Optical guidance light urban transport

Civis, Cristalis and Optical Guidance. Intended for medium sized towns and the suburbs of larger cities the Civis concept was originally for a complete transport package including vehicles, guidance system and street furniture. When launched it was marketed as a Reserved Lane Light Urban Transport System and designed to be suitable for traffic flows of up to 3,000 passengers per hour / per direction. Civis was developed by Renault and Matra, two well established French transport concerns. Since then Matra was bought out by Siemens and Renault's bus and coach division merged with the Fiat-Iveco group's bus and coach division. However the euro-bureaucrats cried foul claiming that the latter merger was anti-competitive (as if there are no other bus builders anywhere globally!!!) and demanded a change in ownership, so since early 2003 Irisbus has been fully owned by the Iveco Group. The traction equipment is sourced from Alsthom. (It is to be regretted that there is no-one with similar powers to cry foul over the euro-bureaucrats not being elected to office, not being democratically accountable, or that because oodles of [British & European] [our] taxpayers' money goes astray within the EU 2007 marked the 14th consecutive year since auditors were last willing to approve its accounts).
A 'rigid' (not articulated) Cristalis in Limoges, France. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Trolleybus_Cristalis_ligne_4.JPG		Irisbus promotional image of an articulated Bologna, Italy, Trolleybus Rapid Transit (TBRT) Civis.
About The Vehicles. The vehicles come in two variants which share essentially the same bodywork and drive systems. The Civis is aimed at the "rubber-tyred tram / streetcar" market and the vehicles feature a pointed front where the driver sits centrally in a railway-style cab. This adds a little to the overall length and is only suitable for 'off-vehicle' fare collection systems which do not need to be supervised by the driver. Orginally it was expected that vehicles which use this configuration would also always use the optical self-steering guidance system, although this is not how things eventually came to pass. The other basic body variant features a more conventional bus-style flat front making these vehicles more akin to state-of-the-art 'second generation' modern buses. These are generally known as Cristalis. For length there are several options: 12 metre rigid, 18.50 metre (Cristalis) / 18.75 metre (Civis) single-articulated and 24 metre double-articulated (Civis only - in the original design specifications but not known to have ever actually been built). All variants are 2.55 metres wide, this being the euro-standard maximum width for buses. Production is mostly based at Rorthais in the centre-west of France, near to Nantes, although the chassis is treated with a full anti-corrosion immersion process (cataphoresis) at the main Irisbus bus plant at Annonay. The structure is fabricated out of stainless steel; the main side framing is very substantial, partly because with an integral low floor architecture most ancillaries are located at roof level. Over the last two decades a production system has been developed whereby the two main sides, front & rear ends plus roof are all constructed as separate sub-assemblies. They are built complete with glazing, wiring and trim, then, late in the production process, bolted to the chassis and to each other, to make a very strong structure. One of the features carried over from the conventional bus range is the use of main side panels made in a fibreglass material which are both visually attractive and easier to repair in the event of minor bumps and scrapes. The vehicles are electrically operated, either as trolleybuses which collect 750v dc power from twin overhead wires via poles mounted on the vehicle's roof, or as diesel-electric hybrid style buses where a rear mounted 224kW / 300 HP Iveco Euro 3 fossil engine powers an electric generator (alternator). Note that unlike other types of hybrid bus propulsion systems the diesel-electric variant does not include energy regeneration or storage, and although well proven on the railways it has proven to be something of an Achilees Heel when used on buses. The trolleybus variants can also fitted with a low power 66kW / 88 HP diesel alternator APU (auxiliary power unit) which gives them an ability to travel off-wire at reduced speed - many trolleybuses feature an APU as it is useful for emergency (and depôt) use allowing the vehicle to travel away from the power supply around an obstruction (eg: a road traffic accident). Transmission is via 80kw electric wheelhub motors driving the centre (articulated variants only) and rear wheels which feature the extra-wide low profile Michelin 'Super-Single' tyres obviating the need for paired wheels. These state-of-the-art tyres are designed to limit ground floor pressure, save 130kg per axle in weight, reduce rolling resistance (and hence energy consumption) and enable the vehicles' interior to be as wide at the back as at the front. This saves about 40cm in internal width. The main entrance doors are electrically operated. The twinleaf doors open outward and sit very close to the side of the body. When using guidance systems the buses can dock so close to raised compatible kerbs that there is practically no gap. However, for non-guided vehicles there are the usual options of kneeling suspension and ramps. With accurate docking the bus stop platform can be raised up to 27 cm (or 21 cm when the vehicle is kneeled), to provide accessibility to every user.
Cristalis trolleybus in Milan, Italy, on a priority road which is restricted to public transport, bikers and the emergency services. The leaf motifs represent a type of tree which grows along many of the tree-lined avenues served by these trolleybuses on routes 90/91. The building in the background is the central railway station; the vehicles behind the bus are taxis which had to stop whilst the bus called at a bus stop.		Scan from Irisbus promotional leaflet showing the inside of a Cristalis; the skylights are a feature of both vehicle ranges.
Rear view of a 'rigid' (not articulated) Cristalis in Lyon, France. The rear window is a very welcome feature which too often bus designers leave out.		Side three-quarter view of an 'articulated' Cristalis on the very busy route No.1 in Lyon, France