Forum | Merseyside Dennis Dart Website

Hello,

I'm not sure if this has been noticed by any other members of the forum, but I think the only customer for the Optare Versa V970 (as far as I'm aware the smallest-sized Versa available) so far has been TfGM for their green bus and Metroshuttle contracts.

So, does anybody know if there are any other operators of this size of Versa anywhere else in the UK, or if this was a model produced exclusively for TfGM by Optare? Was there a specific reason for TfGM choosing the V970? If an operator wished to place an order for V970 Versas of their own today, they would be able to?

The V970s are very similar (in terms of capacity) to the M890 Optare Solo SR, I think the most important difference is the Versa has two interior "bays", one on the offside and one on the nearside of the bus (I think the offside bay is the designated wheelchair space and the nearside one is for buggies but it isn't marked as such, they do both have tip-up seats) whereas the Solo SR has only one space on the offside, marked as the designated wheelchair bay. Perhaps the extra bay was the reason why they were selected?

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere, or if these questions seem trivial.

Thanks.

(13/09/2016 21:57)Pocket Dart Wrote: [ -> ]I'm not sure if this has been noticed by any other members of the forum, but I think the only customer for the Optare Versa V970 (as far as I'm aware the smallest-sized Versa available) so far has been TfGM for their green bus and Metroshuttle contracts.

So, does anybody know if there are any other operators of this size of Versa anywhere else in the UK, or if this was a model produced exclusively for TfGM by Optare? Was there a specific reason for TfGM choosing the V970? If an operator wished to place an order for V970 Versas of their own today, they would be able to?
[...]
Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere, or if these questions seem trivial.

Seems interesting enough to me. There's possibly an argument that it belongs in the "Buses and their bits" section of the forum, but equally you could argue that it's primarily about the TfGM Ecobuses, and therefore fine where it is!

There was a 9.7m (non-hybrid) 07-registered demonstrator built right at the beginning of production. I'm not aware of any others.

Optare's website says that the Versa is available in "9.7 - 11.7m length", so one assumes that they're generally available if anyone wanted to buy them. I can't think of any reason why either Optare or TfGM would want to make their availability exclusive to the latter.

Preston bus have some of there own V970s,

(14/09/2016 07:31)Quackdave Wrote: [ -> ]Seems interesting enough to me. There's possibly an argument that it belongs in the "Buses and their bits" section of the forum, but equally you could argue that it's primarily about the TfGM Ecobuses, and therefore fine where it is!

There was a 9.7m (non-hybrid) 07-registered demonstrator built right at the beginning of production. I'm not aware of any others.

Optare's website says that the Versa is available in "9.7 - 11.7m length", so one assumes that they're generally available if anyone wanted to buy them. I can't think of any reason why either Optare or TfGM would want to make their availability exclusive to the latter.

Thanks, I'm still finding my way around (despite being a member of the forum for nearly 4 years) hence why it ended up here!

I think you're right about Optare and TfGM and I wasn't aware that a diesel demonstrator had been produced, though it is an early one so probably escaped my attention. Very interesting to see this size as a non-hybrid.

(14/09/2016 12:09)Alexw12 Wrote: [ -> ]Preston bus have some of there own V970s,

I thought they were all V1110s?

(14/09/2016 13:05)Pocket Dart Wrote: [ -> ]Thanks, I'm still finding my way around (despite being a member of the forum for nearly 4 years) hence why it ended up here!

I think you're right about Optare and TfGM and I wasn't aware that a diesel demonstrator had been produced, though it is an early one so probably escaped my attention. Very interesting to see this size as a non-hybrid.


I thought they were all V1110s?

If you go to the "bus lists on the web" site, then choose "chassis lists", scroll down until you see Optare & then click on Versa it will bring up a list of all Versa chassis in year order, giving the chassis designation & registration, first owner etc.
Hope this helps. Pete.

(14/09/2016 15:35)pete tierney Wrote: [ -> ]If you go to the "bus lists on the web" site, then choose "chassis lists", scroll down until you see Optare & then click on Versa it will bring up a list of all Versa chassis in year order, giving the chassis designation & registration, first owner etc.
Hope this helps. Pete.

Fantastic, I'll give this a try. Many thanks.