The Scania OmniLink is a series of integrally constructed rear longitudinal-engined low-entry

city bus A transit bus (also big bus, commuter bus, city bus, town bus, urban bus, stage bus, public bus, public transit bus, or simply bus) is a type of bus used in public transport bus services. Several configurations are used, including low-fl ...

es available on the European market. It is a complete integral product built by

Scania Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...

of Sweden. The OmniLink was launched in 1998 with an inclined engine and was designated CL94UB, and an articulated version was designated CL94UA. But when the Euro IV version was introduced in 2006, the engine was no longer tilted and the designation changed to CK230UB/CK270UB/CK310UB/CK320UB for the rigid version. The OmniLink's floor raises at the rear section when compared to the flat-floored OmniCity. Production of the OmniLink ceased in 2013. It was superseded by the Scania Citywide LE for left-hand drive markets and Irizar i3-bodied Scania K UBs for

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.

Operators

Initially, the OmniLink was only produced in left-hand drive configurations for the Continental European market. OmniLinks were sold in large numbers to various

Arriva Arriva Ltd. is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England. The company was originally established on 24 October 1938 as T Cowie Ltd. Initially focused on the sale of motorcycles, it relaunched shortl ...

subsidiaries across Europe such as Arriva Danmark, and a total 140 OmniLinks were also sold for service in

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

in Russia by 2005, where a factory producing Scania products was formerly located. Six

ethanol Ethanol (also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol, with its formula also written as , or EtOH, where Et is the ps ...

-fuelled OmniLink hybrid

fuel cell bus A fuel cell bus is a bus that uses a hydrogen fuel cell as its power source for Electric motor, electrically driven wheels, sometimes augmented in a Hybrid power, hybrid fashion with batteries or a supercapacitor. The only emission from the bus is ...

es entered service with Swebus in 2009 on a two-year trial period in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

United Kingdom and Ireland

From 2006, right-hand drive OmniLinks for the United Kingdom and Ireland were produced, with the first three right-hand drive models on tri-axle chassis being delivered to Nottingham City Transport in 2007. Nottingham City Transport also trialled 3 ethanol hybrid-fuelled OmniLinks, which were used on EcoLink 30, from Nottingham to Wollaton; the trial was not a success, and the buses were later converted back to diesel.

National Express West Midlands National Express West Midlands (NXWM) is bus operator in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. It is a subsidiary of Mobico Group (formerly National Express Group) and is the largest bus operator in the region, as well as one of ...

and National Express Dundee were the most significant operator of right-hand drive OmniLinks, taking delivery of a total of 180 two-axle OmniLinks between 2008 and 2010. Fifteen of these were initially delivered to the

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

operation, but these would be later transferred to the West Midlands operation.

Bus Éireann Bus Éireann (; "Irish Bus") is a state-owned bus and coach operator providing services throughout Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with the exception of Dublin, where bus services are provided by sister company Dublin Bus. It is a subsidiary of C ...

, meanwhile, purchased 25 OmniLinks for service in Cork, while Arriva Midlands purchased nineteen to upgrade fleets in Tamworth and

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

Brighton & Hove Brighton and Hove ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority area, ceremonially in East Sussex, England. There are multiple villages alongside the seaside resorts of Brighton and Hove in the district. It is administe ...

purchased seven, and two were delivered to Johnsons Excelbus. Nine K270UB tri-axles were delivered to Stagecoach in Fife for use on an Express City Connect service between

Dunfermline Dunfermline (; , ) is a city, parish, and former royal burgh in Fife, Scotland, from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. Dunfermline was the de facto capital of the Kingdom of Scotland between the 11th and 15th centuries. The earliest ...

and

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

in October 2007, three of which would later be transferred to Stagecoach North East for similar express work.

References

External links

{{Scania AB, state=collapsed OmniLink Hybrid electric buses Low-entry buses Articulated buses Tri-axle buses Vehicles introduced in 1998