Major landmark for the Mercedes-Benz Citaro, the world's best-selling city bus: Hartmut Schick, Head of Daimler Buses, and Ulrich Bastert, Head of Marketing, Sales and Customer Services Daimler Buses, today handed over the 50 000th Citaro to Wiener Linien.
The Austrian capital's transport company has been switching its fleet to Mercedes-Benz since placing a first large order for 221 buses four years ago. This year, Wiener Linien takes delivery of another 59 city buses sporting the Mercedes star. The Citaro celebrates a double landmark this year: the first generation of the worldwide bestseller was unveiled 20 years ago. Since then, the world's top-selling city bus has been a step ahead thanks to continuous innovations in terms of economy, low emissions, comfort and safety.
Citaro: part of the solution to traffic problems in cities
Hartmut Schick, Head of Daimler Buses: "For 20 years the successful Citaro has been the dominant urban regular-service bus in Europe and far beyond. The clean, efficient and safe Citaro city bus is our answer to the traffic problems in towns and cities. The new Citaro hybrid, for example, demonstrates that we are continuously further developing the Citaro."
50 000th Mercedes-Benz Citaro: the key milestones
The first generation of the low-floor Citaro revolutionised the urban bus scene back in 1997. The attractive outer skin concealed state-of-the-art technology with CAN data bus, all-round disc brakes as well as an inviting passenger compartment with cantilever seats and curved grab rails – a model for entire generations of urban buses. The Citaro has since been made more attractive than ever thanks to continuous further development.
This refers, for example, to the wide model range of the current generation with its attractively and dynamically styled body and large window areas. With the rigid Citaro, the articulated Citaro G, the compact Citaro K, the low-entry Citaro LE, the rural-service Citaro Ü/GÜ and the Citaro-based CapaCity/ CapaCity L large-capacity articulated buses - the model range meets every requirement.
In addition, numerous customised versions and special-purpose vehicles have demonstrated the flexibility of the concept. Expo buses in Hanover, comfortable track-guided buses and BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) variants have been and are the basis for innovative transport models. As the world's largest ambulance, one special version for Dubai even made its way into the Guinness Book of Records.
The Citaro is a true cosmopolitan: it can be found in large numbers in almost all European cities, in Turkey, in Mexico, on the Arabian peninsula, in Singapore and Japan, even on the island of La Réunion in the Indian Ocean. This year, for example, Mercedes-Benz reported an order for 600 Citaro for the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh.
Citaro: clean, economical and safe
The Citaro also sets standards when it comes to emission control: whether Euro III (2001), Euro IV (2004), Euro V (2006) or the Euro VI emissions standard (2012), the Citaro has always been a step ahead while at the same time impressing public transport operators with its extremely high efficiency. This is exemplified by the innovative energy recovery module, which serves as a short-term energy store to reduce the load on the powertrain.
The milestones also include the new low-emission and efficient gas-engined Citaro NGT. Large-scale trials with fuel-cell and hybrid technology have paved the way for the clean future of the powertrain.
The Citaro is equally pioneering on the safety front. From the Electronic Stability Program ESP to the front-end crash element, Articulation Turntable Controller (ATC), bi-xenon and LED headlamps – the Citaro has always defined the state of the art.
On the road to tomorrow with hybrid and electric powertrains
The story of the Citaro continues to be written: last year, the spectacular Future Bus with City Pilot gave a first preview of the self-driving city bus. This year, the new Citaro hybrid shows how the internal combustion engine can be optimised. For next year, an all-electric Citaro has been announced.
Landmark CapaCity bus: part of a large order from Vienna's public transport operator
The landmark vehicle is a Mercedes-Benz CapaCity. The 19.73 metre long, four-axle large-capacity bus is based on the Citaro and part of a large order from Wiener Linien for 62 units of this model. The CapaCity is the ideal choice for cities where, due to very high passenger numbers, the capacity of a conventional articulated bus comes up against its limits. An electro-hydraulically steered fourth axle makes the CapaCity almost as manoeuvrable as an articulated bus. In the standard configuration, the CapaCity provides seats for 168 passengers, while four double-width doors make for a fast flow of passengers at stops.
The CapaCity for service in Vienna comes with a very high-grade specification. The features include electrically powered swivelling-sliding doors at entrances two and three, two special bays for passengers with wheelchairs, baby carriages or walker frames, double-glazed side windows, air conditioning for driver's area and passenger compartment, two 29-inch TFT monitors for passenger information, LED main headlamps, video cameras for monitoring the entrance areas and interior. The driver sits on a climate-controlled seat behind a cabin door with a wide glass partition and has access to a cool-box.
About Daimler Buses
The Daimler Buses division with its brands Mercedes‑Benz and Setra is the undisputed industry leader in its core markets in the segment for buses above 8 metric tons. The division’s product range comprises city and intercity buses, coaches and bus chassis.
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