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 Ashok Leyland focusing on its core business of diesel-powered vehicles as well as work on alternative fuels like compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied natural gas (LNG) and hydrogen.

After being rebranded from Optare to Switch Mobility in November 2020,Optare Group Limited renamed as Switch Mobility Limited
Optare 30 November 2020 it announced plans in 2021 to set up a plant in India for its electric vehicle business. Later, it acquired the EV division from parent company Ashok Leyland via a slump sale of ₹240 crores.

Switch Mobility has two subsidiary companies. The first subsidiary is Switch Mobility Automotive Ltd, which brings together Ashok Leyland's Indian based EV operations with the expertise of the UK-based bus manufacturing division. The second subsidiary is named OHM Global Mobility Private Ltd which provides Mobility as a Service (eMaaS) solutions in India.

History

Formation of Optare

In September 1984, Leyland Bus closed its Charles H Roe vehicle bodywork building business in Leeds. In response, Russell Richardson, a former plant director at Roe, backed by the West Yorkshire Enterprise Board and many redundant former employees, formed Optare in February 1985.

The company was created at a very difficult time for the bus and coach industry, with the challenges of privatisation and deregulation meaning very few orders for new vehicles. The first orders came from the still publicly owned West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (WYPTE) and South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE). The publicly owned but arms-length company Yorkshire Rider, as successor to the WYPTE bus fleet, also took early vehicles.

When the Roe business closed down, WYPTE had an unfulfilled order for five Leyland Olympian coach-seated double-decker buses in place for its Metro coach operation. These five part finished buses went from Roe to Eastern Coach Works as shells for completion, but subsequently ten more were completed as Optare buses but to the Roe design, the first of which was completed in September 1985, the 17th Optare bus body. Five went to WYPTE, and five to its successor Yorkshire Rider, and a further five standard seated Olympians were also delivered to WYPTE, two as convertible open top buses.

The first Optare designed bodies were fourteen Dennis Dominos for the SYPTE built starting in February 1986. Optare also bodied fifteen Leyland Cubs for the WYPTE. A preserved Cub later visited the Optare plant in 2005.

Starting in August 1986, Optare built fifteen minibuses converted from the Freight Rover Sherpa 350 vans for the WYPTE.

Early minibuses

In 1986, Optare introduced the CityPacer minibus. This was based on a heavier version of the Volkswagen LT50 van chassis, to which Optare made modifications prior to bodying. The engine was a six-cylinder 2.4-litre and the body seated 25, with space for a further five standing passengers, a size that met the minibus vogue of the late 1980s. While its competitors looked like the modified vans they were, the CityPacer had attractive styling notable for its large one-piece raked windscreen. London Regional Transport bought 52, and other major operators bought small batches. More than 290 CityPacers were produced in total between 1986 and 1992.

In 1987, the StarRider, based on the Mercedes-Benz 811D, chassis was introduced. This was a heavier chassis with a proven reliability record and had seating for 33 passengers. London Regional Transport took 123 StarRiders and a total of just under 320 were built between 1987 and 1994.

In an attempt to break into the export market, the ColumboRider was subsequently developed, named after the city of Colombo in Sri Lanka, where the first examples were sold. The ColumboRider was a semi-integral version of the StarRider, based on a chassis made by a consortium including Optare, Japanese technology company Itochu and local Sri Lankan manufacturer Ceylinco. The ColumboRider was replaced by an export version of the MetroRider.

In 1990, Optare bodied thirteen Renault S50 minibuses with a welfare bodywork which has since come to be known as the 9000-series, due to the allocated body numbers. As standard, the 9000-series community transport minibus had a front door, nine passenger seats and a rear tail lift for wheelchair access. All thirteen examples built were delivered to Leeds City Council between March and May 1990, and no further orders were ever placed.Optare Renault
Bus Lists on the Web

Expansion

In 1988 the first full size Optare product appeared, the Delta. This was a single-deck bus based on the DAF SB220 chassis. The Delta bodywork featured contemporary styling and was aluminium with a bolted frame licensed from Alusuisse. The Delta successfully found a niche in the full-size single deck bus market, which was very limited at that time. Approaching 370 Deltas were built before production ended in 1998.

Dennis had effectively created a new market segment, known as a midibus, with the introduction of the Dennis Dart. Optare soon introduced a competitor, the Vecta, albeit slightly bigger and wider than the Dart at that time, seating 40 in a full width 2.5m body. The chassis was the MAN 11.190 and featured a ZF gearbox and full air suspension. The bodywork was a scaled down version of the Delta.

The CityPacer and StarRider were phased out in the years after Optare purchased the design for the MCW Metrorider in July 1989, rebranding it as the Optare MetroRider. This was a larger design than the CityPacer, and more robust when compared to the StarRider. It was Optare's first venture into fully integral vehicle manufacturing, and became the mainstay of the Optare midi/minbus offering until the low floor Solo was introduced in 1997.

DAF/United Bus

In 1990, Optare joined a group called the United Bus

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