42-685: The Dennis Lance was a single-decker bus chassis manufactured by Dennis between 1991 and 2000, replacing the Dennis Falcon . Its low floor variant, the Dennis Lance SLF (Super Low Floor) was built between 1993 and 1996. Between 1995 and 1998, Dennis also built its double-deck variant, the Dennis Arrow (initially marketed as a double-deck Dennis Lance), as the replacement of the Dennis Dominator . The Dennis Lance
84-676: A direct bus service numbered X41, running between Norwich and Bungay in Suffolk via Ditchingham , as part of the Charcoal colour line. This line was launched in April 2016 with service 40 from Norwich to Poringland . The Network Norwich operation was one of five FirstGroup operations to begin taking delivery of battery electric buses in 2023, funded through the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) grant from
126-541: A few hundred meters away from Ness Point . First Ipswich operates within and around the town of Ipswich to a radius of about 30 miles (48 km). The Ipswich services operate out of one depot situated on Star Lane, just a few minutes walk from the town's bus station in the Old Cattle Market. A guided bus system named 'Superoute 66' was established in February 1995, running between Ipswich town centre and
168-483: A length of up to 12 m (39 ft 4 in), although some exceptions of longer buses exist. They also typically weigh between 11 and 14 t (12 and 15 short tons). In regions where double-deckers are not common, the term single-decker may lack common usage, as in one sense, all other main types of bus have a single deck. Also, the term may become synonymous with the name transit bus or related terms, which can correctly be applied to double-deckers too. With
210-707: A number of seaside resorts in Norfolk and Suffolk, with service 99 using closed-top buses branded in blue livery, serving Lowestoft and Southwold via Pakefield and Kessingland ; service 99 briefly gained a 99A variant linking Bungay and Southwold, running five times a day, following the withdrawal of services by Go-Ahead Group owned Konectbus in early 2019. Coastal Clipper buses also operate on services 1 and 1A, serving Hopton-on-Sea and Lowestoft via Martham , Hemsby , Caister-on-Sea , Great Yarmouth and Gorleston-on-Sea; service 1A would receive recognition in June 2023 in
252-456: A red livery and featuring high-specification interiors, next stop announcements and camera mirrors. Prior to July 2014, the Excel and X1 operated as a single service straight through from Peterborough to Lowestoft, 107 miles (172 km) end-to-end. The Excel is operated by King's Lynn outstation - the only service operated by the outstation - whilst Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft depots operate
294-537: A repeat order for six being delivered to the operator for use in Haarlem during 1996. Three Lances with Duple Metsec bodywork were also exported to Miejskie Zakłady Autobusowe (MZA) of Warsaw , Poland between 1992 and 1993. The Lance also proved popular in the Asian export market. A joint venture between Dennis and Malaysian manufacturer UMW Specialist Vehicles would build complete knock-down Lance chassis (known as
336-570: A single Arrow with Palatine II bodywork, London Coachlines, who took a single Arrow with Pyoneer bodywork, and two purpose-built playbuses built with both bodies. The Dennis Arrow would be superseded by the low-floor Dennis Trident 2 . The step-entrance single-deck Dennis Lance had a level of export success to Continental Europe . In the Netherlands, a single Lance with Berkhof Excellence 1000 NL bodies were delivered to Noord-Zuid-Hollandsche Stoomtramweg-Maatschappij (NZH) in 1995, resulting in
378-423: Is a bus that has a single deck for passengers . Normally the use of the term single-decker refers to a standard two- axled rigid bus , in direct contrast to the use of the term double-decker bus , which is essentially a bus with two passenger decks and a staircase. These types of single-deckers may feature one or more doors, and varying internal combustion engine positions. The majority of single-deckers have
420-714: The Plaxton Verde . Ipswich Buses was the first operator in the United Kingdom to order the Dennis Lance, taking delivery of a single example with East Lancs EL2000 bodywork in 1991; the operator would subsequently take delivery of two more EL2000s and an Optare Sigma built on the Lance chassis during 1994. London Buses subsidiary Selkent later took delivery of 16 Alexander PS bodied Lances in April 1992 for use on route 36B , replacing AEC Routemasters used on
462-577: The UMW-Dennis Lance ) for the Southeast Asian market. In Malaysia, a fleet of Duple Metsec bodied UMW-Dennis Lances were delivered to Naeila Corps, shortly before the company was bought over by Causeway Link , while Transit Link JB also operated a small number of similar examples. In Singapore, meanwhile, Trans-Island Bus Services ordered 72 Lances, of which 52 were built by UMW-Dennis; most were fitted with Duple Metsec bodywork while
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#1732801531071504-520: The Volvo B10M , with a different body style applied. First Eastern Counties First Eastern Counties is a bus operator providing services in Norfolk and Suffolk in eastern England. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup and has five depots in operating areas spread out across East Anglia . These areas are Norwich , Ipswich , Great Yarmouth , Lowestoft and King's Lynn . In July 1931,
546-461: The Arrow could carry a total of 100 passengers. The Arrow was sold to just five operators in the United Kingdom, with Capital Citybus taking a total 54 of the 73 Arrows built with both Palatine II and Pyoneer bodywork, London & Country who took ten with EL2000 bodywork, and Nottingham City Transport who took four with Palatine II bodywork. Smaller operators included Aintree Coachline, who took
588-604: The Eastern Counties Omnibus Company was formed with a fleet of 534 buses out of the merger of four existing bus companies in East Anglia: Eastern Counties Road Car Company of Ipswich, Ortona Motor Company of Cambridge and Peterborough Electric Traction Company , which were all owned by Tilling & British Automobile Traction and United Automobile Services ' East Anglia services. Upon completion of
630-509: The Lance was launched in 1995 as a replacement for the Dennis Dominator chassis. Later renamed to the Dennis Arrow , it was available with Northern Counties Palatine II and East Lancs E Type and Pyoneer bodywork, and only differed from the step-entrance single-deck Lance through the addition of an anti-roll bar and shock absorbers being moved towards the rear of the chassis. At a maximum capacity of 84 seats and 16 standing passengers,
672-632: The National Bus Company in February 1987 through a management buyout , which was followed by its coaching operations transferring to Ambassador Travel of Great Yarmouth in December 1987. An Eastern Counties Bristol VRT double decker bus made international headlines when it fell rear-first into a 26 feet (7.9 m) sinkhole formed from a medieval chalk mine running underneath Earlham Road in Norwich on 3 March 1988. The driver of
714-528: The Tilling & British Automotive Traction group on various chassis. By the end of the 1930s, the Eastern Counties Omnibus Company had purchased another 50 operators. In September 1942, Tilling & British Automobile Traction was placed into administration , with the Eastern Counties Omnibus Company shareholding transferred to the Tilling Group . In November 1948, Eastern Counties was included in
756-531: The UK government. The first seven buses from an order for 59 Wright StreetDeck Electroliner double-decker buses began entering service in October 2023, while eleven Wright GB Kite Electroliner single-deck buses are also on order for delivery to Norwich during 2024. When completed, this order is set to replace pre-existing diesel buses at First's Roundtree Way depot. First Great Yarmouth operates services within
798-464: The UK's first low-floor project to be funded by a county council without funding from the government or the European Union. Some Pathfinder-bodied Lance SLFs would eventually be prematurely withdrawn from service due to suspension strut failures, a result of water ingress caused by outside storage of the chassis at Wright's Ballymena factory before the bodies were built. The Lance SLF chassis
840-642: The X1 and related services, branded as Coastlink. First Eastern Counties also provide a number of Coastlink branded feeder services at the eastern end of the main Excel service, operated using the Alexander Dennis Enviro400s formerly used on the core route. Prior to February 2018, the Excel ran all the way from Peterborough to Lowestoft; Coastlink services replaced the Excel between Norwich and Lowestoft after this time. The X2 operates between Norwich bus station and Lowestoft bus station, as with
882-524: The X1; however, it stops more frequently and is routed via Gillingham , Beccles, Worlingham and Carlton Colville . The X2 operates every 30 minutes from Monday to Saturday daytimes. Minor variations of the route of the X2, known as the X21 and X22, operate more infrequently to serve surrounding villages along the route of the X2, including North Cove and Whitton; the X21 three journeys in the morning peak and five in
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#1732801531071924-517: The area around its depot: First Eastern Counties operates services branded as the Network Norwich within the city centre of Norwich and to towns and villages within approximately a 20 miles (32 km) radius. This network was launched on 23 September 2012, with buses painted in colour-coded route branding on the fronts to reflect the line in the network they were allocated to. On 22 March 2017, First announced that they were to introduce
966-447: The bus as well as the passengers on board managed to escape minutes before the bus fell further into the sinkhole, which severed a gas main running underneath the road and resulted in the overnight evacuation of the nearby area while the main was repaired. A photograph of the incident would be used by Cadbury the next day in full-page newspaper advertisements and on billboards to promote their Double Decker chocolate bar, captioned with
1008-576: The end of the step-entrance Lance's production, Go-Ahead Northern 's Gateshead & District operation took delivery of fifteen Lances with Optare Delta bodywork in 1994, and on the Optare Sigma body, fellow Go-Ahead Group subsidiary Brighton & Hove took delivery of 20 during 1996 while Wellglade Group operator Trent Buses took delivery of seventeen between 1994 and 1995. British Bus subsidiary London & Country took delivery of fifteen East Lancs EL2000 bodied Lances in April 1996, while
1050-588: The evening peak, while the X22 runs every hour from Monday to Saturday daytimes. The X11 operates as a variation of the X1, shadowing the route of the X1 between Norwich and Gorleston-on-Sea via Great Yarmouth, before diverging at James Paget University Hospital to serve and terminate in Belton rather than continuing onwards to Lowestoft. The X11 operates every 30 minutes from Monday to Saturday daytimes. First Eastern Counties' year-round Coastal Clipper services connect
1092-830: The exception of regions of major double deck or articulated bus operation, usually major urban areas such as Hong Kong , cities in the United Kingdom and Singapore , the single decker is the standard mode of public transport bus travel, increasingly with low floor features. With their origins in van chassis, minibuses are not usually considered single-deckers , although modern minibus designs blur this distinction. Midibuses can also be regarded as both included with and separate from standard single-deckers, in terms of full size length and vehicle weights, although again design developments have seen this distinction blurred. Some coach style buses that do not have underfloor luggage space can also be correctly termed as single-deckers, with some sharing standard bus chassis designs, such as
1134-642: The first London bus routes to be converted to low-floor operation. The recipients of this order were London United for use on route 120 , Metroline for use on route 186 , and CentreWest for use on route 222 . A single-door Pathfinder would later be launched in 1994, marketed towards bus operators based outside London. The first of these, part of a trial project funded by the Department of Transport , would be delivered to Go-Ahead Northern 's Coastline Buses operation for use on services linking Whitley Bay , Tynemouth and North Shields , making Coastline one of
1176-587: The first bus operators in the United Kingdom outside of London to place low-floor buses into service. Further Pathfinder-bodied Lance SLFs included five delivered to London & Country, with six also delivered to Badgerline for service in Bath , and a sole example delivered to Western National during 1995. Ten Pathfinder bodied Lance SLFs were supplied with 40% funding from Essex County Council to West Midlands Travel 's County Bus & Coach subsidiary, Southend Transport and Hedingham Omnibus in 1994, part of
1218-491: The last step-entrance Lances produced for the United Kingdom were thirteen with Northern Counties Paladin bodies for First Eastern National , followed by three for First PMT , in 1997. In March 1993, the "Super Low Floor" Dennis Lance SLF was unveiled, becoming the first low-floor bus chassis manufactured in the United Kingdom. the Lance SLF came with an independent kneeling front suspension as standard, capable of lowering
1260-466: The last two were fitted with Volgren bodywork. A single UMW-Dennis Lance with Duple Metsec bodywork was also operated by Ritchies Coachlines in New Zealand. In Hong Kong, 24 Lances with Alexander PS bodywork were delivered to Kowloon Motor Bus in 1992. [REDACTED] Media related to Dennis Lance at Wikimedia Commons Single-decker bus A single-decker bus or single-decker
1302-603: The merger, the major shareholders of Eastern Counties were United Automobile Services (43%), Tilling & British Automobile Traction (28%), the London & North Eastern Railway (24%) and the London Midland & Scottish Railway (3%). Also included were United's bus and lorry coachbuilder based in Lowestoft, which was renamed to Eastern Coach Works and supplied bus bodies to its parent company and operators within
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1344-891: The nationalisation of the Tilling Group, becoming part of the British Transport Commission , which was merged with the Transport Holding Company in January 1969 to become the National Bus Company . In preparation for bus deregulation , in September 1984, Eastern Counties' operations in Cambridgeshire were transferred to a separate company named Cambus Limited . The company was sold into privatisation from
1386-498: The order to Yorkshire Woollen and the remaining 12 to West Riding . with municipal bus companies Grimsby-Cleethorpes Transport and Yellow Buses of Bournemouth taking fleets of nine and six Lances with East Lancs EL2000 bodies respectively in the same year. 31 Lances with Northern Counties Paladin bodywork were delivered to Metroline 's Cricklewood bus garage for routes 113 and 302 , five with Northern Counties Paladin bodies were delivered to Eastern Counties in 1993. Towards
1428-535: The service. In 2019, First rebranded their Ipswich operation to 'Ipswich Reds' and introduced a new red livery for Ipswich's services. A number of services are operated under the Excel brand, most notably the Excel itself between Peterborough, King's Lynn and Norwich and the X1 between Norwich, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft. This service is operated by nineteen Alexander Dennis Enviro400 City bodied Scania N250UDs that were delivered in early 2020, which are painted in
1470-1019: The service. The Dennis Lance was most popular on the Plaxton Verde chassis, with the largest orders coming from Badgerline Group companies Midland Red West and Yorkshire Rider , the latter of which were delivered to Huddersfield for 'Flagship' services. Orders of Verde-bodied Lances continued under FirstBus , with a further 30 delivered under FirstBus for the rebranded Leeds City Link operation. London Buses subsidiary Selkent 's Catford garage would also delivery of twelve dual-door Verdes on Dennis Lance chassis in 1994 for use on London Buses route 208 . Other operators of Verde-bodied Lances included Busways Travel Services , Clydeside 2000 , North Western , Nottingham City Transport , Potteries Motor Traction , and South Wales Transport . Lances built on other bodies proved particularly popular during 1993. The Caldaire Group took delivery of 30 Lances with Alexander Strider bodywork in 1993, distributing 18 of
1512-658: The slogan "Nothing fills a hole like a Double-Decker". In July 1994, Eastern Counties was sold to the GRT Group for £6.7 million, who in June 1995 merged with Badgerline to form FirstBus . FirstBus would later purchase the operations of Great Yarmouth Transport in September 1996, merging it into the First Eastern Counties operation. In April 2011, First Eastern Counties' King's Lynn operations were sold to Norfolk Green . First operates out of five main depots. Each division provides services to
1554-478: The step-free entrance from 320 millimetres (13 in) to 250 millimetres (9.8 in). A wheelchair ramp was also provided as standard. The Lance SLF was also the first new bus chassis in the United Kingdom to be fitted with disc brakes as standard, which were manufactured by Girling . Of around 105 Dennis Lance SLFs built, the majority were built with Wright Pathfinder bodywork. The most notable of these were 38 dual-doored examples for London Buses for use on
1596-571: The suburbs of Kesgrave and Martlesham Heath , in partnership between Eastern Counties and Suffolk County Council , commencing operations with a fleet of six Plaxton Pointer bodied Dennis Darts . This service was the first commercially-run guided bus system to be operated in the United Kingdom, and would eventually be upgraded to use double-decker buses under FirstBus. Having previously operated Ipswich's park and ride service from 2008 until November 2013, in July 2017, First Ipswich resumed operating
1638-618: The towns of Great Yarmouth and Gorleston-on-Sea , as well as dedicated routes to Norwich and Lowestoft under the Coastlink brand. The Great Yarmouth services operate out of the old Great Yarmouth Transport depot on Caister Road, which is a listed building dating back to the mid-1900s, retaining its original frontage. First Lowestoft operates services within the town of Lowestoft as well as dedicated routes to Great Yarmouth, Beccles and Norwich. The Lowestoft services operate out of Britain's most easterly bus depot, situated on Gordon Road, just
1680-505: Was also built with Berkhof Excellence 1000 NL bodywork, with 30 dual-purpose specialist vehicles delivered to the British Airports Authority for use on staff shuttle duties at Heathrow Airport between 1994 and 1995. Five each were also delivered to Stagecoach East Kent and Stagecoach Ribble , the latter of which were the last Lance SLFs produced before the type was discontinued in 1996. A double-deck version of
1722-788: Was also developed to fit the recommendations of the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DiPTAC) on improving accessibility, equipped with 275 millimetres (10.8 in) entrance and interior steps as standard. The Dennis Lance was available with a number of bodies, including the Alexander PS and Strider , the East Lancs EL2000 , the Northern Counties Paladin , the Optare Sigma and Delta , and
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1764-533: Was unveiled at the 1991 Coach & Bus Show as both a larger version of the Dennis Dart and the successor to the Dennis Falcon chassis. The first Dennis product to be developed at the manufacturer's new Guildford factory with computer-aided design , the rear-engined Lance chassis was designed with an inline driveline and longitudinally-mounted Cummins C6T engine, claimed to improve fuel economy by 15% when compared to conventional "angle drive" drivelines. It
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