Scania OmniCity

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A Scania Omnicity in service with Metrobus.

The Scania OmniCity is an integrally-constructed transverse-engined citybus available on the European market. The OmniCity is a complete product built in Poland by Scania, a company based in Sweden.

[edit] Single decker

The single-deck OmniCity is a low floor easy access bus which was first introduced in 1996 in left hand drive form and in 2002 in right hand drive for the UK market. The first right-hand drive bus entered service in Nottingham in January 2002. The bus was converted from a left-hand drive bus by Nottingham City Transport. The OmniCity uses the CN94UB chassis or the articulated CN94UA chassis.

Unlike both the L94 and OmniLink models from Scania, the OmniCity features a full low floor without the need to use steps or ramps in order to reach the rear seats, similar to the Volvo B7L.

The OmniCity is popular in several European cities, most notably Stockholm, Sweden.

In 2006 the Scania OmniCity has received a facelift, with the large front headlamps being replaced by smaller, round items, and further tweaks carried out to the rear styling. This restyling is for the Euro IV version which has been launched. With this the chassis has been redesignated from CN94UB to CN230UB or CN270UB. The 230 and 270 indicate the maximum power (in hp) of the engine.

[edit] Double decker

In 2005 Scania announced the introduction of the OmniCity double decker in order to complement its OmniDekka citybus sold in the UK.

It is a complete Scania product and has a full low floor, unlike the OmniDekka which features a body by East Lancashire Coachbuilders. A demonstrator has been delivered to Travel West Midlands and entered service in November 2005. So far the orders are 5 buses for Lothian Buses of Edinburgh, Scotland which entered service during August/September 2006 and are in the Airlink livery. There are also 15 for Transdev London (formally London United) of which the first part of the batch entered service during October.

So far these are the only orders for the OmniCity double decker, as it is in limited production. That is until the Euro IV version is launched. The reason for this, is because the new Euro IV Scania engine is a 5-cylinder 9-litre EGR engine as opposed to its Euro III predecessor, which is a 6-cylinder 9-litre enigne.