Metrobus (vehicle type)
The Metrobus is a German type of omnibus that was jointly developed by MAN and Krauss-Maffei in 1959 and a total of 4858 units were produced by 1973. It is considered to be a forerunner of the German VÖV - standard bus and used to be widespread in North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria .
The name Metrobus (derived from Metropole ) only applies to the types 640 HO 1 and 750 HO in the narrower sense . Both series were solo buses for city traffic , both had an underfloor diesel engine in the rear . However, it is often incorrectly used for the visually similar types 890 UO (solo bus ) and 890 UG ( articulated bus ) with an underfloor motor between the axles (of the front end of the vehicle) and thus a higher floor, as well as the 535 HO (suburban, intercity or touring bus ) .
After the end of production in Germany, from the mid-1970s, other similar vehicles were built under license in Romania ( Autobuzul company in Bucharest ) and Yugoslavia ( Ikarbus company in Zemun ), and in Romania also as trolleybuses .
Prehistory and forerunners
In the mid-1950s, the German bus market was essentially dominated by four manufacturers, these were the companies Büssing , Daimler-Benz , Magirus-Deutz and Kässbohrer . These producers each produced a four-digit number of buses each year. The companies Krauss-Maffei and MAN, on the other hand, only played a subordinate role in the bus sector at that time - Krauss-Maffei only produced around 250 buses a year, MAN even only around 100. In order to be able to assert themselves on the market, the two joined forces Manufacturers formed a joint venture and jointly produced the KMS 120 bus . The most important part of this contract on future cooperation, however, was the planned redevelopment of a city bus , which was to be sold under the brand name "Metrobus".
Type 640 HO 1
description
The type 640 HO 1 is considered to be the “original Metrobus” and was first presented to the public in September 1959 at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt am Main . The vehicle was developed jointly by MAN and Krauss-Maffei. The Hamburger Hochbahn was also involved in the development through certain specifications (rear engine, large destination display on three sides, raised exhaust system), but ultimately there was no delivery order - Magirus-Deutz received the Saturn II (Hamburg type). At the time, the Metrobus was considered a modern city bus that was adapted to the requirements of the time. What was particularly new was the so-called composite construction , in which the chassis and vehicle body formed a unit. Previously, buses were usually built on conventional truck chassis. Furthermore, the Metrobus was the first MAN bus with a rear engine instead of the previously common front engine ("Schnauzenbus") or underfloor engine between the axles. The type designation is made up as follows:
- 6 40 HO 1 = 6 tons payload
- 6 40 HO 1 = approximate engine power (mean value between the variants with 1 35 HP and 1 50 HP)
- 640 HO 1 = H eckmotor- O mnibus
- 640 HO 1 = 1 0 meters long
production
The production took place again as a joint venture (as previously successfully tested with the predecessor type KMS 120 ), the chassis and diesel engine came from MAN, the body was manufactured by Krauss-Maffei. A total of 247 vehicles of the type 640 HO 1 were built, the series was produced as follows:
| Construction year | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| number | 1 (prototype) | 26th | 192 | 28 |
Operations companies
| city | Transport company | number | Numbers | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hamburg | Hamburger Hochbahn (HHA) | 1 | 6897 | Type with 135 HP (HHA was involved in the development of this type) |
| Munich | Stadtwerke Munich | 66 | 351-416 | |
| Dortmund | Dortmund municipal utilities | 56 | 1301-1356 | |
| Frankfurt am Main | City tram Frankfurt | 20th | 121-140 | |
| Fulda | Überlandwerk Fulda (ÜWAG) | 1 | 28 |
Received vehicles
- Omnibus-Club München eV, former car 366 of the Munich municipal utilities (until 1990 with the Munich riot police )
- Private ownership, former car 369 of Stadtwerke München (until 2003 command car of the Rosenheim volunteer fire brigade)
Type 750 HO
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description
Only three years after the presentation of the first metro bus, the type 640 HO 1 was further developed into the type 750 HO ; this model change took place in 1962. The 750 series buses were already air-sprung and had independent front suspension. The 150 hp diesel engine was housed under the floor in the rear of the vehicle. The type designation 750 HO meant:
- 7 50 HO = approx. 7 tons payload;
- 7 50 HO = 1 50 PS
- 750 HO = H eckmotor- O mnibus
However, Krauss-Maffei was only involved in the production of the new type at the beginning (the first 343 copies) and finally got out of the Metrobus project in 1963 due to differences with its partner MAN. In 1965, this company even withdrew from bus construction. MAN then manufactured the Metrobus completely in-house from 1963 and further developed it on its own after the end of the cooperation. So were z. From 1965, for example, more powerful engine variants with 160 hp or even 192 hp were offered.
In addition, MAN developed further variants derived from the 750 HO , including city buses with underfloor motors between the axles, articulated buses , suburban buses, intercity buses and coaches. However, these related series are not counted among the metrobuses in the narrower sense and were also only produced in comparatively small numbers compared to the main series 750 HO . To better distinguish it from these related designs, the type designation of the standard type was therefore supplemented by the letter M (for Metrobus) , so the 750 HO became the 750 HO-M . The vehicle length could also be taken from the type designation; in contrast to the predecessor series 640 HO 1 , the type 750 HO-M was offered in three different lengths:
- 750 HO-M 10 (10 meters long)
- 750 HO-M 11 (11 meters long)
- 750 HO-M 12 (12 meters long)
Furthermore, the versions with a double-wide front entry (four-part folding door) and thus a longer front overhang and shorter wheelbase were also marked with an "A" in the type designation (e.g. 750 HO-M 11 A ).
production
The 4631 750 HO buses were produced as follows, but one bus is missing from this list:
| Construction year | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| number | 230 | 278 | 294 | 319 | 316 | 417 | 582 | 552 | 862 | 746 | 29 | no | 5 |
The innovative and successful bus type 750 HO-M - at times there were even capacity bottlenecks in production - was then finally replaced from 1970 by the MAN 750 HO-SL , which was designed according to VÖV specifications (later than with the competing manufacturers who already VÖV from 1968 -Standard buses produced). With this changeover, the production of the 10- and 12-meter versions also ended, but the 11-meter version was produced for three more years before the Metrobus production was finally ceased in 1973; the last vehicles were delivered to the in 1974 Delivered to customers. A total of 4631 vehicles of the type 750 HO or 750 HO-M were produced, 343 of which were made by Krauss-Maffei and 4288 by MAN alone.
Operations companies
Received vehicles
- Museum car of the Rheinbahn Düsseldorf (car 8921, previously wheelchair bus)
- Mobile customer center of the Rheinbahn Düsseldorf (car 9856, now used as an InfoBus)
- Museum car of the Stadtwerke München (former car 4002)
- Omnibus-Club München eV (former car 4128 of Stadtwerke München)
- KEVAG-Oldie-Bus in Koblenz (35 seats, with tables, counter with beer tap, refrigerator and hi-fi system)
- Museum car of Stadtwerke Remscheid AG (car 42, year of construction 1970)
- Former bus of the ÜWAG Fulda, later operations management of the Fulda fire brigade, today owned by the company Zelte Walter GmbH in Hattenhof
- Formerly Arbeitsgemeinschaft Nahverkehr Dortmund e. V. (today in the paint scheme of Stadtwerke Hamm, but this bus is the former car 4003 of Stadtwerke München, which itself never ran in Hamm). Today the bus is owned by the Friends of Augsburger Tram e. V.
- Vocational driving school (BKF) in Neuwied, former car 41 of the VRW / SWN. The bus is painted white / blue and served as a driving school vehicle. It is no longer approved, and the inside is no longer completely preserved.
- Wilhelmshaven transport history (formerly Stadtwerke Wilhelmshaven, Wagen 39, 03.2017 to Regensburger Verkehrsbetriebe).
- Formerly Stadtwerke Landshut, Wagen 50 (today in private ownership)
Related series
Solo buses with underfloor motor (type 890 UO)
The type 890 UO is similar to the 750 HO, but in contrast to it has an underfloor motor (the abbreviation UO stands for U nterflur- O mnibus) with a higher car floor. Due to this classic construction principle, it is not one of the metro buses; only a few copies were produced. Buses of this type were e.g. B. in use in Wuppertal (the five buses of the 1095-1099 series).
Articulated buses with underfloor motor (type 890 UG)
The type 890 UG is the articulated version of the 890 UO, he also has an underfloor engine (the acronym UG stands for U nterflur- G elenkbus) and also not one of the Metro buses. The followers of this type with a steered axle were manufactured by the Göppel Bus company in Augsburg , so the type 890 UG, which was produced from 1962 onwards, is not a pure MAN or MAN / Krauss-Maffei product. For details on this type, see the main article MAN 890 UG .
Suburban, intercity and coaches (type 535 HO)
The type 535 HO, which was derived from the Metrobus, was available in three different versions; the intended use could be recognized from the type designation:
- 535 HO-V = suburban bus (of the comfort level above the Metrobus)
- 535 HO-Ü = intercity bus
- 535 HO-R = coach
Licensed buildings in Romania
The company Roman from Brașov had already had a license agreement for the construction of trucks based on various MAN models since 1969 . A few years later, Uzina Autobuzul Bucureşti in Bucharest used the opportunity to also obtain a license to continue building the metro buses that were no longer produced in Germany. An 11.68 meter long three-door variant of the metro bus with the type designation Roman 112 was built from 1975 , and coaches based on MAN were also produced. The Roman 112 became the Romanian standard bus in the second half of the 1970s and could be found in almost all city traffic. The Uzina Autobuzul manufactured DAC 112 E trolleybuses from 1976 using the same body ; they were to be found in all Romanian trolleybus companies at the time.
Licensed buildings in Yugoslavia
Metrobus licensed buildings were also built in Yugoslavia ; they were produced by the Ikarus company in Novi Sad (not to be confused with the Hungarian company Ikarus of the same name ). Three-door solo buses and four-door articulated buses for city traffic were offered, the type designation was IK-5 . However, they were not widely used, on the one hand because Ikarus in Zemun built other foreign models under license and on the other hand because there were other bus manufacturers in Yugoslavia. Buses of this type were used, for example, in the capital Belgrade and in the city of Pula, which is now part of Croatia .
Web links
- Detailed type chronicle at http://beku-bildarchiv.de
- Development history of the MAN metro bus at www.omnibusarchiv.de
- Type sheet at www.omnibusarchiv.de (PDF; 714 kB)
- Metrobuses in Fulda - picture gallery and information on www.stadtbus-fulda.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b MAN 750 HO Metrobus on Omnibusarchiv.de
- ↑ a b c type chronicle on beku-bildarchiv.de
- ↑ [Bus 8] MAN / Krauss-Maffei 640 HO 1 on www.omnibusclub-muenchen.de
- ↑ Carriages 121 to 140 in Frankfurt am Main on www.beku-bildarchiv.de ( Memento from July 19, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
- ↑ www.stadtbus-fulda.de ( Memento of the original from June 30, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ [Bus 3] MAN 750 HO M 11 A on www.omnibusclub-muenchen.de
- ↑ Auf Draht 03/2003, association journal of the traffic history working group Bogestra eV
- ↑ City buses in Fulda at www.stadtbus-fulda.de ( Memento of the original from May 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The history of electromobility on rwe.com
- ↑ History of MAN buses at www.fanseite-stadtbus-osnabrueck.de
- ↑ VBL Ludwigshafen buses on www.esquad.de
- ↑ all decommissioned diesel and natural gas buses at www.regensburger-busse.de
- ^ The buses of the RVB / Stadtwerke Regensburg from 1952–2013 on www.swr-regensburg.de
- ↑ Omnibus vehicle list on www.pi-bus.net ( Memento from March 25, 2009 in the web archive archive.today )
- ↑ modellbus.info
