The Wright SRM (Son of Route MasterSon of Routemaster
''Bus & Coach Buyer'' 22 March 2016) is a twin-axle

double-decker bus A double-decker bus or double-deck bus is a bus that has two storeys or decks. They are used for mass transport in the United Kingdom, the United States, New Zealand, Europe, Asia and also in cities such as Sydney; the best-known example is the ...

body manufactured 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 ...

in 2016, designed for the

Volvo B5LH The Volvo B5LH (initially known as the Volvo B5L Hybrid, also known as the Volvo BRLH) is a low-floor hybrid electric bus chassis for both single-decker buses and double-decker buses manufactured by Volvo Buses, Volvo since 2008. It is the basis ...

and Volvo B5LHC hybrid chassis. The design is based on the

New Routemaster The New Routemaster, originally referred to as the New Bus for London and colloquially as the Borismaster or Boris Bus, is a low-floor Diesel fuel, diesel double-decker bus operated in London, England. Designed by Heatherwick Studio and manufa ...

, sharing the majority of body panels up to the rear quarter section but having no second staircase or third door. It was designed with provincial bus operators in mind, rather than being exclusively for bus operators in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

.London launch for new Wrightbus SRM on Volvo B5LH
''Bus & Coach Professional'' 18 March 2016Volvo B5LH Wrightbus SRM: SRM appears wright on cue
''Route One'' 23 March 2016 Despite this, all those produced have only been used in London.

Design

The Wright SRM is styled like the New Routemaster with a tall wrap-around windscreen, a separately mounted

destination display A destination sign (North American English) or destination indicator/destination blind (British English) is a sign mounted on the front, side or rear of a public transport vehicle, such as a bus, tram/streetcar or light rail vehicle, that dis ...

, an upper deck double-curvature windscreen and an arched roof - however Transport for London (TfL) have had no involvement with designing the Wright SRM. The first six Volvo B5LHs entered service with

London Sovereign London Sovereign is a bus company in North London. It is a subsidiary of RATP Dev Transit London and operates buses under contract to Transport for London. Company history London Sovereign can trace its roots back to independent Borehamwood ...

on route 13 in September 2016. They were transferred to route 183 in April 2017 owing to a boarding problem.

Orders

A further two were completed to TfL specifications on Volvo B5LHC chassis in 2016. One was sent to

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 ...

in Sweden. Both commenced a trial with

London Central London Central is a bus company operating in South London. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group and operates services under contract to Transport for London. History London Central commenced operating on 1 April 1989 when London Buse ...

on route 37 in 2018.Go-Ahead starts using opp-charged Volvos in London ''Buses'' issue 762 September 2018 page 7 The only SRMs produced were built in 2016, at the time of the model's launch. The model remained available for order right up until Wrightbus entered

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...

in 2019, although no further examples were built.

References

External links

{{Wrightbus, state=collapsed Double-decker buses Low-floor buses Vehicles introduced in 2016 SRM