Dennis Lance

Dennis Lance/Arrow/Lance SLF
One of Diamond Bus' Dennis Lances operating in Birmingham.
Manufacturer	Dennis
Built at	Guildford, England
Replaced	Dennis Falcon Dennis Dominator
Operator(s)	A number of bus operators in the UK Kowloon Motor Bus and others
Specifications
Floor type	Dennis Lance/Arrow: Step entrance Dennis Lance SLF: Low floor
Doors	1 or 2 door
Engine(s)	Cummins 6CT
Transmission	ZF
Options	Various customer options

The Dennis Lance is a single-decker bus built by Dennis between 1991 and 2000, replacing the Dennis Falcon. Its low-floor variant, the Dennis Lance SLF, was built between 1993 and 1996. Between 1995 and 1998, Dennis also built its double-deck variant, the Dennis Arrow (initially marketed as double-deck Dennis Lance), as the replacement of the Dennis Dominator.

The Dennis Lance was available with a number of bodies, most commonly Alexander PS and Plaxton Verde. It was sold to a number of bus operators in the United Kingdom, and it was also exported to Hong Kong and Singapore. UMW-Dennis of Malaysia also built a number of Lance chassis (known as the UMW-Dennis Lance) for the Southeast Asian market.

The Dennis Arrow was available with Northern Counties Palatine and East Lancs E Type/Pyoneer bodywork. Less popular than the Lance, it was sold to just five PCV operators in the United Kingdom, including Capital Citybus who bought 54 of the 73 built (the total number also included two purpose-built playbuses), London & Country who took 10 and Nottingham City Transport who took 4. The Dennis Arrow was superseded by the low-floor Dennis Trident 2.

Of around 105 Dennis Lance SLF built, the majority had Wright Pathfinder bodywork, including 38 for London Buses (type LLW) for use on the first London routes to go low floor including London United (now Transdev London) Hounslow route 120 and Centrewest (now First London) Uxbridge route 222, being 2 of 5 routes to introduce the type to the capital. The Berkhof Excellence 1000 NL bodywork was fitted to 30 dual purpose specialist vehicles for the British Airports Authority for use on staff shuttle duties at Heathrow Airport, delivered in 1994/5, and also five each for Stagecoach East Kent and Stagecoach Ribble.

Images

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  An Alexander PS bodied Dennis Lance operated by Kowloon Motor Bus in Hong Kong.

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  A Dennis Arrow with Northern Counties Palatine 2 bodywork in service with Nottingham City Transport.

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  Arriva North West's 2395, a Dennis Lance SLF with Wright Pathfinder bodywork in Bootle.

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  TIB927J, a Dennis Lance 245 with Duple Metsec bodywork, operated by SMRT Buses. It is shown here operating on the MRT Shuttle.

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