Pointer 1 Reeve Burgess Pointer bodied Dennis Dart in
Newcastle-under-Lyme, 1992 in July 2010 The
Dennis Dart midibus chassis was launched in 1988, two years after the
deregulation of the British bus industry, aimed at operators wanting to move away from van-based
minibuses. Initially, the Dart chassis was only offered with
Duple Dartline bodywork, however by 1991, Dennis had opened the Dart up to be bodied by other manufacturers, including
Wadham Stringer and
Wrights of
Ballymena.
Plaxton, through its
Reeve Burgess subsidiary, launched its Pointer bodywork in 1991 for the Dennis Dart chassis, designed by Capoco Design. Reusing aluminium extrusions from previous Reeve Burgess minibuses, the Pointer was assembled with a combination of an aluminium frame, as opposed to steel, and glass fibre mouldings, projected by Plaxton to give the body a 12 to 15-year
design life. The front of the Pointer featured a two-piece split windscreen with a full-size destination display above, and the interior, fitted out to the recommendations of the
Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DiPTAC), featured an optional split step entrance and a gradual series of steps towards the back of the bus, capable of holding a capacity of 39 seated and 15 standing passengers. Pointer bodies on longer and Dart chassis were later introduced by the end of 1990. At metres wide, the Pointer-bodied Dart immediately proved popular with bus operators large and small across the United Kingdom, with
Southampton Citybus taking delivery of the first example and
London Regional Transport ordering 52 Pointer-bodied Darts for its subsidiaries upon the body's launch. Although a handful of Pointer Darts were built by Reeve Burgess in their
Derbyshire factory, production of the Pointer mainly took place at Plaxton's
Scarborough factory due to demand outstripping Reeve Burgess' manufacturing capacity. The Plaxton Pointer was also sold on the
Volvo B6 chassis, launched in the United Kingdom market in 1992. This body and chassis combination did not prove as popular as the Pointer on Dart chassis, however the Pointer-bodied B6 was received well by some UK bus operators, including
Mainline Buses.
1995 facelift Plaxton Pointer 1 bodied Dennis Dart SLF in
Dorking in July 2009 The introduction of the
Super Low Floor (SLF) version of the Dennis Dart in 1995, followed by the launch of the
Volvo B6LE, saw the Pointer body receive a facelift, being widened to and having the split-step entrance replaced with a step-free entrance featuring an electric
wheelchair ramp. The facelifted Pointer 1 was aimed to be more curved than its predecessor, receiving a rounded roof dome and double-curvature windscreen, as well as having the headlights moved lower down the front panel. The first examples were delivered to
CentreWest Buses following its launch at the Coach & Bus '95 expo, with
FirstBus also immediately ordering of 70 examples for its subsidiaries.
Exports Plaxton Pointer 1 bodied Dennis Dart SLF in January 2012 The first-generation Plaxton Pointer on Dennis and Volvo chassis received a number of export orders to some
right-hand drive markets. In Hong Kong, air-conditioned Pointers proved highly popular with
Citybus, taking delivery of 21 step-entrance Darts and 15 Dart SLFs, as well as 20 on Volvo B6LE chassis.
Kowloon Motor Bus, meanwhile, took delivery of two Pointers on Dart SLF chassis in 1996, followed by the delivery of a further ten in 1997, and Pointer bodied Dart SLFs were also delivered to
Discovery Bay Transportation Services and
New Lantao Bus during 1997. Macau municipal bus operator
Transmac, meanwhile, took delivery of 10 dual-doored Pointers on step-entrance Dart chassis in 1995, while two Pointer-bodied Dart SLFs with
Eaton six-speed
manual transmissions were delivered to Paramount Garage of Malta in 1997.
Pointer 2 Plaxton Pointer 2 bodied Dennis Dart SLF in
Southampton in September 2008 Plaxton Pointer 2 in
Guildford in October 2008 In August 1997, Plaxton launched the
Pointer 2, a complete redesign of the original Pointer bodywork on , , Dennis Dart SLF chassis. Designed by Ogle Design, the Pointer 2 received a new, more rounded front end featuring a revised headlight arrangement, adding of length to the new body, although the split windscreen was maintained to be interchangeable with the Pointer 1. The rear of the bus featured a new set of brake and indicator lights placed towards the roofline, while the roof-mounted air intake was moved into the nearside upper rear panels, and the rear ventilation above the engine cover was replaced with a mesh grille. Double-glazed bonded windows were made available as an option, and black covers around the wheel arches were also introduced. Made available for general purchase on the Dart SLF chassis from 1 January 1998, the first production examples of the Pointer 2 were delivered to FirstBus operators
Bristol City Line,
First Greater Manchester and
Badgerline, with further orders upon being received by
MTL North,
Tellings-Golden Miller,
Durham Travel Services,
Metrobus and
Metroline. Shortly after launching the standard Pointer 2, Plaxton launched the longer "Super Pointer Dart" (SPD) body variant for the Dart SLF chassis at the Coach & Bus '97 expo, seating 41 passengers and marketed by Plaxton to compete with other
full-sized single-deck buses. The SPD Pointer was followed in 2000 by the "Mini Pointer Dart" (MPD) variant on the chassis. A single Pointer 2 delivered to
Arriva North East in 2003 was also built on an experimental
Blue Bird LFCC9 chassis. With the collapse of TransBus in 2004 and subsequent restructuring by the
administrators, Plaxton and Alexander Dennis were sold to different parties. As Pointer production had been transferred to the former Alexander plant at
Falkirk, it became an Alexander Dennis product. Plaxton, once again an independent company, signalled its return to the bus market by developing the
Centro on
VDL and
MAN chassis in 2005 to join its
Primo low-floor minibus in competition with the Pointer. The Pointer Dart was eventually discontinued following the launch of its successor, the
Alexander Dennis Enviro200.
Concept 2000 , one of two produced, in
Rotherham in July 2024 In 1998, the Mayflower Group, owner of
Alexander Coachbuilders, took over
Dennis. The future of the Pointer at that time appeared uncertain as it was thought the Dart may be solely bodied by Alexander, and as a result,
Plaxton built two Pointer bodies on the
Volvo B6BLE chassis known as the Concept 2000. The project, however, was scrapped when Mayflower also purchased Plaxton, forming TransBus International. Certain design features of the scrapped Concept 2000 project have since been used on other designs, most notably the
Alexander Dennis Enviro300 and
Enviro500.
Exports left-hand drive Plaxton Pointer 2 bodied Dennis Dart SLF in March 2020 Like the original Pointer, air-conditioned Pointer 2 bodied Dart SLFs proved popular with Hong Kong bus operators. Following the awarding of
Hong Kong Island's franchised bus services to
New World First Bus by the government in 1998, the operator took delivery of a total 76 Pointer 2 bodied Dart SLFs between 1998 and 1999 for use on the new network; some of these were later sold to Kowloon Motor Bus as surplus to requirements. Two Pointer 2 bodied Dart SLFs were also supplied to Icelandic operator Hagvagnar in 1999 for use on
Strætó bs services. ==See also==