Samenvatting
Increasing customer expectations, in terms of on-board facilities and luggage carrying capabilities, has pushed up coach size and weight to the point where overloading is a serious problem to the industry. Meanwhile, bus operators have found it necessary to move from their traditional double deck buses to smaller vehicles. Following the success of the minibus, larger midibuses have become popular. This has led to a number of body designs being adopted which are not based on commercial van chassis. In contrast, the trend in France and Germany is to produce full size ultra-low-floor vehicles of integral construction. (A)