SMRT Buses : Mercedes Benz O405G/ Hispano Carrocera (TIB838H)

The Mercedes Benz O405G Hispano Carrocera MK I demo : TIB838H.

To meet the growing population and demand on public transport in Singapore, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) allowed the trial of articulated buses onto Singapore roads. One of such buses brought in for the trial was the Hispano Carrocera O405G demonstrator TIB838H by TIBS, affectionally known as "The Bendy Bus".

TIB838H was registered together with the Scania L113CRL 'ELBO' buses range (TIB833X to TIB848D), and '838' is an auspicious sounding number. It is also the only bus to date to be airflown in by a cargo plane to Singapore from Spain in 1995/1996.

TIB838H when it was newly registered with TIBS (Photo from old TIBS website, courtesy of Trans Island/SMRT Buses)

An articulated bus consist of two sections being joint by a turntable at the middle, essentially creating a long bus to two section. This allows for larger carrying capacity in a single deck bus as compared to a regular 12m single decker. It can turn in the middle via the turntable for easy maneuvering around corners and bends. The entire SMRT Buses' O405G fleet are pusher bendies, in which the engine mounted at the rear "pushes" the bus forward via the trailer drive axle.

TIB838H's first service saw it plying on old service 171. The trial was successful and a fleet of O405Gs were eventually purchased, variations includes the modified MK II bodywork, the smart looking Hispano Habit bodywork by Pininfarina and a small number in Volgren bodywork

A MK II bodyworked O405G

The smart looking Hispano Habit bodyworked O405G

The Volgren bodyworked O405G

There will also be hyperlinks that link some of the bendy's feature to their rigid cousins and to some photos of the bendy that links to the particular topic of interest.

Exterior

TIB838H on its permanent service 180.

The entire bendy does look like a stretched version of the 12m Hispano Carrocera O405, as it carries most of the design elements/features over to this bodywork. The entire bodywork looks very similar, save for the side passenger windows being shorter in breadth to give an illusion that the bus is longer by having more windows.

The front of TIB838H is very similar to the Hispano Carrocera O405s, .

The feature of opening a single door leaf is carried over.

A carried over feature - one door leaf opening.

The same Hanover Flipdot system was installed in TIB838H, in which that time it was the latest flipdot on the then - recently introduced Mercedes Benz O405 CAC buses. This is also installed for the rear signage.

Panels open to reveal a small storage space and some of the systems of the bus.

The articulator of the bus - bus is fully 'bent' to the left. There is an extra signal indicator on both left and right of the bus before the articulator for extra visibility for the road users.

 The third door which is located after the articulator helps to offload passengers faster.

The rear nearside is also similar to the O405s.

The right side of the bus.

A stretched version of SMRT's O405!

With the shade, it does look O405-ish.

Airconditioning provided by Konvekta, mounted under the floorboard.

Same design cues here on the offside.

The cooling unit and the battery system.

The rear is the part where it designed differently from the rigid Hispano Carrocera O405s, though it retains the general look. There is a 'Long Vehicle' and warning stickers at the windows/bumper to caution other road users of this long vehicle.

The rear of TIB838H. Same taillamp sets are used.

The rear sees a larger window encompassing the entire top half of the bus, integrating the two night lamps into the bus body and having strips for a more distinct look. Some buses have the strips removed for a cleaner look.

At the time of introduction, it was the first bus with a rear flipdot signage, mounted above it is a camera to enhance the awareness of the driver while driving.

The power is derived from a Mercedes Benz OM 447 hLA engine that is coupled with a ZF4HP590 gearbox. However, the rigid and the bendy version sounds very different, with the O405G having a higher pitch.

The full length of the articulated bus is 17.5m. Despite its length, it is able to navigate around turns quite comfortably.

Interior
The interior of TIB838H is very similar to its rigid cousins such as the aircon ducting, interior lighting design and the minimalist partion interior. The Arianne buckets seats were not originally part of the specifications, but TIB838H recieved it likely due to the then-purchase of the Scania ELBO buses that uses the same seats during the same timeframe.

Climbing onboard - The same door system used on the Carrocera O405s.

The interior of TIB838H

In the front half of the bendy:

Above the entrance door and the two other exit doors, there are adjustable aircon outlets. In the production models however, these are just vents.

The driver's console.

A small monochrome TV allows the bus captain to monitor the rear/exit door at the trailer section.

The door control switches..

The Konvekta aircon controller and the Hanover controller above the driver's cabin.

The bus stopping bell, together with an empty space that used to hold a "licensed to carry" plate.

The old Farecard machine. It is now a big ticket dispenser due to the phasing out of farecards.

Hanover Flipdot sigange.

The aircon ducting is the same as the O405s

TIB838H and the passenger information system (there are drawings to indicate the position to install the PIS)

The front half of the bendy. Note the rear half of the bendy in the background on the right.

The right single seats....

...and the left single seats....

....allows for a larger floor space for more passengers. The single seats' design are actually the original seats installed on TIB838H. On some bendies, twin abreast seatings are installed instead of single seating for this front portion.

The standee area is opposite the second exit, which became the standard for subsequent bendy configurations.

Arianne bucket seats mounted on  the "platforms" above the second axle.

The 3 bus stopping indicators in the front, middle and at the trailer carriage's positioning are carried forward from the O405s design. In the production models, it was specfied to white casing with red LED lighting "BUS STOPPING".

The articulator

The articulator sees the bus having two grab poles in the middle. On the production model, it has only one grab pole. The brown walls of the articulator allows for standing passengers to lean against it.

The bendy bends with the "curtain" squeezed

While the "curtain" fans out towards the non-bent area.

Airconditioning is provided to the articulator area via this outlets at the end of the duct, with each duct there are there are two outlets, making it a total of 8 outlets.

The hint of wear and tear, together with the dust and dirt can be seen in this pic.

In the back half of the bendy:

The rear half of the bendy with a standard seating arrangement that would be carried over to the production model.

Except for this lone seat and a grab pole. In the production models, this seat is not present, with the seat behind it moved forward and gaining a slightly larger legroom.

The third door designated as the second exit for faster disembarking of passengers.

The exit door's aircon vents, door closing and the camera for the CCTV system.

The last row of seats at the front and this rear half of the bendy have this very small armrest installed.

The rear row of seats seems higher than the O405s

The view of TIB838H's interior from the rear.

As TIB838H heads out for its mid-life refurbishments, which will see some of its unique features upgraded/removed. These unique features of the bus would have been documented by many, both on pictures and in memories.

Misc

TIB838H only bendy with key startup, while the other bendies have keyless startup.

The Hispano Carrocera and bus identification plate

Thank you for moving back. Courtesy advertisement from the old TIBS days.

Electro Static filter.

A night lighting showing the ambience of the green colour interior.

A half refurbished Hispano Carrocera bendy's interior which sees the seat covers replaced to SMRT's colours. Note the front section of the bus with twin abreast seating, and the middle grab pole.

A wholly refurbished Hispano Carrocera bendy, with the single seats arrangement. TIB838H is expected to be refurbished to this, though which features will be retained or removed remains to be seen after its refurbishments.

Further reading on the Hispano Carrocera O405s @ http://busesingapore.blogspot.com/2011/02/smrt-buses-mercedes-benz-o405-hispano.html

SBS Transit : Dennis Dart/ Duple Metsec

The Dennis Dart is a 9.4m midibus manufactured by Dennis Specialist Vehicles. It is larger than a standard minibus but smaller than a full fledged 12m bus. Then-Singapore Bus Service (SBS) brought in 10 units of the Dennis Darts to serve M1 and M2, which is the current route 92 and 42 respectively.

The Dennis Dart when it was newly brought in. Photo by SBS Transit

The 10 buses were registered between SBS8009A to SBS8018Z. All the Dennis Darts are bodied by Duple Metsec, and had a remarkable resemblance to the Duple Metsec bodied Volvo B10M MK III cousins.

This earned them a very cute nickname of 'baby MK III'. They are also the unique buses in the fleet to be fitted with Allison AT545 gearboxes as standard with its Cummins 6BT engine. It is possible that many may not know that SBS Transit operates such small buses given the very limited services it operates on.

Exterior

SBS8009A, the first registered Dart in the fleet, running on svc 42

This is like the 'grown up version' of the Duple Metsec bodywork ^^

The right side of the Dennis Dart.

The resemblance of the right with the B10M MK III, with similar airconditioned pod and styling.

The similarities ends at the rear as the Darts have its own unique rear.

The Dart's rear.

These buses were conceptualised to serve the low demand, short haul services on M1 (92) and M2 (42) respectively. The roads that the routes serve are small and narrow, hence the midibuses' short length is an advantage to navigate through such roads.

The bus captain guiding the Dart into a small narrow road serving the private housings.

A testament of its 9.4m length.

Interior

The entrance door

One step access to board the bus.

Stepping on board, the interior of the Dennis Dart have a very cozy feel yet spacious enough for passengers to stand/sit comfortably.

The interior of the Dennis Dart

The bus is fitted with the updated air-conditioned bus seats though the seat covers are of the older blue type.

The entrance door as viewed from inside.

In a standard 12m bus, this space would have accomodated also one more farecard validator machine, minus one seat.

Side facing bench seats are mounted above the left and right front wheelarches.

There are only two EZ-link card reader installed, one at the entrance and one at the exit. It is supplmented with a coinbox + farecard validator/ticket dispenser for cash-paying passengers.

The front of the bus, with the bus stopping bell on the left, service sticker above it and a sign on 42's terminating trips.

The Dart's driver cabin.

The aircon ducts for the bus captain, together with the Operation Control Centre communication speaker.

One entrance EZ-link reader and one coinbox for the front.

The ticket validator, the first aid kit and the fire extinguisher (behind the first aid box), together with the service guide on the side.

The Duple Metsec badging on the compartment above the Bus Captain's cabin.

The ceiling of the Dennis Dart, with grey fabric cover aircon ducts, and a ventilation fan.

A "Please move to the rear" signage near the exit of the bus.

The exit door as seen from outside.

The rear exit door, with one EZ-link reader for passengers alighting.

The Door Closing sign, bus stopping bell and the housing for the door mechanism

The front's one step entrance gently slope upwards to the exit's two steps.

Towards the rear half of the Dart.

Sutrak air-conditioning is fitted for the Dennis Dart fleet.

The emergency exit door.

The rear row of seats might be a little squeezy ^^

View from rear to front

The Dennis Darts are now semi-retiring, with the fleet on 92 from Bukit Batok Depot already completely retired. The rest of the fleet from service 42 are expected to retire by October 2011. It is unlikely that SBS Transit will purchase midibuses to replace the outgoing Darts, though this might change in the future.
Misc

The Vehicle Licence and Cool-Air logo for the windscreen.

A very cute front wheel...

....coupled wth a cute rear wheel!

The old SBS logo is embossed on the coinbox.

The destination signage holder.

The bodywork identification plate is worn-out but still visible

The Duple Metsec and Dennis badgings...

.....and the Dart badging painted over to be consistent with the livery.

Headlight/bumper area of the Dart, with its small horizontal wipers.

The two Darts on 42 meets each other at the same location near Kembangan MRT station, which the one nearer to the station serving as the terminating stop for the service.

From inside the Dart.

From outside, the two Dennis Darts meeting each other. SBS8016D is parked at the terminating bus stop.