Volvo B7RLE (Volgren CR228L)

The Volvo B7RLE Volgren CR228L is a bus type operated by Hillsbus. Currently, they can be found at 2 Hillsbus Depots.

## Fleet Numbers

There are 2 different variants: Buses with plate number M/O 5275-5279, 5281, 5282, 5284, 5303-5325, 5357-5362, 5365, 5366, 5369, 5373, 5375-5379, 5381, 5382, 5384-5392, 6000, 6013-6019, 6022-6028, 6030-6044, 6046-6048, 6548, 6788 and 6793, 9954-9957 have fog lights on the front bumper and a different interior design (stop buttons at rear on window frames and no poles or hanging handles at rear) to buses with plate number M/O 6054, 6055, 6057, 6058, 6060-6087 have no fog lights on the front bumper and poles as well as hanging handles at the rear. The stop buttons are on the poles as opposed to the window frames in this variant. These buses are the most common type used for metropolitan and charter services.

There are 128 of these buses with Hillsbus as well as a further 45 with CDC Hunter Valley Buses.

These buses used to be found at all 4 Hillsbus depots, but as part of a fleet restructuring in 2014, these were all moved to Northmead and Foundry Road depots. Another restructuring in 2020 moved all of these to Northmead while a third fleet shuffle in 2023 saw the buses once again distributed to all depots except Foundry Road.

A fourth shuffle at the start of the year saw 5320 moved to Hillsbus Dural for a month and a half before being transferred back to Northmead. 6070-6087, 6788 and 9954-9957 were also transferred to Seven Hills in January 2023.

Currently, all vehicles are at Hillsbus Northmead Depot except 6070-6087, 6788 and 9954-9957 which are at Hillsbus Seven Hills depot.

## Specifications

These are diesel powered with an additional tank for AdBlue to reduce harmful emissions and meet Euro 5 emission standards. They have a double leaf door at the front and a single leaf door in the middle of the bus.

These buses are also the only Hillsbuses with Voith gear transmission, which is quieter and smoother than the ZF Ecomat alternative (the EcoLife wasn't released yet). As a result, the journey is normally smoother. However, when a driver accelerates too fast, the bus lurches forward.

Both variants have a Denso air conditioner, have 2 wheelchair spaces and can carry a total of 69 passengers, 44 seated and 25 standing. Like most Hillsbuses, they have a green Mobitec flipdot display.

The buses with plate numbers 52xx, 537x, 538x and 539x are painted in a canary yellow paint scheme while buses with plate numbers 6xxx are painted in the Transport for NSW livery, with the exception of 6793, which is canary yellow. All other B7RLE buses in this body are painted in the Metrobus livery.

- As of April 2022, buses with plate numbers M/O 5281, 5284 and 5384 have been repainted into the Transport for NSW livery. 5384 has its fleet number painted in large text below the rear windows, similar to the buses with fleet numbers 6xxx.

-Despite being painted in the Metrobus livery, M/O 5318 now also has it's fleet number painted in large white text on the door side.

- M/O 5278 and 5373 have also been repainted into TfNSW livery. 5278 has small CDCNSW logos while 5373 has bigger ones. M/O 6057, 6062 and 5303 has also received large CDCNSW logos.

## Accidents and Incidents

On September 19, 2016, bus M/O 6061 carrying 22 passengers was hit by a crane at a construction site after it swung around at the wrong time. Some injuries were reported but there were no fatalities. A breakdown in communication at the work site is believed to be the cause of the crash. The full story can be found here.

Somewhere in November-December 2020, an image of M/O 6069 at Epping was posted onto Reddit. M/O 6069 was performing a left turn when it crashed into a road sign. The bus has since been repaired and is now back in service.

## Acquisition by Transit Systems NSW

Several of these buses have been sold to Transit Systems NSW to increase bus frequency on their routes. The acquired buses are M/O 5298-5302, 5367, 5368, 5380, 6001, 6012, 6020 and 6049-6053. These buses are the same as the ones ordered for Hillsbus, except 5300-5302 do not have the new Alcoa wheels.

## Acquisition by Busways Western Sydney

When Busways took over Region 1 in 2013, they acquired buses M/O 5285-5291, 5293, 5295-5297, 5364, 5370, 5371, 6002-6005 and 6008-6010. M/O 6002 has since been re-registered M/O 6738.

These have been re-upholstered in Busways blue vinyl seat fabric like many of the Scania L/K94UB that Busways also acquired.

## Trivia

The 2nd variation of this bus, along with buses with plate numbers 5303-5325 have a different wheel (made by Alcoa) to the other buses.

These buses have the exhaust pipe underneath the bus, at the rear on the door side.

This bus model is currently the 2nd most abundant bus type in the whole Hillsbus fleet, which somewhat explains their commonality.

These buses have a vent at the rear of the bus, facing the driver side of the bus.

Some of these buses used to be operated under other depots before being moved.

This bus, along with the Scania K280UB 14.5m (Volgren CR228L) are the only Hillsbuses that can be found in Metrobus livery.

- Of the buses in Metrobus livery, many have had white fleet numbers added to the rear bumper on the right, similar to on Transport for NSW liveried buses. The Metrobus logo on the front has been removed from nearly all Metrobus buses, although the side and rear decals have stayed.