Friday, October 28

To commemorate the imminent launch of the Volvo B9TL's and the accompanying new bodywork from ComfortDelgro Engineering, I decided it's time to get my butts up and go shoot this demonstrator bus down.

Okay, technically, B9TL's have not hit the roads yet, and this bus, registered as SBS9889U on the last day of February this year, is actually a Volvo B10TL or Volvo Super Olympian. The demonstrator part is the bodywork, which is the design, interior and everything in a bus excluding the automotive parts, parts needed to run the bus. This guy was completely built up in SBS Transit's Hougang Bus Assembly Plant in 2002 and was laid up for almost 3 years before getting a chance to come out, replacing the double-deck epBus which SBS Transit had donated.

This demonstrator currently plies during peak hours on Service 147. Inconcidentally, the epBus (previously SBS9345C) was a permanent bus on Service 147, so this was more like a one-for-one replacement, and the epBus can be said to have helped to 'push' SBS9889U out into revenue service.

You can catch this bus at 5.50am at SAFRA Bukit Merah, 7.20am and 9.30am at Hougang Central Interchange, 4.20pm and 6.10pm at Pearl's Centre.

So we have some pictures for you to enjoy. Click on the thumbnails for a full-sized version. (JavaScript needed.)

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