An articulated bus is a long vehicle and usually requires a specially trained driver, as maneuvering (particularly reversing) can be difficult. The trailer section of a "puller" bus can be subject to unusual
centripetal forces, which many people can find uncomfortable, although this is not an issue with "pushers". Nonetheless, the articulated bus is highly successful in
Budapest,
Hungary, where the
BKV city transit company has been operating more than 1000 of them every day since the early 1970s. The Hungarian company
Volán also runs hundreds of articulated buses on intercity lines.
Europe Articulated buses have been used in most European countries for many years. Articulated buses became popular in mainland Europe due to their increased capacity compared with regular buses. In many cities, lower railway bridge clearances have precluded the use of double-deck vehicles, which have never achieved great popularity there. Overhead wires for trams, trolleybuses, etc., are not really relevant issues, as the minimum normal clearance above road level is standard across the EU and is well in excess of the height of a double-deck vehicle—otherwise, many freight vehicles would encounter severe problems in the course of normal operation.
Malta From 3 July 2011 to 28 August 2013, articulated Mercedes Citaro buses purchased from London were used in
Malta by the company
Arriva on a number of routes across the country. A number of serious engine fires resulted in their withdrawal from service, and they have also been responsible for causing an increase in traffic congestion and accidents involving pedestrians and cyclists.
United Kingdom Until 1980, articulated buses were illegal on the UK's roads. A 1979 experiment by
South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive with buses manufactured by
MAN and Leyland-DAB led to a change in the law, but the experiment was abandoned in 1981 because double-decker buses were generally considered less expensive both to purchase and to operate. The cost and weight of the strengthened deck framing and staircase of a double-decker were lower than the cost and weight of the additional axle(s) and coupling mechanism of an articulated bus. Modern technology has reduced the weight disadvantage, and the benefits of a continuous low floor allowing easier access, plus additional entrance doors for smoother loading, have led to reconsideration of the use of articulated buses in the UK. Mercedes-Benz Citaro O530G on
route 73 at
Oxford Circus in June 2006 In
London,
articulated buses were used on some routes from 2001 until 2011, but they were not a success.
Boris Johnson, former
Mayor of London, promised in the run-up to the mayoral election of 2008 to rid the city of the controversial buses and replaced them with double-deckers. Elsewhere in the UK, they are generally operated on particular routes in order to increase passenger numbers, rather than across entire networks. With unsupervised "open boarding" through three doors and the requirement for pre-purchase of tickets, levels of
fare-dodging on the new vehicles were found to be at least three times higher than on conventional buses, where entry of passengers is monitored by the driver or conductor. The only way of checking for free riders was to use large teams of ticket inspectors to swamp the bus and inspect all tickets while keeping the doors closed, meanwhile delaying the further progress of the bus. Since the articulated buses were tending to serve areas of relative deprivation, it is suspected that this was a contributory factor in
Transport for London (TfL) turning against the concept. Many of the articulated buses from London went on to serve with regional operators. Aside from limited use in regional cities, articulated buses may now be found at airports as park-and-ride shuttles. A batch of 9 Mercedes-Benz Citaros currently run on First Aberdeen routes 1 and 2, and 5 others run with First York on York Park and ride services 2 and 3, but are being phased out by more modern Wright Streetdecks and Optare Metrodeckets In 2020, twenty-one brand new Mercedes-Benz Citaros entered service at Stansted Airport; the Mercedes Benz Citaro is the only articulated bus available in the United Kingdom at present. The last public Wright Eclipse Fusion bendy buses ran on 26 March 2023 on service 888 between Luton airport and Luton airport parkway station, the service being replaced by the
Luton DART monorail service.
Asia Bangladesh BRTC bought 50 articulated bus in 2012 to run services in the capital and some divisional cities. More buses were planned to be procured for running on dedicated route.
China JN150 trucks, in Beijing In Asia, many major Chinese cities had fleets of articulated buses prior to the late 1990s. Some of these fleets have since been replaced by single-section units except in a few cities, namely
Beijing,
Shanghai, and
Hangzhou. In the 2000s, a surge in BRT construction has reintroduced or re-purposed the articulated bus fleets for rapid transit usage in cities like
Changzhou,
Chengdu,
Dalian,
Guangzhou,
Jinan,
Kunming,
Xiamen,
Yancheng,
Zaozhuang, and
Zhengzhou.
Indonesia TransJakarta bus in
Harmoni Central Busway Station, Jakarta. Indonesia first operated articulated buses in 1993, when Jakarta's bus company
PPD began to operate
Ikarus articulated busses from Hungary on several busy lines. Later, the company also imported Chinese-made articulated buses. PPD dominated Jakarta city bus service until 2004, when
Transjakarta was established; it operates one of the longest
BRT systems in the world. Transjakarta has been using articulated buses manufactured by
Scania for some of their busiest routes since 2015. Prior to Scania buses' introduction, there were Chinese-made
Huanghai,
Zhong Tong,
Yutong,
Ankai, and local-made
INKA Inobus and AAI Komodo buses in service since 2010.
Israel In
Israel, the use of articulated buses—commonly called
accordion bus, אוטובוס אקורדיון—is widespread, particularly in
Gush Dan and
Jerusalem, the two great
urban centers of the country, as well as in
Haifa (for the
Metronit BRT system) and other cities such as
Beersheba. The long buses are considered reliable and useful, and have been in service in Israel since the mid-1970s. During the
Israeli–Palestinian conflict, such buses were often targeted by
suicide bombers during rush hours, since a crowded long bus can contain more than 100 passengers.
Macau {{multiple image In
Macau,
China,
Transmac (Transportes Urbanos de Macau S.A.R.L.) imported a
Yutong ZK6180HGH 18-meter articulated bus model, and put it into operation on 6 January 2018 following multiple tests and adjustments. The bus operated on route 51 and 25BS during peak hours. It also served route 25AX before
typhoon wipha/on
golden weeks in 2019 and also route 26S after the annual international firework shows. In 2023, Transmac imported two 18-meter
Higer KLQ6186GHEV
extended range electric articulated bus model that runs on the same route 51, 25BS and 26S as its predecessor, first put into operation on 21 January 2024 as an after-show shuttle in Macau. The old ZK6180HGH is now used for non-franchised services, such as event shuttles or casino employers shuttles, as the government tends to fade out all diesel buses from franchised services.
Singapore In
Singapore, the articulated buses were first introduced in 1996 by Trans-Island Bus Services (TIBS) (now
SMRT Buses) with the
Mercedes-Benz O405G buses (bodied in
Hispano Carrocera (MkI/MkII), Hispano Habit and
Volgren CR221). Since 2014,
SMRT introduced 40
MAN A24 buses and trimmed down bendy buses to 40, to replace the first batch of articulated O405s, while the subsequent batches were all replaced by
double deck buses, and all articulated O405 buses were retired without any lifespan extension (except for a few who have received 1 year lifespan extension but withdrawn later) by December 2020. Singapore Bus Services (SBS, present-day SBS Transit) introduced one
Duple Metsec-bodied
Volvo B10M Mark IV articulated and one Volgren-bodied Mercedes Benz O405G in-between 1996 and 1997 respectively to evaluate the suitability of articulated buses for high-capacity single-deck bus operations. The trial was however unsuccessful and
SBS stuck to the use of 12 metre double-deck "Superbuses". The two articulated buses were eventually sold off to Bayes Coachlines of
Dairy Flat,
Auckland in
New Zealand in March 2006.
SBS Transit only began to operate articulated buses again from March 2018 when ten former
SMRT MAN A24 buses were transferred to
SBS Transit in batches by the
Land Transport Authority as part of the
Seletar Bus Package under the
Bus Contracting Model. In March 2021,
Tower Transit Singapore took over
MAN NG363F A24 bus from
SMRT Buses in preparation for the takeover of
Sembawang-Yishun Bus Package.
Tower Transit Singapore took over more units as part of the transition in September 2021.
Taiwan Articulated buses were first used in Taiwan in 2014 as the
Taichung BRT. The BRT system was abolished a year later, and the articulated buses run as regular buses along the same route.
Vietnam In Vietnam, articulated bus service was first introduced and operated on 16 October 2010, by Transerco in Hanoi. It was added to the route 07 from My Dinh Bus Station to Noi Bai Airport as a test run. The bus was part of the Hanoi Ecotrans project subsidized by the EU and Ile de France. It was a Mercedes Euro II Galaxy which was first manufactured in December 2003 by Mercedes-Benz Vietnam and was previously used for SEA Games in Hanoi. The bus was painted yellow instead of traditional white-yellow-red (from top to bottom) and had two ticket sellers onboard instead of one. The bus received positive reviews from passengers but the bus no longer operates in Hanoi; route 07 is now served by Daewoo BC095 buses.
North America United States Nova Bus LFS articulated in
Waterbury, CT Articulated buses are commonplace in US urban centers such as
Albuquerque,
Austin,
Baltimore,
Boston,
Chicago,
Cleveland,
Denver,
Honolulu,
Indianapolis,
Los Angeles,
West Palm Beach,
Miami,
Minneapolis-St.Paul,
New York City,
Newark,
Orange County (California),
Orlando,
Philadelphia,
Phoenix,
Pittsburgh,
Portland (Oregon),
Rochester (New York),
San Diego,
San Francisco,
Seattle,
Washington, D.C., and
Westchester County (New York). In
Eugene,
Lane Transit District uses articulated buses on some high-traffic routes, as well as on their
Emerald Express (EmX) Bus Rapid Transit Service. In
Vancouver, Washington,
C-Tran (Washington) uses articulated buses on their BRT service,
The Vine (bus rapid transit).Currently, in the US articulated buses are manufactured by New Flyer, using their
Xcelsior line, or by
NovaBus, with their
LFS model.
Canada New Flyer D60LF on Route 77 In
Canada, they are used in
Brampton,
Calgary,
Durham Region,
Edmonton,
Gatineau,
Halifax,
Hamilton,
London,
Longueuil,
Mississauga,
Montreal,
Niagara Region,
Ottawa,
Quebec City,
Regina,
Saskatoon,
St. Albert,
Toronto,
York Region,
Metro Vancouver and
Winnipeg.
Mexico Articulated buses in
Mexico are usually used on BRT lines, such as
Mexico City's
Metrobús,
Guadalajara's
Macrobús,
Monterrey's
Ecovía and
León's
Optibús.
South America In South America, they are used in
Quito,
São Paulo,
Recife,
Feira de Santana,
Santiago,
Curitiba,
Barranquilla,
Cali,
Bucaramanga,
Pereira,
Cartagena,
Medellín and
Bogotá.
Oceania Australia The first articulated bus in Australia operated in
Canberra in the
Australian Capital Territory in 1974. They remain in service for
Transport Canberra serving both rapid and feeder routes. In
Adelaide, articulated buses are used on the
O-Bahn Busway, reaching speeds of 100 km/h. The first articulated buses to use it were the
Mercedes-Benz O305G buses; however, three MAN SG280H buses are also equipped for O-Bahn use. In recent years, it has proven problematic to find suitable low-floor articulated buses to replace the 1984-manufactured Mercedes buses, because the design of the O-Bahn track unfortunately precludes the use of most modern articulated buses.
Sydney has seen the operation of articulated buses for many years. Currently it operates a fleet of various models with eighty Volvo B12BLEA buses joining the Sydney Buses fleet in 2005 and 2006, increasing capacity along many of the busy corridors. A number of prototype vehicles were delivered in 2008 and 2009 to operate on Sydney Buses' first Metrobus route, the M10 from Leichhardt to Kingsford and Maroubra Junction. The buses feature different chassis, body types, and internal layouts. The articulated Volvo B12BLEA buses are fully wheelchair-accessible, air-conditioned, and have visual and audible next-stop passenger information systems installed. The buses feature air-conditioning, large electronic destination displays and cloth seating. Additionally, each bus features a stepless entry, which will assist less-mobile passengers.
Flip-up seats in the front part of the bus allow easy accommodation for passengers in
wheelchairs and with
strollers and
prams. In 2009-2010 150 new Volvo B12BLEA articulated buses have been introduced into the Sydney Buses fleet, many of these part of the expanded Metrobus program. ==Design==