Buses in Florence, Italy - March/April 2013

[Mr OC Benz]

A small snippet from the full album which can be seen here.

ATAF Irisbus CityClass 491.12 CNG.
Eurolines Liechtenstein Setra S417HDH.
ATAF BredaMenarinibus Vivacity Plus CNG.
ATAF BredaMenarinibus Monocar 240.
Airport Bus Scania with Irizar Intercity bodywork.
ATAF BredaMenarinibus Vivacity Plus CNG.
Mini and Midi.
ATAF IVECO CityClass 491.12.
Tecnobus

[Mr OC Benz]

Airport Bus Scania with Irizar Intercity bodywork.
Mercedes-Benz Citaro U.
ATAF BredaMenarinibus Monocar 240.
ATAF Irisbus CityClass 491.12 CNG.

[drpeps]

I've never been to Italy yet, but when I do, Florence is on my must see cities. Nice photos Zack.

[Bedford-29]

Gee SITA moved from West Footscray to Florence Italy .I didn`t know they were still making those Techno buses.

[Mitch]

Gee SITA moved from West Footscray to Florence Italy .I didn`t know they were making those Techno buses.

Damn you, getting in before me with the SITA joke!

Those Irizar Intercities look rather odd! Great photos as always, Zack.

Thanks,
Mitchul (:

[VOLVO FAN]

I just wanna know what sort of gearbox and engine does the BredaMerinibus have? Also, Is that IRIZAR Scania a K380IB?

[Mr OC Benz]

I am 95% sure that BredaMenarinibus use IVECO Cursor 8 engines in their buses coupled to either a Voith or ZF depending on operator specification.

I would guess you are close with the Irizar Scania, but I wouldn't be able to be precise enough without physically getting up close.

[Tog]

The latest CNG-fuelled BredaMenarinibuses have Mercedes-Benz OM906 engines. The diesels are from Deutz or, for the higher power ratings, MAN. Voith or ZF boxes.

[Mr OC Benz]

Hmmm ok thanks for that. I definitely recall the ones I went on were Cursor engines ones, but they were older gen. I only went on one newer one which was equipped with a ZF and probably a different engine too.

[Bedford-29]

This might help what the Bredamanarini buses are powered by click on the English flag at the top.
http://www.bredamenarinibus.it/‎

[Mr OC Benz]

As Tog was saying, those new ones are using Deutz or MAN engines. But the older ones have similar characteristics to the IVECO CityClass of the same time, and they both use Cursor engines. I remember catching the bus into town everyday, and often in those, 240s, they are so underpowered (much like the Irisbus) that they had to be flogged in order to get anywhere.

[Tog]

The early BMB M240s with ATAF, fleetnumbers 3401-85, were delivered in batches between 2001 and 2004. These all have the 6.374 litre Mercedes-Benz OM906 Euro 3 engine, and typical of a low cylinder capacity turbo engine, sound terrible when worked hard.

BredaMenarinibus is still going, but its future is in doubt. It's part of the loss-making (financial basket case) Finmeccanica group and they're trying to sell it off as it's losing money and under investigation for the Rome trolleybus scandal. Their Turkish partners, Karsan, are interested but no doubt would move the production to Turkey. They are pretty much all that's left of the Italian bus industry, for now.

[Mr OC Benz]

The early BMB M240s with ATAF, fleetnumbers 3401-85, were delivered in batches between 2001 and 2004. These all have the 6.374 litre Mercedes-Benz OM906 Euro 3 engine, and typical of a low cylinder capacity turbo engine, sound terrible when worked hard.

It certainly didn't sound like an OM906LA for the ones i rode on, but I'll take your word for it. Of all my travels in Europe, I did not record any BredaMenarinibuses for sounds like I have with most other manufacturers.