Since the end of last year, 100 MAN Lion’s City buses have mastered most the Dutch city of Almere’s urban and regional transport. But the new city buses generated a buzz even before officially starting service when they drove to the handover location in a convoy on a motorway bus lane created especially for the event. Overall, when parked in a straight line, the buses reached a length of around 1.5 kilometres, or close to a mile – an impressive sight to behold.
The group of vehicles consists of fifty-seven Lion’s City LFs that are 15 metres long, ten MAN Lion’s City LFs that are 12 metres in length, and thirty-three 15-metre-long MAN Lion’s City LEs. This means Keolis Nederland has the largest 15-metre fleet in the Netherlands. Along with other routes, the buses are being used in an innovative bus rapid transit (BRT) system introduced in the Dutch city.
In close cooperation between MAN Truck & Bus and Keolis Nederland, the MAN Lion’s City models were fine-tuned to meet customer requests and needs. For instance, the buses are fitted with smart card readers, transponders, mirrors for the driver to monitor the interior and a camera system. The city of Almere had placed great importance on equipping the vehicles with cameras to ensure maximum safety for passengers and drivers. In addition, the safety cab can protect the driver with an electrically activated slide-up glass barrier. The new buses are able to impress in terms of driving comfort too – as agreed by the 100 Keolis drivers who drove the MAN Lion’s City from Hoogeveen to Almere in their spare time.
Following a tender, Keolis Nederland manages all public bus services in Almere. In addition to the innovative buses, passengers can expect a tightly kept schedule, a comprehensive network of stops, good infrastructure and extensive communication and information from the service styled as “allGo”.
