Dennis Trident 3 - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

For 2-axle, transverse-engined Dennis Trident which is mainly built for the UK market, see Dennis Trident 2
Dennis Trident 2
Dennis Trident 2 is a 2-axle low-floor double-decker bus chassis originally built by Dennis in the United Kingdom, which was unveiled in 1997 and replaced the Dennis Arrow...

.

Dennis Trident 3 (marketed as 3-axle Dennis Trident) is the first low floor double-decker bus

Double-decker bus

A double-decker bus is a bus that has two storeys or 'decks'. Global usage of this type of bus is more common in outer touring than in its intra-urban transportion role. Double-decker buses are also commonly found in certain parts of Europe, Asia, and former British colonies and protectorates...

chassis built by Dennis

Dennis Specialist Vehicles

Dennis Specialist Vehicles is a major British coachbuilder and manufacturer of specialised commercial vehicles based in Guildford, England...

in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, with a large number purchased by bus companies in Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

, Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

and Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

Design

The Trident 3 chassis was developed from Dennis Lance/Arrow

Dennis Lance

The Dennis Lance is a single-decker bus built by Dennis between 1991 and 2000, replacing the Dennis Falcon. Its low-floor variant, the Dennis Lance SLF, was built between 1993 and 1996...

. It had a longitudinally-mounted rear engine, with a radiator mounted on the right hand side of the engine. An auxiliary axle was mounted behind the second axle to cope with the weight at the rear and reduce the rear overhang.

Trident 3 was available in 4 different body lengths: 10.3m, 10.6m, 11.3m and 12m. It could be fitted with Alexander ALX500

Alexander ALX500

The Alexander ALX500 is a 3-axle double-decker bus body built by Alexander of the United Kingdom. It was one of the ALX-series, which accounted for 5 different models , all of the models except the ALX100 featured the same designs on the front and rear panels that were originally designed for the...

or Duple Metsec DM5000 bodywork.

Engine

The engine

Engine

An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert energy into useful mechanical motion. Heat engines, including internal combustion engines and external combustion engines burn a fuel to create heat which is then used to create motion...

s used for these buses were all manufactured by Cummins

Cummins

Cummins Inc. is a Fortune 500 corporation that designs, manufactures, distributes and services engines and related technologies, including fuel systems, controls, air handling, filtration, emission control and electrical power generation systems...

. Earlier models use the M11-305E, a 305hp engine which complies with Euro II standards, or an ISM-330 330hp engine for the buses delivered to North America.

The M11-305E engine was replaced by the Cummins ISMe Euro III-standard engine in 2001. A 330hp version (the ISMe330) was used initially, but later models in Hong Kong adopted a 335hp (ISMe335) version.

Gearbox

Initially the options of gearbox included Voith

Voith

The Voith GmbH, which is headquartered in Germany, is a family-run corporation in the mechanical engineering sector with worldwide operations....

DIWA863.3 and ZF

ZF Friedrichshafen

ZF Friedrichshafen AG, also known as ZF Group, and commonly abbreviated to ZF, is a German public company headquartered in Friedrichshafen, in the south-west German region of Baden-Württemberg....

5HP590. Later Voith DIWA864.4 and DIWA864.3 gearbox were also chosen, but both were replaced by Voith DIWA864.3E gearbox.

For Euro III-engined Tridents, almost all of them were fitted with Voith DIWA864.3E gearbox, only 10 were fitted with ZF 5HP602 gearbox.

The prototypes

Six prototypical Dennis Trident 3 chassis were built in 1996.

The first Trident 3 chassis was delivered to Alexander

Walter Alexander Coachbuilders

Walter Alexander Coachbuilders was a Scottish bus coachbuilder and operater based in Falkirk.-History:Walter Alexander, notice a lack expasion by the Falkirk and District Tramways Company's especially in to Grangemouth which never hdd a tram line. In 1913 Alexander's Motor Service was created to...

in late 1996 and received a body with the front resembled to R-type design. It was retained by Dennis as a development vehicle. In 2005, it was converted to open top and sold for promotion of British newspaper The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...

.

The other 5 were all delivered to Hong Kong

Hong Kong

, two went to Kowloon Motor Bus

Kowloon Motor Bus

The Kowloon Motor Bus Company Limited , a company of the Transport International Holdings Limited, is the largest franchised bus operators in Hong Kong, and one of the largest privately owned public bus operators in the world...

and three to Citybus

Citybus (Hong Kong)

Citybus Limited is one of the three major bus operators in Hong Kong. It provides both franchised and non-franchised bus service. The franchised route network serves mainly Hong Kong Island, cross-harbour routes , Ocean Park, North Lantau and Hong Kong International Airport...

Prototypes

The assembly of the first Trident for Hong Kong was finished in February 1997. It has an Alexander ALX500 bodywork and had Kowloon Motor Bus

Kowloon Motor Bus

(KMB) air-conditioned bus livery. However, Dennis reserved this bus for tests initially.

The second prototype was finished and delivered to Hong Kong in May 1997, also having an ALX500 body and the KMB air-conditioned bus livery. When it arrived at Hong Kong, it was repainted with a golden colour. A red line indicating the floor of bus compartment was added, with people-like figures (designed with computers) situated just above the red line. This decoration work was for the purpose of showing that this bus is a "Super-low-floor" bus, which has better accessibility for passengers. The bus was assigned for several open activities for promotion before getting licensed in September 1997. It entered service two months later and had been in service on route 1A before being reallocated in 2005.

KMB adopted the class code ATR for Trident 3, which would also be used to number the production models.

The first prototype was delivered to Hong Kong later and entered service in 1999, with fleet number ATR101, meaning it is the 101st Trident 3 registered under KMB.

First batch (1997 to 1999)

For the first batch, KMB purchased 186 Tridents for its local services, and another 150 for the new Hong Kong International Airport

Hong Kong International Airport

Hong Kong International Airport is the main airport in Hong Kong. It is colloquially known as Chek Lap Kok Airport , being built on the island of Chek Lap Kok by land reclamation, and also to distinguish it from its predecessor, the closed Kai Tak Airport.The airport opened for commercial...

services under the name of Long Win Bus

Long Win Bus

Long Win Bus Company Limited provides bus service to northern Lantau Island and the Hong Kong International Airport...

.

All 336 buses of this batch are 12 metres in length. The KMB batch is assorted with Alexander and Duple Metsec bodies, while the entire Long Win batch is Alexander-bodied. Furthermore, 25 of the Long Win Tridents were built with coach

Coach (vehicle)

A coach is a large motor vehicle, a type of bus, used for conveying passengers on excursions and on longer distance express coach scheduled transport between cities - or even between countries...

standard, and are used for express services into the airport.

The Long Win batch entered service first between 1997 and 1998, followed by the KMB batch from September 1998 to 1999.

KMB adopted the code ATR for its own Tridents, and assigned the code LW for the Long Win batch with ordinary standard (The numbering of LW class starts from 11, continuing from the 10 Volvo Olympian

Volvo Olympian

The Volvo Olympian was a rear-engine double decker bus built by Volvo at Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotland. It was first built in 1992 and entered production in March 1993, replacing the Leyland Olympian....

s acquired by Long Win earlier in 1997). The coaches were assigned with the fleet code LWA.

Later, Long Win has its fleet number system revised, with the ordinary Tridents getting 1xx or 2xx fleet numbers, while the "coaches" got 5xx fleet numbers.

Further purchase (1999 to 2001)

The next batch of Tridents for KMB consists of 160 Duple Metsec-bodied productions.

The first 50 of them have a length of 10.6 metres (the code ATS was being assigned for them), and entered service between late 1999 and 2000. These buses are the last batch of KMB buses fitted with plastic route number and destination displays.

The next 110 of them are again 12 metres in length, and fitted with electronic route displays (This became the standard of all future buses bought by KMB).

Another 50 Alexander-bodied 10.6m Tridents entered KMB fleet in 2001. These Tridents' Alexander bodies were of a modified model, and all of them have electronic route displays. Two of them were experimentally fitted with Cummins

Cummins

ISMe Euro III standard engines and have special livery.

Last batch (2002 to 2003)

The last batch for KMB consists of 150 Alexander-bodied Tridents. These buses are fitted with electronic displays and Cummins ISMe Euro III standard engines, and have their bodies similar to the last 10.6-metre batch.

50 of the Tridents are 10.6 metres long, while the other 100 are 12 metres long. However, the order of 12 metres long Tridents was revised later and only 80 of them were ordered finally. The remaining 20 became the later TransBus Enviro500.

Transfers

It was soon found that Long Win did not get expected ridership and was in an excess of buses, so from 1999, 20 Tridents of Long Win were leased to KMB. 14 of them were officially acquired by KMB in December 2002, and the rest were returned to Long Win by 2005.

In 2010, Long Win had 20 Tridents transferred to KMB, the role of these buses in Long Win were taken over by 20 new Enviro500 buses.

Early withdrawal

Both KMB and Long Win have some of their Tridents withdrawn prematurely due to fire. Long Win lost one (fleet number 197) in July 1999 and got a replacement a year later. This replacement was Duple Metsec-bodied and with electronic displays, and received the fleet number 301.

One KMB Alexander-bodied Trident [Fleet number ATR6 (HV6943)] was destroyed by fire accidentally on 27 November 2002. The accident was caused by the leakage of flammable liquid brought by a passenger into the engine compartment. The bus was officially written off in the following year.

In July 2008, two Duple Metsec-bodied KMB's 12-metre Tridents [Fleet number ATR54 (HX7649) and ATR195 (JM8323)], one of KMB's Alexander-bodied 12-metre Trident (ex-Long Win vehicle) [Fleet number ATR358 (HR8939)] and one Duple Metsec-bodied 10.6-metre Trident [Fleet number ATS36 (JK6249)] were written off after being burnt out in KMB's depot in Tin Shui Wai

Tin Shui Wai

Tin Shui Wai is an area of Hong Kong, located in Yuen Long District, in the northwestern part of the New Territories. Originally a gei wai fish pond area, the ponds were reclaimed for the development of Tin Shui Wai New Town in the late 1980s...

on 31 March 2008.

Citybus

Citybus (Hong Kong)

's Trident fleet was not the largest, but often considered with greatest variety.

Prototypes

After KMB's first Trident was introduced, Citybus

Citybus (Hong Kong)

also had its prototype Tridents. The first prototype for Citybus was fleet-numbered as 2100. Having a Duple Metsec DM5000 body with coach

Coach (vehicle)

A coach is a large motor vehicle, a type of bus, used for conveying passengers on excursions and on longer distance express coach scheduled transport between cities - or even between countries...

specifications, it was introduced in November 1997.

The second and third prototypes were with ordinary bus specifications, and got their licenses one month after the first. The second prototype was fitted with Alexander ALX500

Alexander ALX500

bodywork while the third was fitted with a Duple Metsec body. They got fleet numbers 2200 and 2201 respectively, in order to distinguish from the "coach" standard model.

Production batch

The production batches of Citybus Tridents entered service between 1997 and 1999.

For the coach standard branch, 11 Alexander-bodied Tridents entered service in late 1997, followed by 50 Duple Metsec-bodied examples. Numbered after the first prototype, their fleet numbers were 21-prefixed. All these buses were used for "Cityflyer

Cityflyer

Cityflyer is a airport coach service provided by Citybus . The service was started during the opening of the Hong Kong Airport in 1998.-Fleet:...

" express services into Airport, although the Alexander-bodied frames are often substituted for semi-coaches described below. Fleet numbers 2101 and 2102 were later repainted in a special livery and reserved for route E22A.

The first batch of 22-prefixed production Tridents are often considered as "semi-coaches", as they have higher seat standards. A total of 60 semi-coaches entered service in 1998 to 1999 (although one of them stayed in Britain until its final delivery in 2000), while the following 40 (The last two were essentially 23-prefixed) were considered as ordinary standard buses.

Citybus also purchased the first 10.6m Trident 3 built by Dennis, which has Duple Metsec semi-coach body. It was introduced in 1999 with fleet number 2700.

Later purchases

In 2003, Citybus acquired 9 buses from NWFB and numbered them as 2302 to 2310, following its own production batch. They were fitted with luggage racks in the lower deck in 2007 to facilitate the introduction of new cross-border routes B3 and B3X from Tuen Mun

Tuen Mun

Tuen Mun is a town near the mouth of Tuen Mun River and Castle Peak Bay in the New Territories, Hong Kong. It was one of the earliest settlements in Hong Kong which can be dated back to the Neolithic period. In the more recent past, it was home to many Tanka fishermen who gathered at the Castle...

via the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Western Corridor

Hong Kong-Shenzhen Western Corridor

The Hong Kong-Shenzhen Western Corridor is a 5.5-kilometre , dual three-lane carriageway in Hong Kong, connecting Ngau Hom Shek, Hong Kong to an area leased by Hong Kong at Dongjiaotou, which is geographically located in southwestern Shenzhen, a city of mainland China...

Early withdrawal

One Citybus Alexander-bodied 12-metre Trident [Fleet number 2111 (HP2678)] was destroyed by fire after colliding with a motorcycle at Lung Cheung Road near Diamond Hill Railway station on 14 April 2010. The bus was officially written off in the following year.

One Citybus Duple Metsec-bodied 12-metre Trident [Fleet number 2259 (HX5754)] was written off on 28 September 2011 after a traffic accident with a lorry near a roundabout at Chek Lap Kok South Road on Lautau Island on 21 May 2011.

New World First Bus

It was rumoured that China Motor Bus

China Motor Bus

China Motor Bus Company Ltd. , often abbreviated as CMB, was the first motor bus company in Hong Kong, and was responsible for the introduction of double-decker buses to Hong Kong Island....

(CMB) had thought about purchasing ten Tridents in late 1996, but due to unpredictable delivery time Condors

Dennis Dragon

The Dennis Dragon is a 3-axle double decker bus built by Dennis of the United Kingdom in the 1980s and 1990s....

were bought instead. When New World First Bus

New World First Bus

New World First Bus Services Limited , abbreviated as First Bus and "NWFB", is the third largest public bus operator in Hong Kong.NWFB was established in 1998, taking over China Motor Bus's franchise on 1 September 1998 to provide bus services on Hong Kong Island together with Citybus...

won China Motor Bus's franchise in early 1998, plan was put forward of buying Tridents. Tridents have now accounted for over 50% of buses in its fleet.

First batch (1998 - 1999)

Three batches of NWFB Tridents are 12 metre in length, including the first batch of 160 Alexander-bodied Tridents and 42 Duple Metsec-bodied Tridents, both entering service starting from late 1998. NWFB assigned two different number schemes for these Tridents according to their bodywork (1001 onwards for Alexander bodied ones, and 3001 onwards for Duple bodied ones).

Second batch: Shorter variations (1999 - 2000)

The second NWFB batch entered service throughout 1999 as well as early 2000.

NWFB adopted a policy of purchasing shorter variations of Tridents in its second batch. 50 buses of this batch were still 12 metres in length (30 with Alexander ALX500 bodywork, and 20 with Duple Metsec bodies), but all others have a shorter length.

Thirty 11.3-metre Tridents entered service in 1999, along with sixty-two 10.6-metre ones. All these 92 buses were with Alexander ALX500 bodywork, and quickly replaced the old buses inherited from CMB.

A slightly later batch of 40 Tridents were fitted with specially-designed Duple Metsec bodywork. They were 10.3m (34ft) in length and 4.17m (13.7ft) in height, about a feet lower than standard models. These buses were designed for both height and length restrictive road conditions in the hills of Hong Kong Island, including the ones leading to The Peak

Victoria Peak

Victoria Peak is a mountain in Hong Kong. It is also known as Mount Austin, and locally as The Peak. The mountain is located in the western half of Hong Kong Island...

. These buses' fleet numbers originally included an "L" (for Low height) at the end, but removed some years later.

Last batch (2000 - 2002)

A 10.6m Trident prototype was acquired by NWFB in 2000, but the next Trident batch came only two years later. 41 Tridents with Euro III standard engines entered NWFB in 2002. 21 of them were of Alexander-bodied 12m version, while the other 20 were 10.3m special editions. Essentially, the last special edition buses are also the last of Duple Metsec-bodied Tridents.

Redundancy

NWFB's expansion in its early years proved to be too fast, and redundancy grew up fairly quickly. Many of its buses were sold elsewhere in order to archieve better utilisation. Nine 12-metre Tridents in the last batch (fleet number 1201-1209) were transferred to Citybus in 2003, only one year after their entry of service.

53 Tridents were transferred to the bus division of KCRC starting in 2004. All of them were shorter Alexander-bodied versions, with forty-seven 10.6m ones and six 11.3m ones.

KCRC

Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation

The Kowloon–Canton Railway Corporation was established in 1982 under the Kowloon–Canton Railway Corporation Ordinance for the purposes of operating the Kowloon–Canton Railway , and to construct and operate other new railways...

introduced twenty-two 11.3m Tridents (601-622) in 2000, as an expansion of the company's bus services. They were the first Tridents to be fitted with modified Alexander ALX500 bodywork.

Between 2004 and 2005, KCRC acquired forty-seven 10.6m Tridents from NWFB and numbered them 701-747. In August 2005, the company also acquired six 11.3m Tridents from NWFB and numbered them 748-753. This was the largest bus acquisition of KCRC since its first purchase of buses back in 1987, and was partly because of the retirement of that particular batch of buses.

Canada

BC Transit

BC Transit is a provincial crown agency responsible for coordinating the delivery of public transportation within British Columbia, Canada, outside of Greater Vancouver...

of British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Canada

Canada

ordered 11 Dennis Tridents with Duple Metsec bodywork in 1999. As 1 of them was damaged in transit, only 10 were allocated to Victoria

Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...

and entered service in 2000.

In 2002, BC Transit introduced 19 Dennis Tridents with Duple Metsec bodywork (assembled by Alexander

Walter Alexander Coachbuilders

), with 1 of them as the replacement of the Trident damaged in transit. The first 16 were allocated to Victoria

Victoria, British Columbia

, the last 3 were allocated to Kelowna

Kelowna, British Columbia

Kelowna is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley, in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. Its name derives from a Okanagan language term for "grizzly bear"...

Singapore

Singapore Bus Services (now SBS Transit

SBS Transit

SBS Transit Limited is a public transport operator in Singapore. Its major competitor in Singapore's duopoly transport system is SMRT Corporation, which also operates bus, rail, taxi and other transport services....

) of Singapore

Singapore

ordered 20 Tridents with Duple Metsec bodywork early in 1998. But due to large demand of Tridents from Hong Kong

Hong Kong

, the chassis were not built until late 1999.

They were finally delivered to Singapore in 1999 and underwent body assembly between 1999 and 2000. They were registered in the ranges of SBS 9671E to SBS 9690A and entered service in 2001. Until the arrival of the Scania K230UB

Scania K-series

Scania K-series is a series of bus with longitudinally, straight-up mounted Euro IV engine at the rear. For the 5- and 6-cylinder engines Scania is using exhaust gas recirculation system to fulfill the legal Euro IV emission standard...

s the Tridents were the only buses in the entire fleet of SBS Transit to feature electronic destination signs; other than for a few bus prototypes (including a Volvo Super Olympian currently in service on service 31), the company at the Tridents' time of introduction traditionally preferred plastic signs as a cost-saving measure.

They can now be found commonly in the northeastern and eastern parts of Singapore

Singapore

such as Hougang

Hougang

Hougang is an urban planning area and a suburb in the north-eastern area of the city-state of Singapore. Under classification by the Urban Redevelopment Authority, the area is part of the North-East Region, an urban planning division. Hougang borders Sengkang in the north and Serangoon to its...

, Punggol

Punggol

Punggol, or Ponggol, is a neighbourhood in northeastern Singapore. Presently, much of Punggol is undeveloped, although plans to turn the area into a residential new town under the "Punggol 21" initiative have begun to take place in the south-eastern parts of the area bordering neighbouring...

, Sengkang

Sengkang

Sengkang is a sub-urban town in the north-eastern part of Singapore. The Sengkang Planning Area, an urban planning zone under the Urban Redevelopment Authority, covers the Housing and Development Board satellite new town of Sengkang New Town and rural Jalan Kayu.-Etymology and history:Meaning...

, and Pasir Ris

Pasir Ris

Pasir Ris is primarily a residential area in Singapore comprising many high-rise residential dwelling blocks, mostly public housing built by the Housing and Development Board in Pasir Ris New Town. The town is located in the eastern part of Singapore....

United States

Gray Line

Gray Line Worldwide

Gray Line Worldwide operates local sightseeing tours across the world using trolley coaches, double-deckers and standard single deck coaches. It also offers charter services, airport transfers and convention services....

of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

introduced 30 Tridents with open-top Duple Metsec bodywork (assembled by Alexander

Walter Alexander Coachbuilders

) for its sightseeing services, these were followed by 10 buses with the same specifications.

They entered service in 2001 and were allocated to cities such as New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

and San Diego

San Diego, California

San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...

. It was known that the Tridents in San Diego were later transferred to New York City.

Further development

In 2002, the Trident 3 chassis was modified and then introduced as a complete bus, which was known as TransBus Enviro500.

No more Trident 3 chassis was known to be built after 2002.

Design

Engine

Gearbox

The prototypes

Prototypes

First batch (1997 to 1999)

Further purchase (1999 to 2001)

Last batch (2002 to 2003)

Transfers

Early withdrawal

Citybus

Prototypes

Production batch

Later purchases

Early withdrawal

New World First Bus

First batch (1998 - 1999)

Second batch: Shorter variations (1999 - 2000)

Last batch (2000 - 2002)

Redundancy

KCRC

Canada

Singapore

United States

Further development

See also