富豪超級奧林比安 Volvo Super Olympian

富豪超級奧林比安 Volvo Super Olympian

當香港於一九九七年引進了丹尼士三叉戟低地台雙層巴士，新加坡巴士公司也於一九九八年向丹尼士訂購了二十架三叉戟，配用都普車身，一方面作為試驗，另一方面作為富豪奧林比安停產之後，繼續用作更新車隊之用。

若果有留意新加坡巴士朋友，應該會知道丹尼士在新加坡的普及性是如何，尤其是在新加坡巴士公司中，當時只有十架飛鏢巴士而已。的確，對於丹尼士來說，新加坡的巿場當然不及香港重要，更重要是當時來自香港的訂單遠遠超過新加坡，結果不論底盤及車身組件，都較原訂時間為遲。而當一切準備就緒，又傳來政府延長了公共巴士使用年期，結果這些三叉戟需要讓路予那些已屆中年的非空調單層巴士，進行翻新及加裝空調。

另一方面，新巴在低地台巴士面世前，向富豪購入了可觀數目奧林比安「Super Bus」，另外新巴同時擁有全亞洲最龐大的富豪B10M車隊，為了繼續保持在新巴車隊佔有率，當富豪於一九九九年推出超級奧林比安後，除了香港，亦立即向新巴提供一架樣板車，跟香港不同的是，這架樣板車車身並不是由英國的亞歷山大裝嵌，而是配用澳洲的Volgren車身，獲配車牌SBS9888Y，並搶先投入服務。在丹尼士三叉戟於二零零一年投入服務之後，SBS9888Y在比較之下，擁有理想的表現及較佳的評價，加上新捷運所屬的德高集團，是當時新加坡富豪巴士及貨車的代理，終於，富豪亦如願以償，於二零零一年獲得新捷運的訂單，購入五十架配Volgren車身的超級奧林比安。

除了SBS9810X像SBS9888Y一樣，底盤於蘇格蘭Irvine生產，並送往澳洲裝配車身，其餘新車底盤均產自波蘭，之後運抵新加坡組裝嵌Volgren提供的車身散件。兩架由Volgren裝配的新車，同樣是裝有電子路線牌箱，對比其他新車所使用的膠牌，有著明顯的分別。新捷運的超級奧林比安在機械配置方面跟香港的同型新車相近，只是傳動系統由福伊特提供，有別於香港全數採用ZF全自動波箱。樣板車SBS9888Y於二零零五年改回使用膠牌，在同一年，新捷運再接收一架超級奧林比安樣板車SBS9889U，此車裝有德高集團旗下康福德高設計的車身，用作評估往後採購的B9TL配用本地車身的可能性。而不幸地，SBS9888Y於二零一零年三月七日的宏茂橋車廠火警中焚燬後退役。

在服役一段時間之後，部份超級奧林比安使用ZF波箱，取代沿用的福伊特波箱。在往後時間，新捷運陸續替旗下的超級奧林比安(當中SBS9810X及SBS9889U除外)改用電子路線牌箱，並加設上層車尾路線顯示窗，首架完成改裝的車輛於二零一一年十二月三十日重新投入服務。

As Dennis successfully launched their new generation double decker, Trident, in Hong Kong in 1997, together with Volvo Olympian ceased to production, Singapore Bus Service placed it first order of 20 Dennis Trident with Duple Metsec bodyworks for evaluation and fleet renewal in 1998.

Anyone should know how popular Dennis is in Singapore if they noticed the news about buses of Singapore and actually for SBS, only 10 Dennis Dart in the fleet. In fact, Dennis was puzzled with the bulky order from Hong Kong at that time and as a result, the chassis and the body parts were delayed. To go one step further, the Singapore Government extend the lifespan of public buses, SBS decided to refurbish and fitted air-conditioning unit on their aging conventional single decker and the bodywork assembly schedule of Trident was postponed.

SBS operated a good number of Volvo Olympian and B10M and to keep the good relationships, Volvo immediately delivered a Volvo Super Olympian demonstrator with Volgren bodywork from Australia in 1999, this bus was registered as SBS9888Y and entered service before the commissioned of Dennis Trident. The performance and the reputation of Volvo Super Olympian was good received. In addition, the parent company of SBS Transit, the DelGro Group, was the dealer of Volvo buses and trucks in Singapore at that time. As a result, Volvo was successfully won the order of 50 Super Olympian in 2001 and all chassis were fitted with Volgren bodyworks.

Except the demonstrator and SBS9810X was assembled in Irvine, Scotland and sent to Volgren for body assembling, the remaining Super Olympians with their chassis completed in Poland and delivered as CKD for receiving their bodyworks in Singapore. One distinct difference among those locally built Super Olympian with those two assembled in Australia, traditional plastic route display was fitted instead of electronic display. Compared with the Super Olympian in Hong Kong, the mechanical specification almost identical except Voith fully automatic gearbox. In 2005, the electronic display of SBS9888Y was replaced by traditional display. Moreover, in order to evaluate the local bodywork for Volvo B9TL chassis, a Super Olympian demonstrator bodied by ComfortDelgro Engineering, subsidiary company of DelGro Group was delivered in the same year. Unfortunately, the demonstrator SBS9888Y was burnt in fire of Ang Mo Kio depot on 7, Mar., 2010.

The Voith gearbox of some Super Olympian was replaced with ZF fully automatic gearbox, standard parts on the Super Olympian in Hong Kong, after several years of service. In 2011, SBS Transit started to refitted electronic route display with an additional upper rear route display on the Super Olympian except SBS9810X and SBS9889U.

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