The
Scania OmniTown was a bus body sold in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
. It utilised the
Scania N94UBThe Scania N94 was a transverse-engined low-floor city bus built by Scania AB, which was a direct replacement of Scania N113.It was originally available with rigid version N94UB and articulated version N94UA, but from 2002 a double-deck version known as the N94UD also became available.The N94UD was...
chassis (not to be confused with the N94UD double-deck chassis), with
East Lancashire CoachbuildersEast Lancashire Coachbuilders Limited was a manufacturer of bus bodies and carriages founded in Blackburn in 1934.In 1994 the company expanded in to new premises and commenced a programme of development that resulted in a range of single and double deck buses which was the primary source of income...
bodywork. It is sometimes mistakenly referred to as the OmniTown chassis or the
Dennis DartThe Dennis Dart is a rear-engined midibus built by Dennis in the United Kingdom. It was the first successful Dennis product since the Dominator, with more than 11,000 built....
chassis. The confusion concerning the chassis, and indeed the buses, arises due to the complexity of the OmniTown's and other Scania products' histories.
A batch of N94UB chassis were bodied by
East LancsEast Lancashire Coachbuilders Limited was a manufacturer of bus bodies and carriages founded in Blackburn in 1934.In 1994 the company expanded in to new premises and commenced a programme of development that resulted in a range of single and double deck buses which was the primary source of income...
.
The
Scania OmniTown was a bus body sold in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
. It utilised the
Scania N94UBThe Scania N94 was a transverse-engined low-floor city bus built by Scania AB, which was a direct replacement of Scania N113.It was originally available with rigid version N94UB and articulated version N94UA, but from 2002 a double-deck version known as the N94UD also became available.The N94UD was...
chassis (not to be confused with the N94UD double-deck chassis), with
East Lancashire CoachbuildersEast Lancashire Coachbuilders Limited was a manufacturer of bus bodies and carriages founded in Blackburn in 1934.In 1994 the company expanded in to new premises and commenced a programme of development that resulted in a range of single and double deck buses which was the primary source of income...
bodywork. It is sometimes mistakenly referred to as the OmniTown chassis or the
Dennis DartThe Dennis Dart is a rear-engined midibus built by Dennis in the United Kingdom. It was the first successful Dennis product since the Dominator, with more than 11,000 built....
chassis. The confusion concerning the chassis, and indeed the buses, arises due to the complexity of the OmniTown's and other Scania products' histories.
History
A batch of N94UB chassis were bodied by
East LancsEast Lancashire Coachbuilders Limited was a manufacturer of bus bodies and carriages founded in Blackburn in 1934.In 1994 the company expanded in to new premises and commenced a programme of development that resulted in a range of single and double deck buses which was the primary source of income...
. In 2002, receiving the
MyllenniumThe East Lancs Myllennium is a type of bus body built on MAN, Volvo, DAF/VDL and Alexander Dennis chassis. It was built as a single and double deck body, with double deck bodies having slightly different names .-Single decker:...
style of bodywork, as fitted to
DAF SB220The DAF SB220 is a city bus chassis produced by DAF Bus International in the 1980s and 1990s.It has been superseded by the DAF/VDL SB200 and SB250.-United Kingdom :*Optare Delta*Ikarus Citibus*Northern Counties Paladin...
and Dennis Dart SLF chassis. These were delivered to
London EasylinkLondon Easylink was a short-lived bus operator located in London. Its base was at the Transco Gas station, on Old Kent Road. In late 2002, Easylink went into liquidation. They operated London Buses route 185 with Plaxton President-bodied Volvo B7TLs, and had just won London Buses route 42 with...
, then were transferred to
East Thames BusesEast Thames Buses was the only government owned bus operator of London Buses.In 2008, East Thames awarded their exclusive contract for bus-side advertising to Titan outdoor for five years...
as the ELS class, and were, in essence, OmniTowns, but lacked the Scania identity, the Scania badges were added later though.
The first batch of genuine OmniTowns to appear in the United Kingdom were delivered to
Nottingham City TransportNottingham City Transport is the major bus operator of the English city of Nottingham, running a comprehensive network of services in the Nottingham City area and a handful of services beyond the boundaries of the conurbation to Southwell, Loughborough, and East Midlands Airport.Until recently,...
in 2004 for use on
tramA tram, tramcar, trolley, trolleycar, or streetcar is a railborne vehicle, of lighter weight and construction than a conventional train, designed for the transport of passengers within, close to, or between villages, towns and/or cities, on tracks running primarily on streets...
feeder services. The bodywork, in common with the
OmniDekkaThe Scania OmniDekka is a double-decker bus built for sale in the UK...
, was built by East Lancs but received front and rear panels from Scania, to match the
OmniCityThe Scania OmniCity is an integrally-constructed transverse-engined low floor citybus available on the European market. The OmniCity is a complete product built in Poland by Scania AB, a company based in Sweden....
/
OmniDekkaThe Scania OmniDekka is a double-decker bus built for sale in the UK...
. The body only differed from the
East Lancs MyllenniumThe East Lancs Myllennium is a type of bus body built on MAN, Volvo, DAF/VDL and Alexander Dennis chassis. It was built as a single and double deck body, with double deck bodies having slightly different names .-Single decker:...
in terms of the front and rear panels.
In 2006, the OmniTown could temporarily be ordered with modified Esteem front and rear panels. This version is currently operating with
MetrobusMetrobus is a bus operator with routes in south and south-east London, and parts of Surrey, Kent, West and East Sussex. The company operates many routes on tender from Transport for London. Formed through a management buyout of Tillingbourne Ltd...
. The central part of the bodywork was the same as the OmniTown.
In 2007 a shortened 10.9m version of the
Scania OmniCityThe Scania OmniCity is an integrally-constructed transverse-engined low floor citybus available on the European market. The OmniCity is a complete product built in Poland by Scania AB, a company based in Sweden....
replaced the Scania OmniTown body on the N94UB chassis. Metrobus currently operate 10 of these on the
FastwayFastway is a bus rapid transit network linking Crawley with Gatwick Airport and Horley, the first to be constructed outside a major city. It uses specially adapted buses that can either be steered by the driver or operate as "self steering" guided buses along a specially constructed track...
route 100.
Styling
Although its front and rear were based on the
Scania OmniCityThe Scania OmniCity is an integrally-constructed transverse-engined low floor citybus available on the European market. The OmniCity is a complete product built in Poland by Scania AB, a company based in Sweden....
, there are slight differences between the OmniTown and OmniCity, when comparing them, the
East LancsEast Lancashire Coachbuilders Limited was a manufacturer of bus bodies and carriages founded in Blackburn in 1934.In 1994 the company expanded in to new premises and commenced a programme of development that resulted in a range of single and double deck buses which was the primary source of income...
OmniTown front (pictured above) is flatter than OmniCity's (pictured here). The OmniCity also has a lump above the windscreen.
See also
Other Scania buses sold in the UK:
- L94
The Scania L94 is a longitudinal inclined-engined bus built by Scania AB, which was a direct replacement of Scania L113. It is used widely in Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Australia...
(single decker)
- OmniCity
The Scania OmniCity is an integrally-constructed transverse-engined low floor citybus available on the European market. The OmniCity is a complete product built in Poland by Scania AB, a company based in Sweden....
(single decker)
- OmniDekka
The Scania OmniDekka is a double-decker bus built for sale in the UK...
(double decker)