Volvo B7RLE (Volgren Optimus)

### Depot(s)

Hillsbus Foundry Road (HF)Hillsbus Dural (HD)Hillsbus Northmead (HN)(temporary)Various other depots in Hunter Valley

### Air Conditioning

Yes (1st gen Denso, 2nd gen Coachair)

The Volvo B7RLE (Volgren Optimus) is a twin-axle 12.5 metre long diesel bus operated by Hillsbus. They have 2 wheelchair spaces each and have a tank for AdBlue to reduce harmful emissions.

## Fleet Numbers

There are actually two different variants: the first generation has the plate numbers M/O 6127, 6129-6132, 6134, 6137, 6138, 6140, 6141, 6143-6154, 6338, 6339, 6341-6350, 6370-6382, 6385-6389, 6617, 6639-6642, 6646, 6647, 6649-6651, 6654, 6662 and 6739-6745 while the second generation, ordered for Station Link (see Station Link section) has the plate numbers M/O 6552, 6846-6854, 6857-6865, 6867, 6869, 6873, 6875-6880, 6889, 6890, 6893-6897, 6901-6905, 6907, 6908 and 6914-6917.

The major differences between the two variants are that the 1st generation has non-tinted windows, horizontal windscreen wipers, no engine grilles at the rear, no information screens inside and only 1 bus stopping light while the 2nd generation has tinted windows, vertical windscreen wipers, engine grilles at the rear, information screens inside and 2 bus stopping lights (one is covered by a screen which displays stop information).

Buses with plate numbers M/O 61xx, 63xx and 66xx are based at the Hillsbus Foundry Road depot while buses with plate numbers 67xx are based at the Hillsbus Dural depot. Buses with plate numbers M/O 6552, 6901-6905, 6907 and 6908 are based at the Hillsbus Northmead Depot while all other 2nd generation buses have either been moved to bus depots in the Hunter Valley or bought by Transit Systems NSW or both.

Buses 6127, 6129 and 6130 as well as 6739-6745 are at Hillsbus Dural Depot while 6552, 6901-6905, 6907 and 6908 are at Hillsbus Northmead Depot. All other vehicles are at Hillsbus Foundry Road Depot.

## Specifications

These vehicles were ordered in 3 batches. The 1st batch comprises vehicles numbered 61xx and these vehicles have McConnell Urban bench seats trimmed in Westbus seat fabric as well as white plasterboard on the walls. These were delivered in 2014 and lack a metal tree guard on the door side. The 2nd batch was ordered between 2015-2016 and comprises vehicles numbered 63xx, 66xx and 67xx. These vehicles have McConnell Metro bench seats with aluminium seat backs and walls as well as new CDC seat moquette. The third batch was ordered in 2018 for the Station Link Project and comprises 6552 as well as vehicles numbered 68xx and 69xx. These have similar specifications to the second batch but a restyled back, tinted windows, a double leaf centre door, two piece cushions for rear seats (instead of the individually padded moulded plastic seats found on other Optimus vehicles) and an interior LCD screen as well as wheel bristles (also found on the Bustech CDi, split windscreens from new, a Coachair ACU instead of Denso and a newer version of Mobitec's LED displays.

All of these vehicles have Volvo's D7E 6-cylinder diesel engine which can produce 290 horsepower. The engine meets Euro 5 emission standards with AdBlue. This is fed through a ZF EcoLife gearbox.

## Station Link

All 3rd batch buses were ordered by the NSW Government as part of the Station Link rail replacement project which ran from September 2018 to May 2019 to substitute for the closure of the rail corridor between Epping Train Station and Chatswood Train Station during their conversion for Sydney Metro services. In partnership with Transdev NSW, Hillsbus began operating services between the two stations on a variety of routes. The extra routes required more buses, which were ordered. After Station Link ended, both operators operated the North West Night Bus service using a mix of the new and their current buses until the North West Metro began 24/7 operations. The new Hillsbuses with plate numbers 68xx were then transferred to Hunter Valley Buses. The remaining buses often operate on Route 535 or Optus 994, introduced to supplement the closure of the Sydney Trains T6 line for conversion for the Parramatta Light Rail. Before their relocation, all Station Link buses operated by Hillsbus and Transdev were stored at the Station Link depot in Camellia.

## Trivia

* The 1st and 2nd batch of buses have a tendency to vibrate as not enough fuel is delivered to the engine when it is idle, causing it to sputter.
* The wheelchair ramps have to be manually extended on these buses.
* These buses have air vents on both sides of the roof at the rear, to circulate air inside the bus.
* The exhaust pipe in these buses is underneath the bus, on the door side.
* All buses are currently painted in the Transport for NSW paint scheme.
* This is the newest bus model in the Hillsbus fleet. They are also 1 of only 3 buses in the whole fleet with a Mobitec LED display, which displays the destination and route in white, the others being the Bustech CDi and the Mercedes O500LE.
* Two 3rd batch buses (M/O 6847 and 6848) were ordered a few months before the others and based at the Hillsbus Northmead Depot and used for the testing of the new buses as well as driver training.
* Vehicles M/O 6140, 6338, 6342 and 6377 have had their one piece windscreen replaced with a split windscreen. For M/O 6140, this was due to a crash on the Hills M2 Motorway while the others' reasons are unknown. The split windscreen has a translucent neon green strip at the top to reduce glare.
* M/O 6140, 6343, 6372 and 6650 have CDCNSW decals instead of Hillsbus logos. 6552 has CDCNSW decals on the driver side but Hillsbus logos on the door side. 6343 has a large CDCNSW logo in place of a white Transport Buses logo at the front.

## Acquisition by Transit Systems

Several buses have been acquired by Transit Systems NSW as they look to increase the frequency of bus operations. The buses acquired from Hillsbus are M/O 6909-6913 while the buses acquired from Hunter Valley Buses are M/O 6866, 6868, 6870-6872, 6874, 6891, 6892 and 6898-6900.