The

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 ...

B12BLE is a low-entry

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

and suburban bus chassis launched in 2001 with a rear-mounted transverse engine. It superseded the Volvo B10BLE and is used as a base for single-decker buses in Europe and Australia. The B12BLE features the 12-litre Volvo DH12 engine, which is based on the D12 engine from

Volvo FH The Volvo FH is a heavy truck range manufactured by the Swedish company Volvo Trucks. It was originally introduced in late 1993 as the FH12 and FH16. FH stands for Forward control High entry, where numbers denominate engine capacity in litres. Th ...

trucks. The DH12D engine meets Euro 3 emission level, and DH12E meets levels 4 and 5 with SCR technology. The engine is mounted horizontally, as it was in the B10BLE. The radiator is mounted at the rear on the right-hand side. From its launch in 2001 until 2005, it was available with the Euro 3 DH12D engine and ZF Ecomat2 &

Voith The Voith Group is a German manufacturer of machines for the pulp and paper industry, technical equipment for hydropower plants and drive and braking systems. The family-owned company, which operates worldwide and has its headquarters in Heid ...

D864.3E automatic transmissions. From 2004/2005, the B12BLE was available with an updated electrical system. Available transmissions were 6-speed ZF 6HP602C, Voith DIWA864.3E and the Volvo I-Shift In 2006 the chassis was updated with DH12E engine and ZF Ecomat4 /

D864.5 transmissions to meet Euro 4 & 5 emission standards. The B12BLE was also available in the

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 ...

form since 2005, which is known as the B12BLEA chassis. The B12BLE can be available in the rigid, tri-axle and

form. The B12BLE is also available as a complete integral bus in Europe - the Volvo 8500LE and Volvo 8700LE.

Australia

Numerous public transport operators in Australia operate copious amounts of the B12BLE, either in its Euro III or Euro IV and Euro V guises. The Volvo B12BLEA was conceptualised for the State Transit Authority of Sydney, Australia because the B7LA was too underpowered for many of Sydney's bus routes due to the hilly terrain. The world's first B12BLEA entered service with State Transit Authority of Sydney in late 2005. State Transit Authority has placed an order for 80 B12BLEA articulated buses, and they will be assembled with Custom Coaches bodywork. The custom buses are powered by the 12-litre Volvo DH12 diesel engine with 6-speed ZF 6HP602C and 6HP604C automatic transmission. State Transit Authority also ordered additional B12BLEA's in the Volgren CR228L body. The Volgren bodied buses are mostly seen running the high capacity Metrobus service. Most of the buses are built in Volgren's Tomago factory while the rest were built in Dandenong. The Volvo B12BLE also come in a 12.5m configuration in Custom Coaches bodied CB60 and CB60 Evo 2 bodies. Volgren 12.5m variants were also ordered in both 12.5m and 14.5m bodies both Euro 5 compliant. The 12.5m Custom Coaches CB60 are Euro 3 complaint while the newer CB60 Evo 2 bodied buses are Euro 5 complaint. In October 2013, 20 B12BLEA's were transferred to new operator

Transit Systems Sydney Transit Systems NSW, previously known as Transit Systems Sydney, is a bus operator in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is a subsidiary of Transit Systems. History In November 2012, Transit Systems was awarded a contract by Transport for ...

who took over Region 3. In 2011,

Transperth Transperth is the brand name of the public transport system serving the city and suburban areas of Perth, the state capital of Western Australia. It is managed by the Public Transport Authority (PTA), a state government organisation. Train op ...

ordered 30 Volvo B12BLEAs. They were to be assembled with Volgren CR228L bodywork.

Transport for Brisbane Transport for Brisbane, previously called Brisbane Transport'','' is an organisational division of the Brisbane City Council, responsible through its related Council Committee for providing policy and advice to Brisbane City Council, and for de ...

purchased 119 B12BLEs in 2011 (with a further 30 in 2013), all of them are tri-axle. These are used on several high-frequency bus routes, mostly on the

South East Busway The South East Busway is a grade separated bus-only road running south from the Brisbane central business district to Eight Mile Plains in Queensland, Australia. The busway was completed to Woolloongabba in September 2000 and to Eight Mile P ...

. Most of the B12BLE chassis that go to Australia are bodied by Australian companies such as

Custom Coaches Custom Bus (previously Custom Coaches) is an Australian bus body builder in St Marys, New South Wales. History Cycle Components Manufacturing Company In 1935 Stanley Hillsdon founded Cycle Components Manufacturing Company (CCMC) in Guildford, ...

Volgren Volgren is an Australian bus and coach body manufacturer. History Volvo Buses, VolGrenda Corporation, gren was formed in 1977 by Melbourne bus operator Grenda Corporation in Dandenong, Victoria. Because Grenda held the Volvo Buses dealership i ...

and

Bustech BusTech Group is an Australian bus-building manufacturer with production facilities in Burleigh Heads, Queensland, Edinburgh Adelaide, South Australia and Burnie, Tasmania. BusTech Group produces fully built up integral route buses, school buse ...

B12BLE

File:Sunbus Volvo B12BLE with Bustech VST body.jpg, Sunbus Bustech VST bodied Volvo B12BLE File:Hopkinsons (mo 4979) Custom Coaches 'CB80' bodied Volvo B12BLE at Liverpool Interchange (1).jpg, Hopkinsons Custom Coaches 'CB80' bodied Volvo B12BLE Westrans 6510AO.jpg, Westrans Volgren CR228L bodied Volvo B12BLE

B12BLEA

File:Sydney Buses (mo 1687) Custom Coaches 'CB60' bodied Volvo B12BLEA at Railway Square.jpg, Sydney buses Custom Coaches 'CB60' bodied Volvo B12BLEA File:2109ST-M30-B.jpg, Metrobus Custom Coaches "CB60 Evo II" bodied Volvo B12BLEA Euro V File:Volvo B12BLEA TP3020 (cropped).jpg, Transperth Volgren CR228L bodied Volvo B12BLEA

Singapore

Two Volvo B12BLEAs are operated by

Sentosa Sentosa Island, known mononymously as Sentosa, and formerly ''Pulau Belakang Mati'', is an island located off the southern coast of Singapore's main island. The island is separated from the main island of Singapore by a channel of water, the K ...

under the guise of a beach tram running on the island's Siloso Beach Tram route. The rear module of the bus consists of a large, sheltered standing area with an al-fresco seating area on the elevated part of the bus where the drive axle is. The buses are bodied by ComfortDelGro Engineering Corporation and are speed-limited for safety reasons. The vehicles were in Purple Livery.

End of production

The sales of the B12BLE ceased in Europe in 2011, with the last B12BLE bus production order taking place in Transport for Brisbane (Australia) in 2013. It was superseded by the Volvo B9RLE and subsequentially the Volvo B8RLE.

References

External links

Product description in Volvo's official website

{{Volvo Buses B12BLE Low-entry buses Tri-axle buses Articulated buses Bus chassis Vehicles introduced in 2001