvo B7LA 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 ...

chassis, featuring a separate driver compartment at the front, resembling to some extent similar designs in Europe. It features wrap-around seating arrangement at the rear. They were designed to mimic trams and used on FirstGroup's FTR services with high frequencies and dedicated stops to further enforce the impression of a premium service.

Operations

United Kingdom

The StreetCar's only UK customer is First Bus, where they were introduced on

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 ...

's route 4 between Acomb and the

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

on 8 May 2006, after the

City of York Council City of York Council is the municipal governing body of the City of York, a unitary authority in Yorkshire, England. It is composed of 47 councillors, one, two, or three for each of the 21 electoral wards of York. It is responsible for all local ...

had made significant alterations to the road layout to accommodate the new vehicles. Further examples entered service with

First Leeds 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 ...

, on

First Capital Connect First Capital Connect (FCC) was a British train operating company, owned by FirstGroup, that operated the Thameslink and Great Northern sectors from April 2006 to September 2014 which later became the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (T ...

Luton Airport Parkway railway station Luton Airport Parkway railway station is on the Midland Main Line in England, serving south Luton and Luton Airport in Bedfordshire. It is situated in Park Town, Luton, and is down the line from London St Pancras between to the south and to ...

to Luton Airport shuttle and with

First Cymru First Cymru is an operator of bus services in South West Wales. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup with its headquarters in Swansea. History In 1987, South Wales Transport was sold during the privatisation of the National Bus Company in a man ...

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

. York's StreetCars were withdrawn in 2012, following the end of a five-year contract which the city council refused to renew. These StreetCars were transferred over to Leeds to operate on the Leeds-Bradford bus corridor, but StreetCars there were later withdrawn in 2016. Swansea's StreetCars, which caused major road layout changes around the city centre to fit the buses, of which would later be blamed as a cause for two fatal accidents, were withdrawn in 2015 due to them proving too expensive to run.

United States

In 2008/09, 50 StreetCar Rapid Transit Vehicles were built for

Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada The Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (RTC) is a government agency and the transit authority and the transportation-planning agency for Southern Nevada. It was founded by the Nevada Legislature in 1965. RTC Transit The Region ...

in the United States for use on the

RTC Transit RTC Transit is the name of the bus system in the Las Vegas metropolitan area of Clark County, Nevada, Clark County, Nevada. It is a subsidiary of the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada. While it services most of Clark County ...

.Fifty Wrightbus New StreetCar RTV Vehicles for Southern Nevada
''Bus World'' 19 October 2008 Developed from the Wright StreetCar, they were built on

Carrosserie Hess Carrosserie HESS AG is a bus, trolleybus and commercial vehicle manufacturer based in Bellach, Switzerland. Their products can be found operating in several countries, including the United States and Canada. History The company was founded in 1 ...

chassis. They first arrived in December 2008.

Gallery

File:Ftr bus in Singleton Campus square, Swansea University, 19038 (S70 FTR), 9 September 2009 cropped.jpg, A Wright StreetCar in

. File:FTR Leeds bus 19017 (YJ56 EAF), 19 July 2009 (1).jpg, A Wright StreetCar in use on

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.ftr service in Leeds city centre. File:RTC Wrightbus Streetcar.JPG, Las Vegas

Wrightbus Streetcar

References

External links

Wrightbus product description of Volvo B9LA modelWrightbus product description of Hybrid model
{{Wrightbus, state=collapsed Articulated buses Vehicles introduced in 2006

StreetCar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...