Designline

Designline

Designline is a bus and coach manufacturer based in Ashburton, New Zealand. Designline was founded in Ashburton in 1985, as a manufacturer of tour coaches. It diversified into city buses in the early 1990s, and then to hybrid city buses in the late 1990s. It was acquired by American interests in 2006, and DesignLine International's headquarters is in Charlotte, North Carolina [ [http://www.designlineinternational.com/ Company website] ] .

Hybrid buses

Designline is best known for its hybrid buses, running on battery power and with a small gas turbine engine and generator to keep the battery charged. Originally designed as a response to the international tender for ecological buses to be used in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the design was rated as technically best Fact|date=July 2007 but did not win the tender.

The Chicago Transit Authority [ [http://www.transitchicago.com/news/ctaandpress.wu?action=displayarticledetail&articleid=103883 Transit Chicago News] ] and New York City MTA [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/14/nyregion/14buses.html New York Times] ] [ [http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/10/15/new-york-metro-transit-authority-testing-micro-turbine-hybrid-bu AutoBlogGreen] ] are utilizing the DesignLine ECOSaver IV hybrid bus. Banff is now the only 100% hybrid transit fleet in North America [ [http://www.banff.ca/locals-residents/public-transit-buses.htm Banff Website] ] . The DesignLine bus nearly doubles the fuel efficiency of a 40 foot bus, compared against traditional diesel vehicles.

These vehicles were introduced in 1998 on the "Shuttle" zero-fare inner-city bus in Christchurch, New Zealand [ [http://www.nzine.co.nz/features/designline3.html article in Nzine] ] , first as diesel hybrids, and then as gas-turbine hybrids in 2000. After trials in Japan in conjunction with The Tokyo Electric Power Company, they have found export markets in Japan (2003), Hong Kong (2003), and in England for the QuayLink operation. A similar model also tested in New York City in 2007, as shown to the right.

Other buses and coaches

Most of Designline's business is building conventional bus and coach bodies onto imported chassis.

Gallery

References

External links

* [http://www.designlineinternational.com/ Company website]


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