Prepared on Notepad by Ian Smith,
This page created 3rd July 2018.

The Scania Omni-buses

Scania developed two main chassis for its low-floor offering: the N94UB and the N230UB. The former was ordered in 2002 by Durham Travel Services for its London operations on route 42. It was bodied by East Lancs in the single-decker Myllenium style, and was named the OmniTown. The OmniTown did not really catch on, being thirsty compared with its contemporaries. But Metrobus took a batch in 2006 for its Grove Park - Lewisham routes 181 and 284. These had modified Esteem bodywork by East Lancs.

Metrobus had already used the N94UD under its standard double-deckers, the 10.6m long OmniDekkas, from 2003. These were followed by slighly longer Omnidekkas (10.8m) and double-decker OmniCitys on N230UD chassis with Polish-built Scania bodywork. They also used Optare Olympus bodies on the N230UD. Many of the Metrobus Scania singledeckers went on to further work with Trustybus of Roydon.

Metrobus also majored on the MetroCity 12.0m single-decker, using them on its long intricate 358 route from Orpington to Crystal Palace via everywhere. It later used them on the X26 limited stop service from West Croydon to Heathrow. Metrobus also used them extensively on its Crawley routes, using some shorter (10.9m) versions as well as the 12.0m long ones.

The Polish Scania doubledeckers found favour also with Transdev, who bought them for London United and London Sovereign. The East London Bus Group (later Stagecoach again) took a sizeable number. First London had some too. Go-Ahead London had a small number of Omnidekkas and OmniCity double-deckers.

There was even an OmniCity bendibus demonstrator. Bendibus Scanias were operated by Menzies for Heathrow work, as were a large number of straight single-deckers.

I have started on these pages, but have not tackled all of them yet.


Ian's Bus Stop Scania Omni index. DTS OmniTowns.