The Wright Eclipse Fusion 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. ...
articulated
An articulated vehicle is a vehicle which has a permanent or semi-permanent pivot joint in its construction, allowing it to turn more sharply. There are many kinds, from heavy equipment to buses, trams and trains. Steam locomotives were sometim ...
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 ...
body built on the
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 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 Eclipse
The Wright Eclipse is a low-floor single-deck bus body that was built by Wrightbus between 1999 and 2019. The second-generation Eclipse 2 was launched in 2008, followed by the third-generation Eclipse 3 in 2015. The Eclipse, and its sister desi ...
, succeeding the
Wright Fusion.
Of the 88 produced,
services in
Bath, nine were ordered for
and one was ordered for
First Glasgow
First Glasgow is the largest bus company serving the Greater Glasgow area in Scotland. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup. The company operates within the area covered by the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, a public body responsible for h ...
in 2004. The other 21 Fusions were delivered to
Dublin Bus
Dublin Bus ( ga, Bus Átha Cliath) is a State-owned bus operator providing services in Dublin. By far the largest bus operator in the city, it carried 138 million passengers in 2019. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Córas Iompair Éireann.
...
.
In October 2001, two Wright Eclipse Fusions were sent from
First Hampshire & Dorset
First Hampshire & Dorset is a bus operator providing services in the counties of Hampshire and Dorset. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup.
History
First Hampshire & Dorset was created out of various different smaller companies which were merged o ...
to
First London
First London was a bus company operating services in east and west Greater London, England. It was a subsidiary of FirstGroup and operated buses under contract to Transport for London. It was formed in the late 1990s through the acquisition o ...
's
Greenford garage to operate a six month trial on
route 207. One was painted into First London's fleet livery during this period. No orders resulted from the trial and the Fusions were returned a year later.
The FirstGroup would later partner with Wrightbus in developing the
Wright StreetCar
The Wright StreetCar is an articulated bus developed by Wrightbus and Volvo for FirstGroup. It was built on the Volvo B7LA chassis, featuring a separate driver compartment at the front, resembling to some extent similar designs in Europe.
It ...
, which is built on a modified version of the chassis used for the Eclipse Fusion. Most of the Eclipse Fusions are similar in appearance to its Wrightbus single deckers with the arched roof.
References
External links
{{Wrightbus, state=collapsed
Articulated buses
Low-floor buses
Vehicles introduced in 1998
Eclipse Fusion