The Alexander ALX300 (later known as the TransBus ALX300 and the Alexander Dennis ALX300) was a low-floor bus body manufactured by

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

and later Alexander Dennis in

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

, Scotland. It was launched in 1997 as a replacement for the Strider and the PS type. Sharing the same design cues of the smaller single-deck Alexander ALX200 and double-deck

Alexander ALX400 The Alexander ALX400 (later known as the TransBus ALX400 and the Alexander Dennis ALX400) is a 2-axle double-decker bus body built by Walter Alexander Coachbuilders (later by TransBus International/ Alexander Dennis). It was one of the ALX-s ...

, the ALX300 has a rounded roof dome similar to the ALX200, a deep double-curvature windscreen with plastic mouldings under the windscreen to make it look deeper and a separate destination sign.

Operators

Stagecoach in Newcastle bus 22493 MAN Alexander ALX300 T493 BNL in Newcastle 3 April 2009

The first 23 Alexander ALX300s entered service with Stagecoach Busways from early 1998 onwards, all of which were built on the Volvo B10BLE chassis. Stagecoach soon chose to standardise on ALX300s on the MAN 18.220 chassis by ordering 150 of the type following the Coach & Bus '97 expo, taking delivery of its first 28 for its Thames Transit subsidiary's

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

operations from November 1998 onwards, followed by major batch orders for its

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, Busways,

Transit Transit may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Transit'' (1980 film), a 1980 Israeli film * ''Transit'' (1986 film), a Canadian short film * ''Transit'' (2005 film), a film produced by MTV and Staying-Alive about four people in countrie ...

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

, Fife Scottish and Bluebird subsidiaries. Orders for ALX300s on the MAN chassis continued following the group's rebranding in November 2000, despite the arrival of the Alexander Dennis Enviro300 in 2001, which was aimed at the ALX300's market. The first ALX300s ordered following this rebrand were delivered to Stagecoach East in late 2001, with 40 ALX300s on MAN 18.220 chassis being used to relaunch its

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

bus network under the 'citi' brand. Stagecoach North East, formed from the combination of the Busways and Transit operations, took delivery of an additional 71 ALX300s between 2003 and 2006, while further orders were delivered to the group's Bluebird, East Scotland,

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, Manchester, and West Scotland operations up until 2006. The final ALX300s for the group, as well as the final ALX300s produced, were delivered to Stagecoach Yorkshire in 2007, after which Stagecoach moved over to the Alexander Dennis Enviro300 on MAN 18.240 chassis as its standard single-deck bus. Compared to the large quantity purchased by the Stagecoach Group, Alexander ALX300s were sold in smaller numbers to independent operators and other bus operating groups.

Arriva Arriva Ltd. is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England. The company was originally established on 24 October 1938 as T Cowie Ltd. Initially focused on the sale of motorcycles, it relaunched shortl ...

were the second-largest operator of ALX300s, with 51 delivered on DAF SB220 chassis for Arriva Yorkshire during 1998, with smaller numbers on Volvo B10BLE chassis following for Arriva Fox County, Arriva Manchester, Arriva Northumbria and Arriva The Shires during 2000;

First Glasgow First Glasgow is the largest bus company serving the Greater Glasgow area in Scotland. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup. The company operates within the area covered by the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, a public body responsible for h ...

also took delivery of 32 of the type that same year, these being the only ALX300s purchased by the

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.East Yorkshire Motor Services, who took delivery of ten ALX300s on Volvo B10BLE chassis in May 2000, with ten more on MAN 18.220 chassis being delivered to the operator in July 2002.

References

External links

{{Alexander Dennis ALX300 Low-floor buses Single-deck buses Vehicles introduced in 1997