Scania OmniTown


The Scania OmniTown was a low-floor midibus body sold in the United Kingdom by East Lancs and Scania. It utilised the Scania N94UB chassis, which is the single-decker version of the N94UD double-decker chassis, with East Lancashire Coachbuilders bodywork. It is sometimes mistakenly referred to as the OmniTown chassis. The confusion concerning the chassis, and indeed the buses, arises due to the complexity of the OmniTown's and other Scania products' histories.

History

A batch of N94UB chassis were bodied by East Lancs. In early 2002, receiving the Myllennium style of bodywork, as fitted to DAF SB220 and Dennis Dart SLF chassis. These were delivered to London Easylink, then were transferred to East Thames Buses as the ELS class, and were, in essence, OmniTowns, but lacked the Scania identity, the Scania badges were added the following year.
Mayne of Manchester also bought two Scania N94UBs with East Lancs Myllennium bodies in 2004. After the acquisition of its bus business by Stagecoach, they were renumbered 28506 and 28507.
The first batch of genuine OmniTowns to appear in the United Kingdom were delivered to Nottingham City Transport in 2004 for use on tram feeder services. The bodywork, in common with the OmniDekka, was built by East Lancs but received front and rear panels from Scania, to match the OmniCity/OmniDekka. The body only differed from the East Lancs Myllennium in terms of the front and rear panels.
In 2006, the OmniTown could temporarily be ordered with modified Esteem front and rear panels. This version is currently operating with Metrobus and Preston Bus. The central part of the bodywork was the same as the OmniTown.
In 2007 a shortened 10.9m version of the Scania OmniCity replaced the Scania OmniTown body on the N94UB chassis. Metrobus currently operate 10 of these on the Fastway route 100.

Styling

It is completely different from the Scania OmniCity that its front is flatter and has no lump above the windscreen, it has a rounded roof dome similar to the OmniCity with a single-curvature windscreen and a separate destination blind. Although its front and rear were based on the Scania OmniCity, there are slight differences between the OmniTown and OmniCity, when comparing them, the East Lancs OmniTown front is flatter than OmniCity's. The OmniCity also has a lump above the windscreen.