Chapter 20: British Double Deckers
by John Veerkamp1. Introduction
Red double-deckers have been London's trade mark for almost a century, and in fact the double-deck bus is justifiably associated with the British Isles. Even at the beginning of the 21st century the double-deck bus is still prominently present in many British fleets, though articulated buses are starting to have an impact in the high capacity market. In few other countries substantial numbers of double-deckers are still employed as buses, though in continental Europe, Australia, Brazil and Argentina they have gained importance as long distance coaches. Berlin, Dublin, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dhaka, Baghdad and a few Chinese and Indian cities still employ double-deckers on urban services. Vancouver and Copenhagen have recently been added to this list with a small fleet of modern British built vehicles. But other European towns that had a long tradition of double-deckers have abandoned them in favor of longer single deckers and articulated buses. A fairly new market segment for the double-decker outside the UK has become the sightseeing service, though mostly secondhand vehicles are used. Often these have been transformed into "open top" vehicles. Many can also be found in "historic fleets" and are used for special occasions.British buses have been described by enthusiasts and experts in much detail, but for non-Brits it often remains difficult to get an overview of the various makes, models and types used on the British Isles. As virtually all double-deckers are built as body on chassis vehicles, there are a large number of different combinations. Hence this effort, that will start in this update with a random selection of double-deckers in Great Britain and Ireland and a short overview of their builders since around 1950.
The use of double-deck buses in Great Britain was the result of a London police order forbidding trailers behind trams as they were thought to be dangerous. So the companies started to "put the trailer on the roof", a practice continued with motor buses. In continental Europe trailers were allowed behind trams so the need for double-deckers to increase capacity was not felt as much. In the US generous street layouts in the new cities permitted the use of larger trams than in Europe, omitting both the need for double-deckers and trailers. In general, British regulation concerning vehicle lengths have lagged behind continental European legislation, which was another reason for continued double-decker use to increase capacity. Even today most double-deckers are in the category of 10.5 to 10.9 meters.
2. Traditional front-engine double-deckers (until 1968)
The first double-deckers, introduced at the beginning of the 20th century, had an open top, sometimes with a canvas roof, and an open staircase at the rear end. Around 1920 roof and staircase became enclosed, leading to the vehicle with a front engine and most often an open rear platform with a single staircase. At first the driver's compartment was still open, but as soon as police regulations permitted this was also enclosed. While frames were initially made of wood, metal frames took over during the 1930's. Many improvements were made regarding the quality of the engines and technical components, but the typical British double-decker for a long time remained the "half cab", with the driver sitting in his small cab on the right hand side of the engine. The notable exception was the mid-1930's AEC Q-type which had a center offside engine, but in its double-deck form only a few prototypes were built. With its full front and low floor the Q-type had a modern appearance. Double-deck trolleybuses, popular in the UK during the 1930's and 1940's also were of a fundamental different construction with low floors and appeared more modern than other contemporary buses. After the Second World War diesel engines took over rapidly.
With standard double-deckers the overall height of the vehicles posed a problem. Many low bridges made the use of lower vehicles necessary. This was done by using an offset sunken gangway on the upper deck which, combined with a central gangway on the lower deck, permitting just enough roof height for standing passengers on the lower deck. The vehicles were called "low-bridge", the normal ones "high-bridge".
Various builders were on this market after the Second World War. Leyland had its Titan, modernized as the PD-models, AEC had the Regent, first produced in 1929, Guy called its double-decker the Arab, Daimler had the CG-models and Bristol the K-type. These models were built until around 1968. Other traditional models made by Dennis, Foden and Crossley disappeared already during the 1950's. One bus company, Birmingham & Midland Motor Omnibus Company Ltd. (BMMO - "Midland Red") built its own double-decker since 1944, though only small numbers were produced. From the mid 1950's many double-deckers received a more modern look as they received a front end with concealed radiator. But even until the very end of the traditional front-engine double-decker the half cab model with exposed radiator remained in production.
3. Modern front-engine double-deckers (195x-1968)
Special mention must of course be made of the famous Routemaster. London had influenced many vehicle designs for years. Beginning of the 1950's it developed together with AEC a new doubledecker, which would become the famous Routemaster. This bus still retained the front engine-rear entrance layout. A total of 2876 were built between 1954 and 1968. Even in 2003 numerous of these now some 40 years old vehicles can be found in London! During the 1950's Bristol was the first to develop a new vehicle which omitted the problematic low-bridge design by offsetting the gearbox to the side and using a drop-center rear axle. The model was called the Lodekka ("low-decker"). Because Bristol was by then part of the nationalized bus industry it was only allowed to sell to nationalized companies. As there was interest from other operators for the Lodekka, it licensed Dennis to built the model as the Loline. Leyland modernized its traditional double-decker as the Titan PD3, offering a version with a low floor as the Lowlander, sold in Scotland under the Albion brand name.
AEC developed the Bridgemaster to the same layout as the Bristol Lodekka. It was built from 1957-1962 as an integral vehicle, but just 179 were built. It shared many components with the traditional Regent V rather than with the London Routermaster, which was developed at the same time. The Bridgemaster was replaced by the Renown that was similar but was built as a body on chassis vehicle. It was produced until 1968 and sold hardly better than the Bridgemaster.
Birmingham & Midland Motor Omnibus Company Ltd. (BMMO - "Midland Red") built a new modern integral double-decker, called the D9, from 1959-1966. Like the Routemaster it was an operator-designed vehicle that combined a traditional layout with modern mechanical components. A total of 344 were built.
The Bristol Lodekka, Dennis Loline, BMMO D9, AEC Routemaster, Bridgemaster and Renown all retained the traditional layout with the first axle placed at the very front of the vehicle with the engine over it, a high half-cab driver position and either a rear platform entrance or a door placed between the axles. Guy, however, developed an innovative new vehicle, the Wulfranian, with a front engine but a set-back front axle and the door placed in front of the axle. The vehicle thus would be suitable for one-man operation, though legally this was still impossible. Unfortunately Guy included too many new features and components in one vehicle and it plagued with problems. Only 137 were built from 1959 until 1965.
The demise of this traditional model started when the rear-engine double-deckers were developed by the end of the 1950's. The introduction of OMO (One-Man Operation) by 1966 further favored the rear-engine front-entrance type. The final end for the traditional front engine double-decker came in 1968, as only rear-engine vehicles qualified for bus grants, which then amounted to 25% of the vehicle price, later increasing to 50%.
4. Rear-engine and other modern double-deckers (1960-2000)
Beginning of the 1950's Leyland started experimenting with a new double-decker with a low floor and a rear engine. This resulted in the successful "Atlantean", of which some 15,000 were built from 195x until 1986, of course with many detail improvements over time. Daimler followed with the similar "Fleetline" in 1960, of which some 12,000 were built until 1981, though these were sold as the Leyland Fleetline from 1975 onwards. Given the success of these models, Bristol had to follow and developed the "VR" (Vertical Rear engine) as a prototype with a longitudinal rear engine in 1966. The series production became the VRT, with a transversal rear engine, similar to the Atlantean and Fleetline and was built from 1969 until 1981, with a total production of over 4,500. By the mid 1960's, Guy and AEC had been absorbed by Leyland and did not develop new double-deckers. Dennis and Foden had played a rather marginal role after the war and phased out bus production altogether. The success of the front entrance double-decker was also due to the introduction of one-person-operation, which required a passenger flow passed the driver.
Bus company BMMO, mentioned above, built two interesting double-deckers of their model D10 in 1960-1961. These had an underfloor engine, mounted to the side of the chassis and a modern appearance with the front door mounted ahead of the front axle.
London Transport had one AEC Routemaster built to a rear-engine front-door layout in 1966, the FRM class. However, they then switched to the Daimler Fleetline DMS class and the FRM remained unique.
MCW, another bus builder, teamed up with Scania and developed the MCW Metropolitan based on the Scania BR111 chassis from 1974 until 1978. When MCW started using other subframes, Scania withdrew and MCW continued with the Metropolitan as an integral bus, building some 5000 vehicles between 1978 and 1989. A 3-axle version was built for Hong Kong. A small number of the 3-axle version were sold in the UK for express services and received a modified coach type bodywork. These were called Metroliners. Though quite successful for a while, MCW ended bus production in 1989. After withdrawing from the agreement with MCW, small numbers of Scania chassis were built up by other body builders. From 1980 until 1983 this was the BR112D, but less than 30 were sold. In 1989 Scania re-entered the UK market with the N113 chassis, of which over 600 were sold until 2000.
Another newcomer was Volvo, who's truck import partner in Scotland set up a factory and introduced the Volvo-Ailsa B55 in 1974. Interestingly this was a front engine vehicle though with a low floor and front entrance before the front axle. The Volvo-Ailsa was discontinued in 1984. For a while Volvo then sold double-deck buses built on its popular B10M underfloor engine chassis. The "sandwiched" engine made it possible to built a vehicle that just remained inside the permissible height. Leyland competed for a short while with the Volvo B10M by introducing its own underfloor-engine double-deck chassis called the Lion, but only 32 were sold between 1986 and 1989.
An export only vehicle was the Leyland Victory, based on the old Guy Victory chassis. It was used for double-deckers in South Africa (Cape Town) and Hong Kong.
Leyland absorbed both Daimler and Bristol in the 1970's and found itself with three similar double-deckers. Those were to be replaced by a new modern integrally built model, the "Titan", largely developed by Bristol and built in its former plant. The prototype vehicles, B15, were built in 1975-1977, series production commenced in 1979. Over 1100 were built, most for London Transport, until 1984. The model was plagued by production problems and operators outside London showed little interest in the integrally built vehicle. It was replaced by a body on chassis version, called the Olympian, of which production had already started in 1981. This vehicle was very successful in the UK and Hong Kong, with over 10,000 produced.
A futile attempt to enter the double-decker market was made by Foden, who had left the bus market already during the 1950's. Together with body builder Northern Counties the rear-engine Foden NC was developed, but only six were built between 1976 and 1978.
Deregulation, privatization and the abolishment of the bus grant scheme during the 1980's meant that bus sales in Britain plummeted, finally leading to the demise of Leyland. The company was split up and in 1988 the truck division was sold to DAF of the Netherlands, and the bus division to Volvo of Sweden. Volvo continued to produce the Olympian double-decker under the Volvo name until 1996, only recently replacing it with a completely new low-floor chassis, the Volvo B7TL.
The bus division of DAF was split-off and became part of United Bus in 1990, together with Optare of the UK, DAB of Denmark, Ramseier & Jenzer of Switzerland, and BOVA and Den Oudsten of the Netherlands. The collaboration between DAF and Optare led to the introduction of the DAF SB250 double-decker with Optare Spectra bodywork. This was the first partly low-floor double-decker and set the standard for future developments.
Another company that profited from the new situation was Dennis, which had taken up double-decker production again in 1977 with the "Dominator" rear-engine chassis for the domestic market and the front-engine Jubilant for the export market. The successful 3-axle export version of the Dominator, called the Dragon, was introduced in 1982. Less successful was the Falcon, of which only 6 were bodied as doubled-deckers. The Dominator was followed by the Arrow, based on the single deck Lance chassis, in 1996, as an interim chassis before the introduction of the full low-floor Trident II in 1999. The 3-axle low-floor export double-decker Trident III, mainly aimed at the Hong Kong market, was already introduced in 1997. After the take-over of Leyland, Volvo Dennis has managed to take over the leading position as bus builder in the UK. It was bought by the Mayflower Group.
IVECO had one Italian built Fiat Eurorider 480.12.21 chassis bodied by Alexander as a double-decker in 1991, but lack of interest prevented series production. The bus is still in regular use however.
A newcomer was Optare. This company started in 1985 after management had bought the Roe bus body factory from Leyland. The first vehicles were Leyland Olympian with bodies to the Roe design. In 1990 Optare bought the design of the MCW Metrobus, but its own double-decker, the Optare Spectra, based on the DAF DB250 underframe, was a completely new vehicle that became quite successful. From 1990 to 1993 Optare was part of the United Bus group, which failed in 1993, though all partners survived independently. In 2001 Optare was sold to NABI (North American Bus Industries) in Hungary.
5. Low Floor Double-Deckers (end 1990's)
Low-floor buses started appearing during the 1990's, with low-floor double-deckers being introduced a few years later and becoming the standard from the end of the 1990's onwards. Four chassis builders offer low-floor double-deckers: DAF (now VDL-Bus), Dennis (now Transbus), Volvo and Scania.
The semi-low floor DAF DB250 set the standard when it was introduced in 1990, in collaboration with Optare. Some modifications by the end of the 1990's made it into a full low-floor vehicle. The name of the company changed to VDL-BUS in September 2003, clearly identifying the parent company to which Berkhof, Berkhof-Heerenveen, Jonckheere, Kusters, and BOVA also belong. DAF Bus had already been split off from DAF Trucks before the United Bus adventure and was saved by VDL after the failure of United Bus. DAF Trucks itself was bought by Paccar from the US in 1994.
Dennis introduced a full low-floor double-decker, the 3-axle Trident II, destined for the Hong Kong market in 1997. A shorter, 2-axle version has been offered in the UK since 1999. Dennis has become so successful in the British bus market that it is now is the largest player, ahead of Volvo. Dennis and bus body builders Plaxton, Plaxton-Wigan (the former Northern Counties factory) and Alexander now are part of the same consortium, Mayflower. In 2003 the three names were replaced and all vehicles are now called Transbus.
Volvo introduced its low-floor chassis, the B7TL, in 1999, finally having a good replacement for the Olympian. After around 500 were produced in Irvine, Scotland, production was moved to Sweden in 2000. Most B7TL can be found in London and Dublin.
Scania introduced a low-floor version based on its new Omnicity and Omniline bus series in 2003 and called it the Omnidekka. The first vehicles have been sold and feature the attractive standard Scania front end.
6. Bus Bodies
UK bus production has been mostly based on the body-on-chassis layout. This still remains the most popular construction method, though most chassis have become so light and modular that semi-integral construction has become in fact the standard. This means that customers can specify their preferred bus body builder. Many old names have disappeared: Park Royal, Charles H.Roe, Weymann, MCW (Metropolitan Camell Weymann), ECW (Eastern Coach Works), Marshall, Massey, Neepsend, to name a few. Some were associated with chassis builders. Park Royal built mostly on AEC and later Leyland, ECW built mostly on Bristol. There are many historic reasons for these alliances, some of which are elaborated upon below. Interestingly two major body builders, Plaxton and Duple, did not engage in double-deck bus building, at least not until recently, though Plaxton built some double-deck coach bodies of its Paramount design. After the Mayflower Group had purchased Plaxton and Northern Counties, the NC double-deckers received the Plaxton name. This lasted just a few years, as Plaxton vehicles are now sold as Transbus. An interesting company is Duple Metsec (Metal Sections), which started out as a division of Duple, producing bus kits for export. While Duple has been taken over by Plaxton in 1990, Duple Metsec still exists and provides double-deck bus kits for export, among others to Hong Kong.
Double-deck bus bodies during the 1970's and 1980's tended to be of a rather boxy design, sometimes so boring that they really gave the appearance of being a box with windows to which someone added headlights as an afterthought. Some municipalities like Manchester (the "Mancunian") and Nottingham had introduced their own designs, which had a much more appealing look. MCW and ECW had their own immediately recognizable designs.
During the 1980's some body builders started designing more attractive models. Alexander's R type, introduced in 1981, was widespread and built on a variety of chassis. The Alexander Royale had a more appealing design with curved windscreens and was mainly used for semi-coaches. East Lancashire built bodies to the Alexander R design on request of customers in addition to their own model. They also had a semi-coach body introduced in the mid-1980's in which the first side windows of the upper deck sloped slightly downward. Newcomer Optare set a standard with the introduction of the Spectra double-decker in 1993. Northern Counties introduced its very similar Palatine II around the same time.
Currently bus body builders producing double-deck buses in the UK are Plaxton-Wigan (the former Northern Counties factory, now Transbus), Alexander in Falkirk, Scotland (now Transbus), Alexander Belfast (now Transbus), Optare (now part of NABI), Wright of Northern Ireland, and East Lancashire. Northern Ireland bus builder Wright is a newcomer on the double deck market and has grown considerably over the last decade. It uses the patented Alusuisse body building method and is the first to introduce a really new, daring design. Duple Metsec, building body kits for export, is also part of the Mayflower group and now uses the Transbus name.
Models currently offered by these builders are:
- Alexander (Transbus from 2003): ALX400
- East Lancashire Lolyne on Dennis, 2 different front designs
- East Lancashire Vyking on Volvo, 2 different front designs
- East Lancashire Lowlander on DAF, 2 different front designs
- East Lancashire Cityzen on Scania
- Optare: Spectra
- Plaxton (Transbus from 2003): President
- Wright: Eclipse Gemini
- Duple-Metsec (Transbus from 2003): export models, many double-deckers for Hong Kong
7. Export
Until the middle of the 1960's traditional British double-deckers were exported to many parts of the world. Logically this was often related to the sphere of influence of the British Empire. Australia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa, Iraq, and Iran all employed large numbers of double-deckers. But also countries like Kenya, Tanzania, and Sierra Leone had them in smaller numbers. Ireland, Portugal and Spain were the European countries where British double-deckers were prominently present.
The introduction of modern rear-engine double-deckers coincided with the aftermath of the decolonization period and changing markets. In most African countries no or few new double-deckers were bought, with the notable exception of South Africa. Initially that country still bought the traditional front engine double-deckers. But Johannesburg bought 156 Fleetlines and 14 Bristol VR before switching to the Mercedes O305 and recently to the Volvo B7TL. Pretoria bought 75 Leyland Atlantean and 11 Bristol VR, while Port Elizabeth had 17 Daimler Fleetlines. Cape Town had 45 Fleetlines and 2 demonstrators, 1 Fleetline and 1 Leyland Atlantean. Interestingly Cape Town then switched to the rugged Leyland Victory chassis for its new double-deckers. The front-engine Victory, originally built by Guy continued to be offered for export, though it was rarely built-up as a double-decker. Almost all South African double-deckers have local bodywork by BUSAF. Interestingly Stagecoach, which had taken over bus services in Malawi and Keny, re-introduced double-deckers in those countries. Stagecoach Malawi received 10 Dennis Dragon -Duple-Metsec vehicles in 1992 and Stagecoach Kenya 20 Dennis Dragon -Duple-Metsec/AVA in 1995/1997. When Stagecoach sold its Kenyan operations a few years later, the double-deckers were brought to the UK. Ghana has just received its first new UK built double-deckers.
In India Ashok Motors was created in 1948, shortly after independence. In 1950 they started assembling Leyland commercial vehicles and in 1954 were renamed to Ashok-Leyland. The Leyland Titan front-engine chassis production was taken up by Ashok-Leyland and this now rather archaic model is still built and exported to Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Recently Volvo started assembling commercial vehicles in India. Modern Volvo B10M double-deckers are now entering service in Dakkha, the capital of Bangladesh. Bodywork on Indian double-deckers is local, though the new Volvo's for Dakkha have Alexander bodies.
Double-deckers were common in Australia, but the only modern double-decker buses bought were Sydney's 224 Leyland Atlantean with local PMC (Pressed Metal Corporation) bodywork, delivered in 1970-1973. Double-deck buses have now disappeared from Australian roads, though long-distance coaches appeared during the 1990's.
Singapore and Hong Kong continue to be important export markets for British double-deckers, with large numbers of Leylands (Victory, Atlantean, Olympian), Daimler Fleetlines, Dennis (Jubilant, Dominator, Dragon and Trident III), MCW Metroriders in 2 and 3-axle form, and Volvo's (Ailsa, Olympian) delivered since the 1970's. For a short while the modern front-engine models Leyland Victory, Volvo-Ailsa B55 (even in 3-axle form) and Dennis Jubilant were bought, but modern rear-engine vehicles rapidly took over. Bodywork for Singapore and Hong Kong double-deckers has been mainly by Alexander, MCW and Duple-Metsec, often locally assembled. However, non-British built double-deckers have started to compete. The Mercedes O305 already was built in the 1980's for Hong Kong and Singapore. More recent Neoplan has entered the Hong Kong market while Volvo has had chassis bodied by Berkhof from the Netherlands and Volgren of Australia.
A somewhat unexpected market has been Indonesia, where PPD, Djakarta and DAMRI of Surabaya bought some 350 Leyland Atlanteans with Duple-Metsec bodies and 320 Volvo-Ailsa B55 with Alexander bodies between 1981 and 1986.
In the Middle East large numbers of modern Leyland Atlantean double-deckers were delivered to Teheran (almost 900 from 1972-1978, most with Park Royal bodies), Baghdad (600 from 1975-1981, with Park Royal and Willowbrook bodies), and Kuwait (50 with Northern Counties bodywork from 1979-1986). An interesting and unique vehicle was a 1982 Leyland Atlantean with German Neoplan bodywork meant for Saudi Arabia. However, it never left the UK. Saudi Arabia instead bought large numbers of Neoplan integral double-deckers. Baghdad switched to German built MAN double-deckers and most recently to Chinese models, of which delivery had started in 2003.
In Europe Portugal remained a market for Leyland Atlantean and Daimler Fleetline double-deckers until the beginning of the 1970's. the Fleetlines went to Lisbon and the Atlanteans to Porto and in small numbers to several other operators. Bodywork was local, by UTIC and Caetano. When Sweden changed driving from left to right on 1967, many new buses were bought, including 49 Leyland Atlanteans with Park Royal body. Ireland was by far the largest customer in Europe outside the UK with 840 Leyland Atlanteans from 1966 until 1978. These had locally built bodywork by CIE (the first 521) and Van Hool-McArdle. CIE was dissatisfied with the Atlantean's reliability and developed its own bus series that were built in a new factory by GAC-Bombardier. A prototype double-decker was developed by HHG in Germany, after which 365 were built in Ireland between 1981 and 1983. One additional vehicle was built as a demonstrator for Baghdad, but no orders followed.
Small numbers of exports were of a more experimental nature: 8 Leyland Atlantean- Park Royal for New York in 1976, 22 Leyland Atlantean -Alexander for Manila, Philippines in 1980 and 5 Leyland Atlantean -Alexander for Quito, Ecuador, in 1983.
Leyland tried to find new customers for its new Olympian. Demonstrators were sent to Lisbon in Portugal, Athens in Greece, Alexandria in Egypt, Taipei in Taiwan, Saudi-Arabia, Singapore, and Baghdad in Iraq. In 1985 one bus was sent to Gillig in the US for a collaboration deal to enter the US market, but there was no follow up, though 10 3-axle Leyland Olympians were delivered for San Francisco sightseeing tours the same year. Of the newly explored markets only Athens bought 19 vehicles in 1983. The traditional markets Hong Kong and Singapore ordered large numbers and Dublin Bus in Ireland started buying large numbers of Leyland/Volvo Olympians in 1990. The new Volvo B7TL is currently being sold to Dublin in Ireland and, a surprising new market, to Copenhagen in Denmark.
An interesting export destination was found by Optare, which sold 26 DAF SB250 -Optare Spectra double-deckers to IETT in Istanbul and 5 to Izmir, also in Turkey, in 1993-1995. However, there were no follow-up orders for double-deckers.
Dennis sold many double-deckers for export, mainly to Hong Kong. Of the 395 Jubilee front engine-double-deckers built in 1977-1982 394 went to Hong Kong, and 1 to South Africa. Around 1650 3-axle Dennis Dragons were built from 1982-1999. Of these 10 went to Malawi in 1992 and 20 to Kenya in 1995/1997, the remainder were for Hong Kong. The new low-floor 3-axle double-decker Trident III is selling well in Hong Kong. A delivery of 10 to BC Transit in Vancouver, Canada, meant an entrance into a new market. Possibilities to enter the US market are being explored.
Conclusion
After some difficult years in which sales of double-deckers in the UK plummeted to 150 vehicles in 1 year, the low-floor models currently offered are doing very well. Hong Kong, Singapore and Ireland remain the major export markets though some interesting new markets are being explored. While export double-deckers are generally long 3-axle vehicles, making full use of the high possible capacity, most buses sold in the UK and Ireland are of the short 2-axle version of less than 11 meters. These stay well below the legal dimensions now required. With a capacity that is lower than that of an articulated bus, longer loading times and the success of the recently introduced articulated buses in London, the number of interested operators may remain restricted.
The number of UK bus builders active in the double-decker bus business has been reduced considerably. Transbus, combining Dennis, Alexander, Alexander Belfast, Plaxton/Northern Counties and Duple-Metsec under one new name, is the currently the most important enterprise. Volvo is second but its cost reduction strategy of moving production of its B7TL chassis to Sweden may prove a disadvantage on the UK market. DAF, with the SB250, and Scania with the Omidekka are marginal players. Volvo, DAF and Scania only build the chassis, relying on body building companies Optare, East Lancashire Coachbuilders, Wright, and the Transbus body building divisions.
