North America
In 2004, Alexander Dennis started to explore the North American market for its Enviro500. The American version of Enviro500 have modified bodies and redesigned fuel tanks, which enable the straight staircase to be moved forward. Alexander Dennis built two left hand drive Enviro500 (one 12m-long bus and one 12.8m-long bus) for demonstration in the United States and Canada.
Bus operators which had evaluated the Enviro500 include Community Transit of Snohomish County, Washington (December 2005), Unitrans of Davis (January 2006, two weeks), OC Transpo of Ottawa (28 June to 12 July 2006 and February 2007) and the San Francisco Municipal Railway of San Francisco (November 2007 to January 2008).
Alexander Dennis also built one 12-metre Enviro500 demonstrator for long-term loan. It was first loaned to Community Transit between 2007 and 2009 which put it into service on 1 August 2007, the bus was used on commuter routes between Seattle and various points in Snohomish County during its first year in operation. From September 2010, it was loaned to Strathcona County Transit on a one-year lease for the operator's one-year-long double-decker pilot project. The pilot is part of an exploration of different high-capacity bus types to carry more passengers on the high-demand commuter routes, which are between Strathcona County and Edmonton; an articulated bus is also being evaluated as an alternative and there is no commitment to put any Alexander Dennis model or any double-decker design into permanent service. This bus becomes the first double-decker to be used for regular transit service in Alberta.
In late 2008, Alexander Dennis announced the assembly of the American version of Enviro500 by ElDorado National of the United States.
Read more about this topic: Alexander Dennis Enviro500
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