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Early version of a midibus, the Bedford JJL
Early version of a midibus, the Bedford JJL
An Optare Solo midibus
An Optare Solo midibus
A Hino Rainbow midibus
A Hino Rainbow midibus

A midibus is a classification of single decker buses which are identified as neither being minibuses or full size buses, and can be anywhere between 8m (26 ft. The Bedford JJL was an innovative but ultimately unsuccessful bus model built by Bedford Vehicles. The Optare Solo is a low floor Midibus manufactured by Optare in Leeds, UK since 1997 The Hino Rainbow (kana日野・レインボー is a medium-duty bus built by Hino. "Microbus" redirects here For the Volkswagen Microbus see Volkswagen Type 2. ) and 11m (35 ft. ) long. While used in many parts of the world, the midibus is perhaps most common in the UK where operators have found them more economical, and to have a sufficient number of seats compared to full size single-decker buses. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Economics is the social science that studies the production distribution, and consumption of goods and services.

Midibuses are often designed to be light weight to save on fuel (eg. Diesel or Diesel fuel (ˈdiːzəl in general is any Fuel used in Diesel engines The most common is a specific fractional distillate of petroleum smaller wheels than on larger buses), making them not as durable as heavier 'full size' buses. Some midibuses, such as the Scania OmniTown, are heavier and therefore more durable. The Scania OmniTown was a bus body sold in the United Kingdom. An early unsuccessful attempt at a purpose built midibus was the Bedford JJL. The Bedford JJL was an innovative but ultimately unsuccessful bus model built by Bedford Vehicles.

Recently Europe has seen the introduction of the Alexander Dennis Enviro 300 and VDL SB200, both predominantly aimed at the UK market which while being full size buses (in the fact that they are about 12m long) are related to midibuses in being light weight. The VDL SB200 (previously known as the DAF SB200) is a light-weight 12m citybus produced from 2001 by VDL Bus International (formerly DAF Bus International These have been dubbed Super-Midibuses or Maxibuses by some people.

US designation

The term midibus was not used commonly in the US. US transit markets simply do not use these smaller and lighter-duty buses except in some specialized uses. San Francisco, for example, has some buses much smaller than its regular Orion transit buses for the routes that include some of the steeper and curvier hills. However, midibuses are simply not used in transit roles in the US as they are in Europe.

In charter / tour roles, there was indeed a gap between a minibus (12-28 seats) and a touring coach (47-50 seats). Several shuttle bus companies such as Goshen and Crystal have manufactured rear-engined vehicles that has 30-35 seats, but no generic term was ever applied to them. Goshen Coaches is a small bus builder and is located in Elkhart Indiana. They are usually lumped together with their smaller "minibus" brethrens and called "minibus", or "shuttle bus". The only other alternative was to import a "short" (two-axle) version of European touring coaches, known often as "baby coaches" of about 30 ft long and holds about 30-32 seats.

In early 2000s ABC Companies did introduce a "mid-sized coach", the M1000 series, which is based on Freightliner large truck frame. Freightliner Trucks is a manufacturer of heavy duty Trucks, Chassis and Semi-trailer trucks The company was founded as Freightliner LLC in 1942 and Compared to regular touring coaches, this mid-sized coach is about half the price (150k USD vs. 300k USD), but offers no luggage space under the cabin (any luggage space must be carved out of the main cabin) and maximum of 40 seats (w/o any luggage). It is also front-engined, making it somewhat noisier than rear-engined vehicles. However, it is based on a reliable chasis, and thus reliability is excellent.

Other manufacturers such as Goshen and Crystal introduced similar vehicles based on other large truck frames, including GMC. GMC, formerly known as GMC Truck, is a Brand name used on Trucks Vans and SUVs marketed in North America and the

Makes of midibus

Related buses

The MCW Metrorider, launched by MCW at the 1986 Motor Show was a Midibus designed and built by Metro Cammell Weymann between 1986 and 1989 The Mercedes-Benz Citaro (or O530) is the current Mercedes-Benz / EvoBus mainstream Bus intended for Public transport, introduced in The Mitsubishi Fuso Aero Midi ( Kana:三菱ふそう・エアロミディ is a medium-duty bus built by Mitsubishi Fuso. The Nissan Diesel Space Runner JP (kana日産ディーゼル・スペースランナーJP is a medium-duty bus built by Nissan Diesel. The Nissan Diesel Space Runner RM (kana日産ディーゼル・スペースランナーRM is a midium-duty bus built by Nissan Diesel. The Optare Excel was a Low-floor full-size Single-decker bus manufactured by Optare. The Optare MetroRider was a Midibus sold by Optare between 1989 and 2000 The Optare Solo is a low floor Midibus manufactured by Optare in Leeds, UK since 1997 The Optare Versa is a Midibus built by Optare in its Leeds factory The Scania OmniTown was a bus body sold in the United Kingdom. The VDL SB120 (previously known as the DAF SB120) is a low-floor light-weight Midibus produced from 1999 by VDL Bus International (formerly DAF Bus Volvo B6 is a Midibus manufactured by Volvo between c 1991 and 1998 The VDL SB200 (previously known as the DAF SB200) is a light-weight 12m citybus produced from 2001 by VDL Bus International (formerly DAF Bus International
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