Plaxton Verde

The Plaxton Verde was a step-entrance full-size single-decker bus body built by Plaxton between 1991 and 1997. It was built on a rear-engined chassis, the most popular of which was the Dennis Lance which accounted for over half of the Verdes built. The rest were on Volvo B10B, DAF SB220 and Scania N113 chassis.

Design
Launched in March 1991 as part of Plaxton's move away from traditional coach body manufacturing, with ambitions to export the model to Continental Europe, the Plaxton Verde has an aluminium structure and flat-sided, boxy shape, similar to that of the manufacturer's Pointer midibus. The front end of the bus, however, differs from the Pointer by having a distinctive "barrel-curvature" windscreen plus four headlights instead of the Pointer's two.

On early vehicles (primarily the Scania N113s and DAF SB220s), the side windows have rounded corners and the quarterlights extend below the windscreen. Later-built vehicles have square-cornered windows, an enlarged cab side window with an angled corner like that on the Pointer, and the lower edge of the quarterlights level with that of the windscreen and of the cab window. Minor alterations were also made to the front dash panel. Verdes were identified by the letter L in Plaxton's post-1989 body numbering system.

Operators
Sales of the Verde body initially proved very slow, with only two demonstrators produced by Plaxton during 1991. A year after the Verde was launched, Cardiff Bus became the first bus operator in the United Kingdom to take delivery of the type, ordering 14 on Scania N113CRB chassis that were delivered in February 1992. These were followed in October 1993 by the delivery of ten Verdes on Dennis Lance chassis to South Wales Transport.

The first large operator to order Verdes was Dublin Bus, who took delivery of forty dual-door Plaxton Verdes on DAF SB220 chassis in 1992, entering service as the P class to introduce a new high-frequency brand known as 'CitySwift'. These Verdes received a number of modifications, mainly centred around the cab layout and overall strength, in order to be certified to Irish and European Economic Community standards. Throughout their service life, however, Dublin Bus' Verdes were plagued with structural problems and would return to Plaxton's Scarborough factory more than once for remedial treatment.

The largest overall operator of Plaxton Verdes was the Badgerline Group, taking large numbers of the type on Dennis Lance chassis between 1993 and 1996 for its Midland Red West and Yorkshire Rider subsidiaries. Yorkshire Rider took delivery of a total 78 Verdes between 1995 and 1996, a majority of which were delivered to Huddersfield for 'Flagship' services, with a further 30 delivered under FirstBus for the rebranded Leeds City Link operation.

The Oxford Bus Company took delivery of 43 Verdes on Volvo B10B chassis, the first four of which were diverted from an order for eight for fellow Go-Ahead Group subsidiary Go-Ahead Gateshead, while London Buses subsidiary Selkent's Catford garage took delivery of twelve dual-door Verdes on Dennis Lance chassis in 1994 for use on London Buses route 208. Other operators of Plaxton Verdes included Cleveland Transit on the Volvo B10B chassis, as well as Busways Travel Services, Clydeside 2000, North Western, Nottingham City Transport and Potteries Motor Traction on the Dennis Lance chassis.