MAN A95 (Euro 6) – 3-Door Batch

MAN A95 (Euro 6) – 3-Door Batch
Manufacturer	MAN Truck And Bus
Bodywork	MAN Lion’s City DD (Gemilang Coachworks)
Years in operation	2021–
Operators	Go-Ahead Singapore SBS Transit SMRT Buses Tower Transit
Technical Data
Length	12.5 metre
Engine	MAN D2066 LUH-58
Transmission	ZF EcoLife 6 AP 2000 B
Accessibility	Low Floor & Wheelchair-accessible
Emission Standard	Euro VI (EGR+SCR)

In April 2019, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) procured 50 units of the MAN A95 (Euro 6) double-deck bus, configured with three doors and two staircases for smoother boarding and alighting.

These buses were procured under Contract PT342 (Procurement of 3-Door Euro 6 Double Deck Diesel Buses) for ~S$30 million. In total, 100 three-door diesel buses were procured, with Alexander Dennis fulfilling the other half of orders with its 50 Enviro500 (3-door) buses. Both bus types are expected to make their debut in 2021 (delayed from late 2020).

This is the sixth batch of MAN A95 (or MAN ND323F) buses supplied for Singapore’s public bus industry. The first unit entered service on 28 January 2021 with Go-Ahead Singapore, operating on Bus Service 83.

Prior to the introduction of these 3-door buses, a one-off MAN A95 (3-Door) Concept Bus was commissioned by the LTA. Bearing the registration plate SG5999Z, it was first exhibited to the public in March 2016, and underwent revenue service trials with Tower Transit (Mar—Sep 2017) and SBS Transit (Apr 2018—Present).

Check out the main article: MAN A95 for more background information on the bus model. A comparison between the 3-Door ADL E500 and MAN A95 can be found here.

MAN A95 (Euro 6) – 3-Door Production Batch (3-Door)

The 50 MAN A95 Euro 6 (3-Door) buses are registered as SG6283Z – SG6332R. These buses are the third batch of MAN A95 (Euro 6) buses for the Singapore market, and the sixth production batch of MAN A95 buses overall, with the inclusion of three preceding batches of Euro 5 orders.

The first unit(s) registered for the various Public Transport Operators are:

• Go-Ahead Singapore – SG6283Z (25 Jan 2021)
• Tower Transit – SG6284X, SG6285T, SG6288K – SG6292Y (26 Jan 2021)
• SBS Transit – SG6286R (28 Jan 2021)
• SMRT Buses – SG6287M (28 Jan 2021)

Buses made their debut on 28 January 2021, with Go-Ahead Singapore deploying its 3-Door MAN A95 (SG6283Z) on Bus Service 83. More bus service debuts are detailed in the main article, 3-Door MAN A95 bus launches.

Specifications

Contract PT342 (Procurement of 3-Door Euro 6 Double Deck Diesel Buses) was put up by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on 15 May 2018 and awarded on 25 April 2019. Alexander Dennis and ST Engineering Land Systems would deliver 50 buses each, namely the Alexander Dennis Enviro500 and the MAN A95 (Euro 6).

Tender specifications for the three-door double-deck bus call for one entrance and two exit doors and the rearmost exit door must be behind the rear axle. In addition, the bus has two staircases and built in a low-floor design. Buses are also limited to a maximum length of 12.5 metres. These buses are also Euro 6 (or Euro VI)-compliant, representing the latest emission standards which came into effect on 1 January 2018 for all new diesel vehicles registered in Singapore.

The second staircase of the 3-door MAN A95 is located on the right side of the bus, with side- and rear-facing seats on the upper deck to accommodate a raised lower deck ceiling near the exit door. The rear overhang has also been lengthened by 0.5 metres to accommodate the third door, which is an outward-sliding single-leaf door. The existing wheelbase remains identical to the 12-metre MAN A95; in contrast, the wheelbase of the 12.8-metre MAN A95 (3-Door) Concept Bus was manually extended by welding extension bars in the middle.

Existing LTA requirements for new buses include two wheelchair bays; a Passenger Information Display System (PIDS) comprising LED text displays, LCD display screens and interior speakers; Advanced Driver Assistance System and Anti-Fatigue system; high-definition CCTV cameras; and automatic passenger counters at entrance and exit doors of the bus.

Transition to clean energy bus fleet

The 100 three-door double-deck buses under Contract PT342 are the last pure-diesel buses to be procured for the Singapore public bus industry.

Authorities announced during the Committee of Supply Debate 2019 that Singapore would commit to a 100% clean energy bus fleet by 2040. This commitment was reaffirmed the following year, at the Committee of Supply Debate 2020, where it was announced that only electric or hybrid buses would henceforth be procured in line with this clean energy goal.

Design Features & Challenges

Prior to this tender, European bus manufacturers typically made fully-low-floor chassis targeted at their domestic left-hand-drive (LHD)-dominant market. As a result, drivetrain components are offset to the left of the chassis to accommodate a full-low-floor design and an optional third door at the rear. The MAN A95 chassis is no different, with its offset T-drive drivetrain layout adapted from the low-floor MAN Lion’s City model line. The ZF drive axles used on the MAN A95 are also configured only with the differential on the left side, thus requiring a left-side driveshaft connection.

Given that the tender called for a right-hand-drive (RHD), full-low-floor diesel bus with a third door at the rear overhang, bus manufacturers faced the challenge of modifying existing designs to fulfil this (relatively) small batch of buses in the most economical way.

ST Engineering (Land Systems) and MAN managed to modify the existing MAN A95 chassis into a three-door bus without redesigning the drivetrain layout. This necessitated having a raised lower deck rear floorboard to accommodate underfloor components, particularly the transmission and driveshaft which connect the engine to the drive axle.

As a result, the 3-door MAN A95 (Euro 6) buses are not fully-low-floor. The aisle area near the third door is raised by one step, and the additional headroom required on the lower deck protruded into the upper deck, necessitating a unique upper deck rear seating layout with side- and rear-facing seats.

Alighting from the rear door requires passengers to descend from two steps. A similar rear exit staircase is featured on the MAN Lion’s City SD 3-Door Concept Bus, but with three steps.

The rear alighting staircase on the 3-door MAN A95 (Euro 6) buses faces the rear end of the bus. It is believed that feedback from the revenue service trial of the MAN A95 (3-Door) Concept Bus (SG5999Z) was unfavourable with regards to the safety of the front-facing alighting staircase, which put passengers at risk of falling forwards when the bus had to brake suddenly. A retractable barrier was retrofitted after its debut, which prevents upper deck commuters from accessing the rear staircase when the bus is in motion, and only opens when the bus is at a stop.

The 3-Door buses are cited under the Road Traffic (Motor Vehicles, Construction and Use) (Exemption for 3-door Omnibus) Order 2019 [Link]. Under these exemptions, buses under Contract PT342 are allowed to be longer than 12 m (max. 12.5 m), have a longer vehicle rear overhang (>60% of wheelbase allowed), have a greater turning circle (>19 m diameter), and have passenger doors narrower than 1.2m width (likely for the third door only).

Fleet

The fleet of 50 buses are leased to the following operators:

• Go-Ahead Singapore (23 units)
  SG6283Z (Registered on 25 Jan 2021)
  SG6295P SG6296L SG6297J SG6298G SG6299D (Registered on 27 Jan 2021)
  SG6302C SG6303A (Registered on 1 Apr 2021)
  SG6300H SG6314T (Registered on 6 May 2021)
  SG6315R SG6316M SG6317K SG6318H SG6319E (Registered on 23 Jul 2021)
  SG6320A SG6321Y SG6322U SG6323S (Registered on 29 Jul 2021)
  SG6324P SG6325L SG6326J SG6327G (Registered on 30 Jul 2021)
• Tower Transit Singapore (14 units)
  SG6284X SG6285T SG6288K SG6289H SG6290C SG6291A SG6292Y (Registered on 26 Jan 2021)
  SG6305U SG6306S SG6307P (Registered on 26 Mar 2021)
  SG6308L SG6309J SG6310D SG6311B (Registered on 5 May 2021)
• SBS Transit (8 units)
  SG6286R (Registered on 28 Jan 2021)
  SG6293U SG6294S (Registered on 10 Feb 2021)
  SG6328D SG6329B SG6330X SG6331T SG6332R (Registered on 21 Jul 2021)
• SMRT Buses (5 units)
  SG6287M (Registered on 28 Jan 2021)
  SG6301E (Registered on 10 Feb 2021)
  SG6304Y (Registered on 16 Mar 2021)
  SG6312Z SG6313X (Registered on 4 May 2021)

Go-Ahead Singapore launched its 3-Door MAN A95 (SG6283Z) on 28 January 2021, deployed on Bus Service 83. It was the first bus operator to put the 3-Door MAN A95 into revenue service.

On 31 January 2021, Tower Transit deployed its 3-Door MAN A95 buses on revenue service, with SG6288K on Bus Service 334. This was followed by SBS Transit, with SG6286R deployed on Bus Service 243W on 7 February 2021 and SMRT Buses with SG6287M deployed on Bus Service 900 on 14 February 2021.

Main Article: 3-Door MAN A95 bus launches.

Deployments

The 3-door buses are regularly deployed on the following bus services:

• Go-Ahead Singapore
  From 28 Jan 2021 – Bus Service 83
  From 7 Feb 2021 – Bus Service 119
  24 Feb 2021 to 7 Nov 2021 – Bus Service 518 / 518A
  From 19 Jul 2021 – Bus Service 62 / 62A
  From 8 Nov 2021 – Bus Services 3 & 68
  From 9 Nov 2021 – Bus Service 3A
  From 13 Nov 2021 – Bus Service 118 (one-off deployment on 19 Apr 2021)
• Tower Transit
  From 31 Jan 2021 – Bus Service 334
  From 2 Feb 2021 – Bus Service 106
  From 1 Apr 2021 – Bus Service 97
  From 10 Jun 2021 – Bus Services 97e, 106A, 333 & 941
  From 11 Jun 2021 – Bus Service 990 (one-off deployment on 9 Apr 2021)
• SBS Transit
  From 7 Feb 2021 – Bus Service 243W
  From 8 Aug 2021 – Bus Service 197
• SMRT Buses
  From 14 Feb 2021 – Bus Service 900 / 900A
  From 18 May 2021 – Bus Service 983 / 983A

Exterior

The 3-Door MAN A95 (Euro 6) buses were built by Gemilang Coachworks in Senai, Malaysia, and delivered to Singapore by road. The MAN’s Lion City DD bodywork is supplied and assembled by Gemilang Coachworks, licensed by MAN.

The exterior styling of the bus is a continuation of minor styling updates which Gemilang had brought to consecutive batches of MAN A95 buses. Apart from the obvious addition of a third door and extended rear overhang, body panels and styling elements are identical to that of the MAN A95 (Euro 6) – Second Production Batch, such as the truncated grey stripe next to the exit door, and tree guards on the upper deck.

Minor exterior additions include the addition of side marker lights along the exterior of the bus for enhanced visibility in low-light conditions. These buses also feature Electronic Display Signs (EDS) supplied by LECIP; previous MAN A95 (s​​) buses were supplied with EDS units from Luminator Technology Group.

The suspension ride height on the 3-Door MAN A95 (Euro 6) buses is also adjusted lower than that of other MAN A95 buses. While the reduced ground clearance aids boarding and alighting (especially with the third door), the feature also exacerbates ground strikes due to the reduced approach and departure angles, especially over humps.

The long rear overhang is also at risk of kerb strikes should buses execute sharp turns close to the kerb (e.g. turning out of bus stops). This has been observed to cause problems for the third door should the rear panel get dislodged, which interferes with the movement path of the third door.

Continued on Page 2 – Full interior coverage

• 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

Further reading on Page 3:

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