volvo b10tl (wright-bodied)

For the buses introduced from 1999 to 2003, please click here.

Volvo Super Olympian with Wright bodywork is the second model of second-generation low-floor bus of KMB, just after TransBus Enviro 500. The chassis was B10TL, which is Super Olympian.

Wright Group

Main article: Wrightbus Wright is a Northern Ireland manufacturer founded in 1946 by William Wright and Robert Wright. The company released the first aluminium bodywork in 1978. It has shown the first SLF bus bodywork in 1993.

The building of the bus

The bus was built inside the factory of Wright. During construction, it was uncolored. Special equipment is needed on the process as 2550mm-wide body is built on the 2500mm-wide chassis. As it is B10TL with wide bodywork, it can only be regarded as a transitional product. B9TL was to be introduced later by Volvo. Finally, the last procedure is moving the bus to the production line. There is the mainframe of air-conditioner, made by Denso. David Johnson requested Kowloon Motor Bus for many times for the modification of body design from AVW2. He requested that modifications must be proposed before AVW2 was built. And then, the bus was shown on Coach and Bus 2003. And then, it was driven to Duxford for Showbus 2003.

Interior

Prototype

On the upper deck, there is no any special equipment at the front of the straight staircase. Head protection design was restricted to only between the two handrails of the staircase. When it comes to Hong Kong, RoadShow equipment was not installed. The back of the wheelchair seat only has simple design.

Production model

The special equipment which hides electric wires, etc. was located in front of the staircase. The head protection design was expanded. There is already RoadShow equipment during construction. The back of the wheelchair was improved and the fire extinguisher was put after it. The Octopus equipment, fare display and fare box were already installed. The door of the cabin was also specially designed. All components of the cabin were also already installed as well during construction. There was no longer any individuality of Volvo.

Service

At first, the buses were allocated to Route 2. And then, 72X, 307, 680, 681 and 961 uses this model. There were good reputations made by the passengers. There will be 1 prototype, 100 production version and the last one built on B9TL Chassis.