The Caetano City Gold is a series of low-floor,

single-decker A single-decker bus or rigid is a bus that has a single deck for passengers. Normally the use of the term ''single-decker'' refers to a standard two-axled rigid bus, in direct contrast to the use of the term double-decker bus, which is essen ...

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

bodywork designs produced by

Salvador Caetano Grupo Salvador Caetano, SGPS, SA or simply Salvador Caetano is a Portuguese holding based in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal that controls some enterprises on vehicle assembly, components and distribution business. It had a turnover of Euro, €1.6 ...

since 1997. As of 2022, the City Gold has been launched with

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine ...

compressed natural gas Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a fuel gas mainly composed of methane (CH4), compressed to less than 1% of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers at a pressure of , usually in ...

(CNG),

hydrogen fuel cell A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most batteries in requ ...

and full electric powertrains.

History

The first vehicles in the City Gold range entered service in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

in 1997; these were constructed on

Mercedes-Benz O405N The Mercedes-Benz O405 is a single-decker bus manufactured by Mercedes-Benz from the mid-1980s to the early 2000s as either an integral bus or a bus chassis; it was the last VöV SL-II standard bus in production. It replaced the O305 and was ...

chassis, featuring Mercedes' own front end design. These were followed by examples constructed on

MAN NLxx3F The MAN Lion's City is a range of low-floor and low-entry public buses built by German truck and bus manufacturer MAN Truck & Bus (previously MAN Nutzfahrzeuge) since 1996 primarily for the European market, but is also available in chassis-on ...

chassis, featuring MAN's own front end design. Then in 2012, the City Gold range was launched in

right-hand drive Left-hand traffic (LHT) and right-hand traffic (RHT) are the practices, in bidirectional traffic, of keeping to the left side or to the right side of the road, respectively. They are fundamental to traffic flow, and are sometimes called the ...

markets for the first time, with the launch of the ''CitySmart''

midibus A midibus is a classification of single-decker minibuses which are generally larger than a traditional minibus but smaller than a full-size single decker and can be anywhere between and long. While used in many parts of the world, the mi ...

on MAN 14.240

-powered chassis in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. With the cessation of production of the

MCV Evolution The MCV Evolution (stylised as ''eVolution''; internal designation: MCV C102) is a low floor and low entry single-decker bus body built by Manufacturing Commercial Vehicles. It was unveiled in 2003 as the successor to the MCV Stirling. The M ...

and

Plaxton Centro The Plaxton Centro was a low entry single-decker bus bodywork designed by Bluebird Vehicles and manufactured by Plaxton.Alexander Dennis Alexander Dennis is a British bus manufacturing company based in Larbert, Scotland. The largest bus and coach manufacturer in the United Kingdom, with a 50% market share in 2019, it has manufacturing plants and partnerships in Canada, China, ...

no longer willing to provide the ADL Enviro200 on MAN chassis, the CitySmart was at this time the only bodywork available for the 14.240, which otherwise would have exited the British market at this point. A single demonstration vehicle was completed in April 2012 and registered by

MAN Truck & Bus MAN Truck & Bus SE (formerly MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG, ) is a German automotive manufacturer and the subsidiary of Traton, one of the leading international providers of commercial vehicles. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, MAN Truck & Bus produces v ...

at their

Swindon Swindon () is a town in Wiltshire, England. At the time of the 2021 Census the population of the built-up area was 183,638, making it the largest settlement in the county. Located at the northeastern edge of the South West England region, Swi ...

dealership.

Operators

Mainland Europe

In 2010, five -long

articulated An articulated vehicle is a vehicle which has a permanent or semi-permanent coupling in its construction. This coupling works as a large pivot joint, allowing it to bend and turn more sharply. There are many kinds, from heavy equipment to buse ...

buses constructed on

Volvo B9LA The Volvo B9L (also known as the Volvo 7500, Volvo 7700 or Volvo 7900 for bus manufacturing, integral models) is a Low-floor, fully low-floor single-decker bus chassis constructed by Volvo Buses from 2005 until 2013, replacing the Volvo B7L and Vol ...

chassis entered service with STCP in

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

. The diesel-powered City Gold on MAN and Mercedes chassis has proven most popular with operators in Barcelona, Lisbon and Porto. Autocarro Carris Metropolitana 01

24 City Golds on diesel-powered

Volvo B7RLE The Volvo B7RLE is a low-entry single-deck bus chassis manufactured by Volvo. It was superseded by the Volvo B8RLE in 2013, with production of the B7RLE continuing until 2018. Specifications The Volvo B7RLE is similar to its predecessor, the ...

chassis entered service with

Carris Carris (''Companhia Carris de Ferro de Lisboa'') (Lisbon Tramways Company) is a public transportation company in Lisbon, Portugal. Carris operates Lisbon's buses, trams, and funiculars. It does not operate the Lisbon Metro. Carris was founded Se ...

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

in 2009, followed later that year by a further 20 EcoCity buses on CNG-powered

chassis. Further example of the EcoCity, with facelifted bodywork to match the recently launched electric model, entered service in Lisbon and

between 2018 and 2021. The hydrogen-powered H2.City Gold on CaetanoBus chassis has achieved numerous sales, predominantly in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

as of 2022; examples have entered service in

Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region () of Detmold (region), Detmold and the L ...

Cottbus Cottbus () or (;) is a university city and the second-largest city in the German state of Brandenburg after the state capital, Potsdam. With around 100,000 inhabitants, Cottbus is the most populous city in Lusatia. Cottbus lies in the Sorbian ...

Düren Düren (; Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: Düre) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, between Aachen and Cologne, on the river Rur (river), Rur. History Roman era The area of Düren was part of Gallia Belgica, more specifically the ter ...

and

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

. In

, eight H2.City Golds entered service with

TMB TMB may refer to: Organizations *Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Limited, India *Texas Medical Board * Thai Military Bank * Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona, Spain Places *Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport near Miami, Florida, US, IATA code *Tsing M ...

in 2020 followed by a further seven in 2022.

United Kingdom

South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...

-based

New Adventure Travel Adventure Travel (stylised as Adventuretravel; formerly NAT Group and New Adventure Travel) is a bus and coach company in South Wales. It is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro. History Established in 2008 with four buses, Adventure Travel has now ...

was the first and only operator to order the newly launched CitySmart buses, who purchased the demonstration vehicle as well as nineteen additional brand new vehicles between May 2013 and July 2014. Caetano subsequently launched the

-powered ''EcoCity'' on MAN 18.270 chassis in the United Kingdom in November 2012. A total of 44 EcoCity buses were produced for the British market before the model ceased to be available for this market in August 2017.

Arriva UK Bus Arriva UK Bus is a major bus operator in the United Kingdom based in Sunderland, England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva which runs transport services across Europe, which was a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn from 2010. In October 2023, Deutsche Bahn ...

were the largest customer, primarily for their

North East The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each ...

and

North West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each ...

subsidiaries.

Anglian Bus Konectbus is a bus operator based in Dereham in Norfolk, England. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group and forms part of Go East Anglia. History Konectbus was formed in 1999 when the Saham Toney depot of Norfolk Green was purchased from w ...

, owned by the

Go-Ahead Group Go-Ahead Group Limited is a Multinational corporation, multi-national transport group based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. While the majority of its operations are within Great Britain, it also operates services in Ireland, Australia, Singapo ...

, were the only other operator to purchase EcoCity buses; these vehicles were subsequently transferred to fellow Go-Ahead subsidiary

Plymouth Citybus Plymouth CitybusCompanies House extract company no 2004966

. After a hiatus of several years, the City Gold range returned to the United Kingdom in 2020 with the launch of the integral, fully electric ''e.City Gold'' in right-hand drive markets. As of April 2023, 43 examples have been produced, 34 of which were delivered to

Abellio London Transport UK London Bus, formerly Abellio London, is a bus company operating services under contract to Transport for London in Greater London, England. History The origins of Transport UK London Bus can be traced back to June 1998, when Nat ...

in summer 2020 for operation on routes C10 and P5 in form. Eight more e.City Golds, which arrived in late 2022, entered service on route 433 in mid 2023. A single

-powered ''H2.City Gold'' vehicle on Toyota Sora chassis has been produced for the United Kingdom as a demonstration vehicle, although no orders have yet followed;

were among operators to trial this vehicle in 2020.

Hong Kong

In 2009, 30 City Golds were constructed on Scania K230UB diesel chassis and exported to

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, entering service with

Kowloon Motor Bus The Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited (KMB) is a bus company operating Bus services in Hong Kong, franchised services in Hong Kong. It is the largest bus company in Hong Kong by fleet size and number of bus routes, with over 4,000 buses ...

to complement their existing fleet of Caetano-bodied Scania double-decker buses. Of this batch of vehicles, 20 are in length and the remaining ten are in length. These remain the only City Golds to have been constructed on a Scania chassis.

References

{{Salvador Caetano Single-deck buses Low-floor buses Vehicles introduced in 1997 Fuel cell buses Battery electric buses