West Midlands Optare Spectra R1 NEG

1990s WEST MIDLANDS LOW-FLOOR DOUBLE-DECKER
Metro-Cammell Weymann ceased manufacturing buses in 1989, and the design rights to the Metrobus were bought jointly by DAF Bus (chassis) and Optare (body). However, the new bus that emerged in 1991 was substantially new. The DAF DB250 chassis was more a development of its SB220, but with an upright transverse engine (as Metrobus) and the rear axle and suspension from the Metroliner Express and Metrobus low-height chassis. While the Optare body had an aluminium frame (as Metrobus), it was based on the structural system that Alusuisse had developed for Hess double-deck bodies. The complete bus was marketed in the UK as the Optare Spectra.

In 1997, DAF designed a new low-floor chassis, the rear of which was similar to the earlier model, but the front two-thirds was entirely new. Optare developed a new version of the Spectra body to fit the DB250LF chassis. R1 NEG, the first example, became the first low-floor, easy-access double-decker in Britain to be handed over to a customer - Travel West Midlands - when it was exhibited at the Bus & Coach Show in October 1997.

R1 NEG was licensed in January 1998, and entered service with Travel West Midlands after a much-publicised launch in early February 1998. However, a similar bus owned by a small operator in Bristol had begun carrying passengers a few hours earlier, so R1NEG lost its claim the be the first into revenue service.

A second low-floor Spectra was delivered to Travel Dundee, but was eventually reallocated to Birmingham. Twenty 'production' vehicles followed, differing in some details, notably by having a slightly taller upper deck. All twenty-two were initially operated on service 50 from Birmingham city centre to the Maypole and Druids Heath. In 2009, the batch was transferred to Wolverhampton and used on various routes, until withdrawal in 2015.

Preservation
National Express West Midlands presented R1 NEG to the Museum in June 2015. It was then in red and white livery. In 2017, it was returned to its original red, white and blue livery, complete with the extensive promotional graphics it had worn when first displayed in 1997.