The Plaxton Pointer (originally known as the Reeve Burgess Pointer, and later as the TransBus Pointer and Alexander Dennis Pointer) is a single-deck

midibus A midibus is a classification of single-decker minibuses which are generally larger than a traditional minibus but smaller than a full-size single decker and can be anywhere between and long. While used in many parts of the world, the mi ...

body that was manufactured between 1991 and 2006, predominantly on the

Dennis Dart The Dennis Dart is a Rear-engine design, rear-engined single-decker bus, single-decker midibus chassis that was introduced by Dennis Specialist Vehicles, Dennis of Guildford, England, in 1989, replacing the Dennis Domino. Initially built as a ...

chassis, by Reeve Burgess,

Plaxton Plaxton is an English builder of bus and coach vehicle bodies based in Eastfield, North Yorkshire, England. Founded in 1907 by Frederick William Plaxton, it became a subsidiary of Alexander Dennis in May 2007. In 2019, the maker was acqui ...

and latterly

Alexander Dennis Alexander Dennis is a British bus manufacturing company based in Larbert, Scotland. The largest bus and coach manufacturer in the United Kingdom, with a 50% market share in 2019, it has manufacturing plants and partnerships in Canada, China, ...

History

Pointer 1

The

chassis was launched in 1988, two years after the deregulation of the British bus industry, aimed at operators wanting to move away from van-based

minibus A minibus, microbus, or minicoach is a passenger-carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, the word "minibus" is us ...

es. Initially, the Dart chassis was only offered with Duple Dartline bodywork, however by 1991, Dennis had opened the Dart up to be bodied by other manufacturers, including

Wadham Stringer Wadham Stringer was an English ambulance and bus manufacturer. History Wadham Stringer was formed when Wadham merged with Stringer Motors in 1968. It was a distributor for Morris cars and British Leyland commercial vehicles. It also was an A ...

and Wrights of

Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 31,205 people at the 2021 United Kingdom census, making it the List of localities in Northern Ireland by population, seven ...

, through its Reeve Burgess subsidiary, launched its Pointer bodywork in 1991 for the Dennis Dart chassis, designed by Capoco Design. Reusing aluminium extrusions from previous Reeve Burgess minibuses, the Pointer was assembled with a combination of an aluminium frame, as opposed to steel, and glass fibre mouldings, projected by Plaxton to give the body a 12 to 15-year

design life The design life of a component or product is the period of time during which the item is expected by its designers to work within its specified parameters; in other words, the life expectancy of the item. Engineers follow a theory to calculate th ...

. The front of the Pointer featured a two-piece split windscreen with a full-size destination display above, and the interior, fitted out to the recommendations of the

Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee The Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (also known as "DPTAC") is an expert committee established by the Transport Act 1985, to provide advice to the government on the transport needs of disabled people. Membership of the DPTAC is m ...

(DiPTAC), featured an optional split step entrance and a gradual series of steps towards the back of the bus, capable of holding a capacity of 39 seated and 15 standing passengers. Pointer bodies on longer , and Dart chassis were later introduced by the end of 1990. At metres wide, the Pointer-bodied Dart immediately proved popular with bus operators large and small across the United Kingdom, with Southampton Citybus taking delivery of the first example and

London Regional Transport London Regional Transport (LRT) was the organisation responsible for most of the public transport network in London, England, between 1984 and 2000. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operation ...

ordering 52 Pointer-bodied Darts for its subsidiaries upon the body's launch. Although a handful of Pointer Darts were built by Reeve Burgess in their

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

factory, production of the Pointer mainly took place at Plaxton's

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

factory due to demand outstripping Reeve Burgess' manufacturing capacity. Eventually, the Reeve Burgess nameplate was dropped, with the bus being sold as the Plaxton Pointer. The Plaxton Pointer was also sold on the

Volvo B6 The Volvo B6 was a engined midibus chassis manufactured by Volvo between 1991 and 1999. It was also available as the low-entry Volvo B6LE. History In the United Kingdom, the B6 competed in the midibus market with the Dennis Dart, and with the ...

chassis, launched in the United Kingdom market in 1992. This body and chassis combination did not prove as popular as the Pointer on Dart chassis, however the Pointer-bodied B6 was received well by some UK bus operators, including

Mainline Buses South Yorkshire Transport (SYT) was a bus operator that provided services around South Yorkshire and outlying areas. The company was formed as an 'arms-length' successor of the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE) in 1986, whi ...

1995 facelift

The introduction of the Super

Low Floor Low or LOW or lows, may refer to: People * Low (surname) Low is an English language, English and Languages of Scotland, Scottish surname. It is also a common surname found among Overseas Chinese language, Chinese communities around the world. ...

(SLF) version of the Dennis Dart in 1995, followed by the launch of the

Volvo B6LE The Volvo B6 was a engined midibus chassis manufactured by Volvo between 1991 and 1999. It was also available as the low-entry Volvo B6LE. History In the United Kingdom, the B6 competed in the midibus market with the Dennis Dart, and with the ...

, saw the Pointer body receive a facelift, being widened to and having the split-step entrance replaced with a step-free entrance featuring an electric

wheelchair ramp A wheelchair ramp is an inclined plane installed in addition to or instead of stairway, stairs. Ramps permit wheelchair users, as well as people pushing strollers, carts, or other wheeled objects, to more easily access a building, or navigate b ...

. The facelifted Pointer 1 was aimed to be more curved than its predecessor, receiving a rounded roof dome and double-curvature windscreen, as well as having the headlights moved lower down the front panel. The first examples were delivered to CentreWest Buses following its launch at the Coach & Bus '95 expo, with

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

Exports

The first-generation Plaxton Pointer on Dennis and Volvo chassis received a number of export orders to some

right-hand drive Left-hand traffic (LHT) and right-hand traffic (RHT) are the practices, in bidirectional traffic, of keeping to the left side or to the right side of the road, respectively. They are fundamental to traffic flow, and are sometimes called the ...

markets. In Hong Kong, air-conditioned Pointers proved highly popular with Citybus, taking delivery of 21 step-entrance Darts and 15 Dart SLFs, as well as 20 on Volvo B6LE chassis.

Kowloon Motor Bus The Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited (KMB) is a bus company operating Bus services in Hong Kong, franchised services in Hong Kong. It is the largest bus company in Hong Kong by fleet size and number of bus routes, with over 4,000 buses ...

, meanwhile, took delivery of two Pointers on Dart SLF chassis in 1996, followed by the delivery of a further ten in 1997, and Pointer bodied Dart SLFs were also delivered to Discovery Bay Transportation Services and New Lantao Bus during 1997. Macau municipal bus operator Transmac, meanwhile, took delivery of 10 dual-doored Pointers on step-entrance Dart chassis in 1995, while two Pointer-bodied Dart SLFs with Eaton six-speed

manual transmission A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canadian English, Canada, British English, the United Kingdom and American English, the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed ...

s were delivered to Paramount Garage of Malta in 1997.

Pointer 2

In August 1997, Plaxton launched the Pointer 2, a complete redesign of the original Pointer bodywork on , , Dennis Dart SLF chassis. Designed by Ogle Design, the Pointer 2 received a new, more rounded front end featuring a revised headlight arrangement, adding of length to the new body, although the split windscreen was maintained to be interchangeable with the Pointer 1. The rear of the bus featured a new set of brake and indicator lights placed towards the roofline, while the roof-mounted air intake was moved into the nearside upper rear panels, and the rear ventilation above the engine cover was replaced with a mesh grille. Double-glazed bonded windows were made available as an option, and black covers around the wheel arches were also introduced. Made available for general purchase on the Dart SLF chassis from 1 January 1998, the first production examples of the Pointer 2 were delivered to FirstBus operators Bristol City Line,

First Greater Manchester First Greater Manchester is a bus operator in Greater Manchester. It is a subsidiary of the FirstGroup, operating franchised Bee Network bus services on contract to Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM). The operator was once dominant in the n ...

and

Badgerline Badgerline was a bus operator in and around Bristol from 1985 until 2003. Its headquarters were in Weston-super-Mare. Initially a part of the Bristol Omnibus Company, it was privatised in September 1986 and sold to Badgerline Holdings in a man ...

, with further orders upon being received by MTL North,

Tellings-Golden Miller Tellings-Golden Miller is a charter coach operator in England. It was a subsidiary of Arriva twice previously, but once again has returned to family ownership. The company is now a subsidiary of Falcon Buses based in Byfleet, Surrey. History G ...

, Durham Travel Services, Metrobus and

Metroline Metroline is a bus operator operating primarily in Greater London and partially in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire. It is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro and operates bus services for London Buses under contract to Transport for Lon ...

. The Pointer 2 also became the

Stagecoach Group Stagecoach Group is a transport group based in Perth, Scotland. It operates buses and express coaches in the United Kingdom. Stagecoach was originally founded in 1976 as ''Gloagtrotter'', a recreational vehicle and minibus hire business. Dur ...

's standard low-floor single-deck midibus, with numerous examples delivered to Stagecoach subsidiaries across the United Kingdom, including a £5.6 million () order for 75 in August 2005 as part of a major fleet replacement programme shortly after the group's purchase of

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

independent

Glenvale Transport Glenvale Transport (GTL) was a bus company that operated services in Liverpool between July 2001 and July 2005. History Formation During the Bus deregulation in the United Kingdom, privatisation of the National Bus Company (UK), National Bus ...

. Shortly after launching the standard Pointer 2, Plaxton launched the longer "Super Pointer Dart" (SPD) body variant for the Dart SLF chassis at the Coach & Bus '97 expo, seating 41 passengers and marketed by Plaxton to compete with other full-sized

single-deck bus A single-decker bus or rigid 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 is essent ...

es. The SPD Pointer was followed in 2000 by the "Mini Pointer Dart" (MPD) variant on the chassis. A single Pointer 2 delivered to

Arriva North East Arriva North East operates both local and regional bus services in County Durham, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear, England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus, which operates bus and coach services across the United Kingdom. ...

in 2003 was also built on an experimental Blue Bird LFCC9 chassis. With the collapse of TransBus in 2004 and subsequent restructuring by the

administrators Administrator or admin may refer to: Job roles Computing and internet * Database administrator, a person who is responsible for the environmental aspects of a database * Forum administrator, one who oversees discussions on an Internet forum * N ...

, Plaxton and Alexander Dennis were sold to different parties. As Pointer production had been transferred to the former Alexander plant at

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

, it became an Alexander Dennis product. Plaxton, once again an independent company, signalled its return to the bus market by developing the

Centro Centro may refer to: Places Brazil *Centro, Santa Maria, a neighborhood in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * Centro, Porto Alegre, a neighborhood of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * Centro (Duque de Caxias), a neighborhood of Du ...

on VDL and

MAN A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy. Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the f ...

chassis in 2005 to join its Primo low-floor

in competition with the Pointer. The Pointer Dart was eventually discontinued following the launch of its successor, the

Alexander Dennis Enviro200 The Alexander Dennis Enviro200 (previously known as the TransBus Enviro200) is a midibus that was manufactured by TransBus International and later Alexander Dennis between 2003 and 2018. The original TransBus Enviro200 design was innovative but ...

Concept 2000

In 1998, the Mayflower Group, owner of Alexander Coachbuilders, took over

Dennis Dennis or Denis is a first or last name from the Greco-Roman name Dionysius, via one of the Christian saints named Dionysius. The name came from Dionysus, the Greek god of ecstatic states, particularly those produced by wine, which is some ...

. The future of the Pointer at that time appeared uncertain as it was thought the Dart may be solely bodied by Alexander, and as a result,

built two Pointer bodies on the Volvo B6BLE chassis known as the Concept 2000. The project, however, was scrapped when Mayflower also purchased Plaxton, forming TransBus International. Certain design features of the scrapped Concept 2000 project have since been used on other designs, most notably the

Alexander Dennis Enviro300 The Alexander Dennis Enviro300 (previously known as the TransBus Enviro300) is a light-weight full-size single-decker bus that was built by Alexander Dennis and its predecessor TransBus International between 2001 and 2015. The design was the fi ...

and Enviro500.

Exports

Like the original Pointer, air-conditioned Pointer 2 bodied Dart SLFs proved popular with Hong Kong bus operators. Following the awarding of

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island () is an island in the southern part of Hong Kong. The island, known originally and on road signs simply as "Hong Kong", had a population of 1,289,500 and a population density of , . It is the second largest island in Hong Kon ...

's franchised bus services to

New World First Bus New World First Bus Services Limited (NWFB) was the third-largest bus operator in Hong Kong. Established by NWS Holdings and FirstGroup in September 1998, it took over 88 China Motor Bus services in Hong Kong Island. From 2020 until its merge ...

by the government in 1998, the operator took delivery of a total 76 Pointer 2 bodied Dart SLFs between 1998 and 1999 for use on the new network; some of these were later sold to Kowloon Motor Bus as surplus to requirements. Hong Kong's first Super Pointer Darts were delivered to Park Island Passenger Transport, all of which were painted yellow and equipped with luggage racks. Eight were first delivered in 2003, these being the only Pointer Darts for Hong Kong produced by TransBus, followed by three produced by Alexander Dennis in 2007. The final two Plaxton Pointers produced were delivered to Park Island Passenger Transport in 2008. A small number of Pointer 2s were also exported to

left-hand drive Left-hand traffic (LHT) and right-hand traffic (RHT) are the practices, in bidirectional traffic, of keeping to the left side or to the right side of the road, respectively. They are fundamental to traffic flow, and are sometimes called the ' ...

markets. The largest of these was Canadian provincial bus operator

BC Transit BC Transit is a provincial Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation responsible for coordinating the delivery of public transportation within British Columbia, Canada, outside Greater Vancouver. BC Transit is headquartered in Victoria, Bri ...

, who took delivery of 90 air-conditioned Pointer 2s on Dart SLF chassis between 1999 and 2001 for lower-density routes in and around Whistler,

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

and the wider

Lower Mainland The Lower Mainland is a geographic and cultural region of the mainland coast of British Columbia that generally comprises the regional districts of Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. Home to approximately 3.05million people as of the 2021 ...

region. Two Pointer 2 bodied Dart SLFs were also supplied to Icelandic operator Hagvagnar in 1999 for use on

Strætó bs Strætó () is a public transport company which operates bus, city buses in the Capital Region (Iceland), Icelandic capital region, including Reykjavík and its surrounding towns. Strætó also manages rural Coach service, coach services for most ...

services.

References

External links

*
Alexander Dennis product description
{{Plaxton Pointer Full-size buses Low-floor buses Midibuses Pointer Vehicles introduced in 1991

History

Pointer 1

1995 facelift

Exports

Pointer 2

Concept 2000

Exports

See also

References

External links