The B10L was available in the United Kingdom and Ireland between 1994 and 1999, with a choice of two types of bodywork, the Alexander Ultra and the Wright Liberator. The Alexander Ultra body was marketed by Volvo, and based on the Swedish design produced by Säffle, who built the body on the first B10L imported to Britain. The Wright bodywork proved slightly more popular. In the UK, the articulated B10LA was bodied exclusively by Wrights for FirstGroup subsidiaries in Manchester, Leeds and Glasgow. The Wright body for the B10LA is named Fusion. The B10L enjoyed limited success in Britain. In 1997 the Volvo B10BLE was introduced to the British market, and this chassis rapidly became more popular. The B10BLE was cheaper than the B10L, and shared more in common with the step-entranceB10B, examples of which were already owned by many of its customers.
Customers
The largest fleet of Volvo B10L buses in the UK was purchased by Travel West Midlands, consisting of 80 conventional diesel-powered chassis with Wright Liberator bodywork, and 14 CNG-powered buses with Alexander Ultra bodies. The Alexander Ultra models are now converted to run on conventional diesel, with seven having been transferred to the training fleet before being returned to normal passenger use to replace the ageing Volvo B10Bs withdrawn from the fleet.
The second largest fleet was purchased by Translink, whose Citybus and Ulsterbus divisions acquired sixty new, plus a further two ex-demonstrators. All have Alexander Ultra bodies. There have been a small number of withdrawals but most remain largely intact as of January 2007, operating services in the Belfast and Derry areas. The B10Ls with Alexander Ultra bodies have proved unpopular with the drivers and the engineering due to poor electrics.
Travel Dundee received 30 Wright-bodied examples which began to enter service in February 1997.
The pioneer Säffle-bodied B10L was new to Mainline but they did not order any further examples and quickly disposed of it. As of November 2006 it was being used around Lincoln by Stagecoach subsidiary RoadCar, and is now preserved.
Eleven Wright Liberator-bodied B10Ls are operated byBus Éireann in Cork, and sister CIÉ company Dublin Bus purchased five Alexander Ultra-bodied B10Ls for use in Dublin. A sixth, experimental LPG-powered, vehicle was leased and later returned.
Finland
has 41 Volvo B10L buses with CarrusCity U bodies purchased between 1995 and 1999. 21 of these are gas-powered. Pohjolan Liikenne has bought four Volvo B10L buses with Lahti 402 bodies in 1999. Tampereen kaupunkiliikenne has eight articulated Volvo B10LA buses with Carrus City U bodies bought between 1996–1998 and in 2008. Jyväskylän Liikenne has 29 Volvo B10L buses with Carrus City U bodies built between 1997 and 1998. Part of these buses have been bought from Kuopion Liikenne. Koiviston Auto has five Volvo B10L buses with Carrus City U bodies bought in 1997 and 1998.
