Acronyms and Jargon in the bus and coach industry

[Titfield]

Trying to compile a list of jargon and acronyms:

here are a few for starters:

COIF - Certificate of Initial Fitness
EWVTA - European Whole Vehicle Type Approval
CPC - Certificate of Professional Competence
VOSA - Vehicle Operator Standards Agency
DSA - Driving Standards Agency

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

trying to compile a list of jargon and acronyms:

Here are a few for starters:

Coif - certificate of initial fitness
ewvta - european whole vehicle type approval
cpc - certificate of professional competence
vosa - vehicle operator standards agency
dsa - driving standards agency

vor
encts
bsog
pvr

 

[BestWestern]

PCV - the current name for a bus or coach driving license
PSV - the previous name for the above
SLF - Super Low Floor (as per Dennis Dart etc)
ADL - Alexander Dennis Ltd, vehicle manufacturer
U/S - 'unserviceable' (shagged, kaput)
EGR - Exhaust Gas Recirculation (a form of emissions control)
Adblue - additive used to reduce emissions, alternative to EGR

 

[pompeyfan]

VOSA and DSA have been merged to form the DVSA.

NIS/dead - travelling to the start of a route/depot with a happy bus!

 

[telstarbox]

T/A = trading as - often seen on the side of a vehicle where a company's official and trading names are different.

 

[mbonwick]

SCR - Selective Catalytic Reduction (proper name for the EGR alternative, uses Adblue)
PSV - Public Service Vehicle
PCV - Public Carrying Vehicle

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

What about letters on the bus number, X1, 2D, 3F, 4B, 5C etc??
Dart SPD are buses like Dart SLF, not sure what it means.
Do the topless buses that run seaside and tour routes use an acronym?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

What about letters on the bus number, X1, 2D, 3F, 4B, 5C etc??
Dart SPD are buses like Dart SLF, not sure what it means.
Do the topless buses that run seaside and tour routes use an acronym?

The letters on service numbers relate to variations though X usually denotes an express variant (perhaps only missing out a few stops of the regular route) or in some cases, X means Cross Country! I've also known M as a prefix/subfix for Minibus or Metro, or D for Duplicate.

Back to abbreviations and acronyms....

VOR - Vehicle Off Road (knackered)
ENCTS - English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (pensioner passes)
BSOG - Bus Service Operators Grant (the rebate on fuel duty that bus firms get)
PVR - Peak Vehicle Requirement (max number of vehicles required at one time)

In terms of the vehicles themselves, there's a raft of initials etc

SPD - Super Pointer Dart
MPD - Mini Pointer Dart

but what of

Leyland National 11351A/1R with B49F bodywork or
Bristol VRTSL3/6LXB with ECW H43/27D body

Translation:

Leyland National 11.3m long with 501 engine with One door and Right hand drive, and bodywork which is Bus seated for 49 and a Front entrance/exit

Bristol VR - Bristol Vertical Rear, Short Wheelbase and Longitudinally mounted engine, Mk3 variant, and a Gardner 6LXB engine, fitted with Eastern Coach Works Highbridge bodywork (even if it was only 13'5 high) seating 43 on top deck and 27 below with Dual door bodywork

 

[vicbury]

RTPI - Realtime Passenger Information

 

[GaryMcEwan]

OVD - On Vehicle Display
NEC - National Entitlement Card (Scotland)

 

[driver9000]

PCV - Public Carrying Vehicle

Passenger Carrying Vehicle

 

[ECML180]

What about letters on the bus number, X1, 2D, 3F, 4B, 5C etc??
Dart SPD are buses like Dart SLF, not sure what it means.
Do the topless buses that run seaside and tour routes use an acronym?

As TheGrandWazoo says it varies, but in many cases the general rule is:
A - Variation at the 'hub'(i.e. town centre) end of route
B - Variation mid route
C - Variation at the 'isolated' end of the route
X - Express/Limited Stop
S - School Service (often used for extra buses on normal service starting or stopping part way along the full route for the carriage of school pupils - dedicated school services are often numbered in a specific range)

I think it's worth adding on a whole separate list for vehicle type codes/acronyms, for example:
Irizar Products:
i2e - electric bus
i3 - standard bus
i4 - standard coach
i6 - nicer coach
pb - even nicer coach

ADL Product Suffixes:
100 - weird van type thing that doesn't fit in with the rest of the range
200 - midibus
300 - full size single decker
400 - double decker (2 axle)
500 - double decker (3 axle)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Also:

TC Traffic Commissioner
HA Highways Agency
HATO Highways Agency Traffic Officer (sweeps up after motorway accidents and occasionally moves cones)

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Bristol VRTSL3/6LXB with ECW H43/27D body

Translation:

Bristol VR - Bristol Vertical Rear, Short Wheelbase and Longitudinally mounted engine, Mk3 variant, and a Gardner 6LXB engine, fitted with Eastern Coach Works Highbridge bodywork (even if it was only 13'5 high) seating 43 on top deck and 27 below with Dual door bodywork

Almost there -
VR = Vertical Rear
T = Transverse (mounted engine). The other option was L for Longitudinal
S = Short (wheelbase/chassis length). Alternatively, L for long
L = Low height chassis. Alternatively H for normal height
3 for Mark 3 (Mark 1s did not have a number)
6LXB did indeed denote engine type. Others were 510, 680 (Leyland), LX and possibly 6LXC (Gardner).

The H in the bodywork referred to the layout and not the height so H for Highbridge layout, i.e. central gangway upstairs, L for Lowbridge (offset, sunken gangway).

After the production of the K & L series ended, Bristol's chassis designations always had some sort of relation back to the vehicle type
LS = Light saloon
MW = Medium Weight (saloon)
LD = Lodekka
F = Flat (floor lodekka)
SU = Short Underfloor (engined saloon)
RE = Rear Engined

All of these types had suffix letters (apart from the LS & MW types) denoting chassis length, S for Short, L for Long and M for Maximum (12 metre).

Only LDs and a few LDLs were built

F series came as FS, FSF, FL and FLF. The second F denoting front entrance (the rear part of the chassis was different to their rear entrance brethren)
SUs came as SUS and SUL
REs were built as follows - RESH, RESL, RELL, RELH and REMH. I'm not aware of any REMLs being built although it was theoretically possible.

The alpha-numeric suffix denoted the number of cylinders and the engine manufacturer - Albion, Bristol, Garner and Leyland so 4A would have been a 4 cylinder Albion engine while 6L would have been a 6 cylinder Leyland.

 

[AndyW33]

Almost there -
After the production of the K & L series ended, Bristol's chassis designations always had some sort of relation back to the vehicle type
LS = Light saloon
MW = Medium Weight (saloon)
LD = Lodekka
F = Flat (floor lodekka)
SU = Short Underfloor (engined saloon)
RE = Rear Engined

Then there was the LH
The standard option was an LH6L, successor to the MW range, but you could also get an LHS6L, probably the first modern(ish) midibus, and a longer LHL6L which as far as I know was only bought with coach bodywork. The 6L, as with the RE indicated a 6-cylinder Leyland engine. I think there was a 6P option with a Perkins engine but I don't think many were sold.

 

[lightning76]

N(A)DF / NFF - No (apparent) defect found / No fault found

The standard response of fitters to drivers' complaints of defects.

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Then there was the LH
The standard option was an LH6L, successor to the MW range, but you could also get an LHS6L, probably the first modern(ish) midibus, and a longer LHL6L which as far as I know was only bought with coach bodywork. The 6L, as with the RE indicated a 6-cylinder Leyland engine. I think there was a 6P option with a Perkins engine but I don't think many were sold.

Ooops, forgot that one! LH standing for Lightweight Horizontal. The Leyland engine variant was definitely the more common. Also unusual for that era, the LH family could be either 2.25 metres wide or 2.5 metres. The Western National group took a sizeable number of 2.25m wide coach bodied LHs, some of which replaced old SULs in rural Devon & Cornwall

Some companies initially saw the heavyweight RESL as the successor to the MW before turning to the LH, e.g. Bristol who also replaced some of their MW/LS fleets with 10.3m Leyland Nasties.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Almost there -
VR = Vertical Rear
T = Transverse (mounted engine). The other option was L for Longitudinal
S = Short (wheelbase/chassis length). Alternatively, L for long
L = Low height chassis. Alternatively H for normal height
3 for Mark 3 (Mark 1s did not have a number)
6LXB did indeed denote engine type. Others were 510, 680 (Leyland), LX and possibly 6LXC (Gardner).

The H in the bodywork referred to the layout and not the height so H for Highbridge layout, i.e. central gangway upstairs, L for Lowbridge (offset, sunken gangway).

After the production of the K & L series ended, Bristol's chassis designations always had some sort of relation back to the vehicle type
LS = Light saloon
MW = Medium Weight (saloon)
LD = Lodekka
F = Flat (floor lodekka)
SU = Short Underfloor (engined saloon)
RE = Rear Engined

All of these types had suffix letters (apart from the LS & MW types) denoting chassis length, S for Short, L for Long and M for Maximum (12 metre).

Only LDs and a few LDLs were built

F series came as FS, FSF, FL and FLF. The second F denoting front entrance (the rear part of the chassis was different to their rear entrance brethren)
SUs came as SUS and SUL
REs were built as follows - RESH, RESL, RELL, RELH and REMH. I'm not aware of any REMLs being built although it was theoretically possible.

The alpha-numeric suffix denoted the number of cylinders and the engine manufacturer - Albion, Bristol, Garner and Leyland so 4A would have been a 4 cylinder Albion engine while 6L would have been a 6 cylinder Leyland.

Indeed, I missed out the T for Transversely Mounted Engine. There were also VRLs (prototypes and the Standerwick coaches) that were Longitudinally mounted, IIRC. Also, and I think I explained it badly, was that the H did indeed refer to the Highbridge layout (no sunken gangway) so that all VRs were Highbridge, whether they were ultra low height (13'5), standard low height (13'8) or full height (14'6)

I believe there were only two LDLs built for Western National and that Quantock were operating them (VDV752/3)?

I'm not certain there were any REMLs. REMHs were rare enough, going mainly to United and SBG.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Then there was the LH
The standard option was an LH6L, successor to the MW range, but you could also get an LHS6L, probably the first modern(ish) midibus, and a longer LHL6L which as far as I know was only bought with coach bodywork. The 6L, as with the RE indicated a 6-cylinder Leyland engine. I think there was a 6P option with a Perkins engine but I don't think many were sold.

The LHL6L was also used by some freight firms. I think some removals lorries were built on that chassis, and Silver Cross Prams famously had some lorries on them!

I think there were some LHS6Ps (ordered by Luton Corp, delivered to UCOC but not operated, and to Eastern Counties) but I might be wrong. I also think the United Counties and Crosville had Perkins engined examples - best check Rob Sly's website!!!

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Indeed, I missed out the T for Transversely Mounted Engine. There were also VRLs (prototypes and the Standerwick coaches) that were Longitudinally mounted, IIRC. Also, and I think I explained it badly, was that the H did indeed refer to the Highbridge layout (no sunken gangway) so that all VRs were Highbridge, whether they were ultra low height (13'5), standard low height (13'8) or full height (14'6)

I believe there were only two LDLs built for Western National and that Quantock were operating them (VDV752/3)?

I'm not certain there were any REMLs. REMHs were rare enough, going mainly to United and SBG.

The two prototypes were of VRL/LL designation while the Standerwick/Ribble coaches were built to the VRL/LH designation. Do either of the prototypes survive?

Bristol Omnibus definitely had one LDL - L8450 - YHT962 which spent a lot of its working life running out of Kensington depot in Bath.

I'm pretty sure that there were no REMLs built although one General Manager of the Bristol Commercial Vehicles plant did tell me that it was theoretically possible

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The two prototypes were of VRL/LL designation while the Standerwick/Ribble coaches were built to the VRL/LH designation. Do either of the prototypes survive?

Bristol Omnibus definitely had one LDL - L8450 - YHT962 which spent a lot of its working life running out of Kensington depot in Bath.

I'm pretty sure that there were no REMLs built although one General Manager of the Bristol Commercial Vehicles plant did tell me that it was theoretically possible

Just checked and seems there were either 6 or 8 LDLs built. You live and learn

According to Rob Sly (and he'd know) both prototypes are long gone. HHW933D was scrapped in 1979 whilst efforts were made to save GGM431D but rarity of parts saw it scrapped in 1991 at PVS

 

[Hophead]

As TheGrandWazoo says it varies, but in many cases the general rule is:
A - Variation at the 'hub'(i.e. town centre) end of route
B - Variation mid route
C - Variation at the 'isolated' end of the route
X - Express/Limited Stop
S - School Service (often used for extra buses on normal service starting or stopping part way along the full route for the carriage of school pupils - dedicated school services are often numbered in a specific range)

Would you be able to clarify "many cases"? I must admit that this is the first I've heard of any sort of general 'rule' for suffix letters.

I know that, back in the 80s, Hull had fairly rigid rules. They weren't anything like you've stated ('C' meant Circular, with the route number swapping on the loop - e.g. out via 15C; return as a 17C, while 'A' meant running to the end of the loop, then out-of-service, if memory serves).

Brighton & Hove seem to use 'C' for variants via the County Hospital but, beyond that, you may get an A or B (perhaps even an E) for a route variation, but then again you may not.

 

[pompeyfan]

Any chance anyone can explain volvo's jargon system... B7RLE or B10Ble for example.

 

[mbonwick]

Certainly.
B7RLE
Bus, 7 litre engine, Rear engined, Low Entry (as opposed to step entrance coach B7R)

B10BLE
Bus, 10 litre engine, motor at the Back, Low Entry

 

[90019]

Certainly.
B7RLE
Bus, 7 litre engine, Rear engined, Low Entry (as opposed to step entrance coach B7R)

So what's the T in B7TL or B9TL?



The newest single decks we have are Volvo 7905LH, which is 7900 series, 5 litre engine, low floor, hybrid.

 

[pompeyfan]

Thanks for that, I had a feeling that was the case.

So the B10M were mid mid engined?

Shouldn't the b10ble have been a b10rle?

I'd guess in volvo eyes a coach is also a bus as all volvo coaches begin with a B?

Finally is the B7L at Taunton (or whereever they ended up) not rear engined?

 

[Mr Manager]

Midland general and Trent used to use the Acronym DEMIC on fleet allocation cards to denote a out of service bus. I never did find out what DEMIC meant.

 

[mbonwick]

So what's the T in B7TL or B9TL?



The newest single decks we have are Volvo 7905LH, which is 7900 series, 5 litre engine, low floor, hybrid.

Not sure what the nomenclature for the integral hybrids is - but I would guess that the L is infact for longitudinal (in line) - like the B5L.
H is definitely hybrid.

The T denotes transverse- i.e. with the engine across the whole of the back driving through an angle gearbox.

Thanks for that, I had a feeling that was the case.

So the B10M were mid mid engined?

Shouldn't the b10ble have been a b10rle?

I'd guess in volvo eyes a coach is also a bus as all volvo coaches begin with a B?

Finally is the B7L at Taunton (or whereever they ended up) not rear engined?

B10M is Bus, 10 litre, Mid engine yes.
B10BLE was developed from the B10B (step entrance) where the engine was towards the back, but not right at the rear (if that makes sense).
In anycase, when the DH10A series of engines were replaced (with the D7, 9 and 12 series) naming conventions changed slightly, to set vehicles apart from older models. (I believe that back in the 1980s there was a B9R produced on the continent - essentiallly a short B10M/B)

To Volvo there is no difference between coach/bus - chassis are often interchangeable between the two body styles, and in any case the main differential for Volvo is truck or bus.

As mentioned above, the L in B7L stands for longitudinal (or in line) engine layout - also known as "shower cubical" style, and generally not popular in this country.

 

[ECML180]

Would you be able to clarify "many cases"? I must admit that this is the first I've heard of any sort of general 'rule' for suffix letters.

I know that, back in the 80s, Hull had fairly rigid rules. They weren't anything like you've stated ('C' meant Circular, with the route number swapping on the loop - e.g. out via 15C; return as a 17C, while 'A' meant running to the end of the loop, then out-of-service, if memory serves).

Brighton & Hove seem to use 'C' for variants via the County Hospital but, beyond that, you may get an A or B (perhaps even an E) for a route variation, but then again you may not.

I think First in Yorkshire often tends to have this sort of system, while I can't find it written anywhere it does often seem to be the case, whether created intentionally or otherwise! But as you say, Hull had their own system and to a lesser extent as does Brighton and Hove, so clearly there are rules, although how widespread they are I'm not sure.