MAN A95 (Euro 6) – 3-Door Batch

Continued from Page 1

• Background
• Technical Specifications
• Design Features & Challenges
• Bus Fleet & Deployments
• Exterior write-up

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Interior

The 3-Door MAN A95 (Euro 6) is a low-floor double-deck bus, offering step-free access along the front section of the bus.

The main novelty of this batch of buses is the three-door configuration, with an entrance door at the front, an exit door in the middle, and a second exit door at the rear of the bus.

Interior coverage will be outlined over the following sections:

• Lower Deck
• Upper Deck
• Staircase
• Drivers’ Compartment
  • Collision Warning System
  • Anti Fatigue System
• Features In-Depth
  • Wheelchair Bay
  • PIDS
  • Door systems
  • USB Charging Ports
  • APCS

Lower Deck

The lower deck of the bus features 17 permanent seats. The low-floor layout offers step-free access along the front two-thirds of the bus’ length.

Despite the bus’ increased length (by 0.5m) over the standard MAN A95, seating room was sacrificed to accommodate the second staircase and third door. This dropped the seating capacity of the 3-Door buses from 25 to 17 when compared with the standard MAN A95.

Seats were supplied by Vogel Industrie of Malaysia (Model: Century) in sky blue, with priority seats in red. Vogel Industrie supplies the bench seats for most public buses in Singapore, and the Century is its latest product released in 2021. This new seat features thicker upholstery and better contours, improving the comfort over older bus seats (previous model: System 750/3).

The entrance doors are conventional inward-swinging leaf doors, while both exit doors are outward-swinging sliding plug doors. They are supplied by Masats S.A.

The bus features two wheelchair bays: one behind the front left wheel well (“front”), and the other located opposite the exit door (“rear”). They each accommodate one passenger-in-wheelchair (PIW), with a foldable seat integrated into the wheelchair backrest. A stowable handlebar and a stroller restraint system is provided for wheelchair users and the securing of prams respectively.

Grab poles and handgrips are located on both sides of the aisle. All seats also have hand grips to provide commuters with additional support. Metal stanchion poles and handlebars bear a brushed metal finish.

Bus stopping bell-pushes are located around the bus cabin, either mounted to stanchion poles or on the pillars in-between windows. Emergency hammers are also located on these pillars. Stanchion-mounted bell pushes on the lower deck come with a yellow coated area above and below the bell push for enhanced visibility, which appears to be a common feature on many new buses since the Volvo B5LH.

The rear section of the lower deck features the second staircase, and more front- and rear-facing seats. Several front-facing seats have lap belts installed.

 

Although the MAN A95 is a full-low-floor chassis, the rear aisle near the third door is raised by one step, and as a result, the 3-Door MAN A95 bus is not full-low-floor. As detailed earlier in the article, the use of the MAN A95 chassis without modifying the powertrain layout precluded the possibility of installing a third door at kerb height, owing to transmission components in the way. Alighting from the third door requires passengers to descend from two steps.

The additional headroom required on the lower deck protruded into the upper deck, necessitating a unique upper deck rear covered in a later section.

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Upper Deck

The upper deck of the bus seats 50 passengers. The front section is arranged in conventional four-abreast, with a central aisle running the length of the bus.

Grab poles run the length of the aisle for commuters moving around the bus. All seats also have hand grips to provide commuters with additional support.

Bus stopping bell-pushes are located around the bus cabin, either mounted to stanchion poles or on the pillars in-between windows. Emergency hammers are also located on these pillars.

At the rear of the upper deck. the 3-Door MAN A95 (Euro 6) features a unique seating layout with rear- and side-facing seats. This is due to additional headroom requirements caused by the raised lower deck aisle, which protrudes into the upper deck passenger cabin.

As the central aisle is directed to the side of the bus, the aircon ducting is modified for additional headroom, and cushioned pieces are also added to minimize head injury. These are accompanied by warning stickers.

A single handgrip is also provided for the benefit of passengers moving around the rear of the upper deck. It is not intended for standing passengers.

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Staircases

The 3-Door MAN A95 (Euro 6) has two staircases. The front staircase is located behind the driver’s cab, while the second staircase is located at the rear, in-between both exit doors.

The staircases are designed with two flat staircase landings (“straight staircase”) and a small triangular viewing window. A seat counter (LED number display) on the lower deck displays the number of available seats on the upper deck.

For optimal passenger flow, the LTA envisions that the front staircase is used for boarding passengers, and the rear staircase used by alighting passengers. In practice, there are no such restrictions on passenger flow, nor any advisories posted to inform commuters.

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Additional Features

Driver’s Compartment

The dashboard of the 3-Door MAN A95 (Euro 6) buses retain the layout changes that were first implemented on the MAN A95 (Euro 6) – Second Production Batch.

The driver display units for the Trapeze Common Fleet Management System (CFMS) and NOBE fare collection system share a single mounting bracket next to the coinbox.

CCTV monitors and the Electronic Display Sign (EDS) controller unit are mounted above the driver’s seat.

A Collision Warning System and Anti-Fatigue System are installed as a standard feature on all new buses.

Collision Warning System

The Collision Warning System is supplied by TNT Surveillance. The front collision warning camera (Front Alert Camera T-FA) integrates Forward Collision Warning, Lane Departure Warning, Distance Monitoring and Pedestrian Detection features.

These buses have yet to be installed with side collision avoidance cameras for reasons unknown.

Anti-Fatigue System

The driver Anti-Fatigue System is supplied by TNT Surveillance. Mounted in the centre of the dashboard, the T-DA Driver Alert Camera combines a camera and an infrared illuminator into a single unit. Abnormal conditions detected include fatigue, distraction, smoking, and making phone calls. Visual and audio alerts are issued via the T-Watch dashboard-mounted display unit.

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Features in-depth:

Wheelchair Bay

Wheelchair accessibility is offered via a manual wheelchair ramp installed at the middle door. LTA specifications call for two wheelchair bays on new buses in line with providing for an ageing population. They also offer more standing space, as well as room for unfolded prams.

The bus features two wheelchair bays: one behind the front left wheel well (“front”), and the other located opposite the exit door (“rear”). Each bay accommodates one passenger-in-wheelchair (PIW), and the wheelchair backrest contains a foldable seat that doubles as a rear-facing seat. These seats do not contribute to the licensed seating capacity of the bus.

The forward wheelchair bay is also equipped with a stroller restraint system. USB Charging ports are also provided at both bays. This batch of buses is the first to feature an updated design of the stroller restraint system, which can be stowed when not in use.

A unique feature of these buses is the pivoting handlebar at each wheelchair bay, for the benefit of PIWs. It can be manually deployed and stowed depending on the needs of the passenger.

The updated design of the stowable handlebar significantly differs from the folding armrest supplied to previous generations of MAN A95 buses, and appears to have taken inspiration from the Yutong E12 and Yutong E12DD buses which entered service the previous year (2020).

Handlebars are deployed by lifting the bar, rotating it towards the aisle, then dropping it in place to secure it in position.

Passenger Information Display System (PIDS)

The 3-Door MAN A95 buses are equipped with Passenger Information Display Systems (PIDS) for commuters. All display units are supplied by Japan-based company LECIP.

1. LCD Display Panel (21.5″) (x2) — Lower & Upper Deck
   Shows the bus service number, destination, current time, next bus stop, and up to 3 subsequent bus stops, along with rail connections at these bus stops.
2. LCD Display Panel — Exterior-facing, beside entrance door
   Shows next few MRT/LRT stations served, and number of bus stops to that MRT/LRT station
3. LED Colour Display (x2) — Lower & Upper Deck
   Shows the bus service number, destination, and next bus stop

Door systems

The entrance doors are conventional inward-swinging leaf doors, while both exit doors are outward-swinging sliding plug doors. All door systems are supplied by Masats S.A.

Entrance Door

The 3-Door MAN A95 buses are the first production batch of MAN buses to feature electrically-actuated entrance doors for quieter operation. All previous MAN A22, A24 and A95 buses used pneumatically-actuated entrance doors. Electric doors were also used on SG4002G and SG5999Z, which were concept buses.

The centre pole at the front door was removed to make boarding easier for parents with strollers. Door movement areas are also indicated in yellow.

Middle Door

The middle and rear doors are electrically-actuated sliding plug doors. A manual wheelchair ramp is installed on the floor of the middle door.

Rear Door

Unlike the other doors, the door arm of the third door (indicated in yellow and black) protrudes significantly into the passenger cabin. To protect against head injury, extra foam padding was added to the door arm, along with an edge guard around the cornered portions of the door arm.

As detailed earlier in the article, the use of the MAN A95 chassis without modifications to the powertrain layout precluded the possibility of installing a third door at kerb height.

Likely Masats model numbers: 029g (front door), 028c (middle door), 028b (rear door).

USB Charging Ports

The bus is equipped with USB charging ports (with covers) for all seats, including the two wheelchair bays. A single charging port has room for two USB cables, with an output of 1A and 2.1A. The charging ports are mounted on the side panels of the bus.

Automatic Passenger Counter System

Automatic passenger counters by iris-GmbH infrared & intelligent sensors (Model: IRMA MATRIX) are installed above all doors. This system enables authorities to gather accurate passenger loading data.

A different model of passenger counter (Eurotech DynaPCN 10-20) is installed above the staircases, which track the number of seats available on the upper deck.

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MAN A95 Public Buses

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Continued on Page 3 – Issues faced during revenue service

• Issued faced during revenue service
  • Third door issues
  • Entrance door issues
  • Low ground clearance & rear overhang
• Gallery

Previously on Page 1:

• Background
• Technical Specifications
• Design Features & Challenges
• Bus Fleet & Deployments
• Exterior write-up