Optare Versa V970

[Pocket Dart]

Optare Versa V970
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.