The Renault PR180 and PR180.2 was a step-entrance

articulated bus An articulated bus, also referred to as a slinky bus, bendy bus, tandem bus, vestibule bus, stretch bus, or an accordion bus, is an articulated vehicle, typically a motor bus or trolleybus, used in public transportation. It is usually a ...

chassis produced by

Renault Véhicules Industriels Renault Trucks was a French commercial truck manufacturer with corporate headquarters at Saint-Priest near Lyon. Originally part of Renault, it was a subsidiary of Volvo since 2001. In July 2024, John Cockerill (company) completed the takeover ...

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, France. The PR180 was based on Renault's popular PR100

rigid 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 i ...

, and shares many common components. Once a common sight in many French cities, most PR180.2s are now at the end of their useful lives and reside with small private operators. The Renault PR180 was designed around an interesting and unusual concept. Most articulated buses only have one driving axle - either the centre axle or the rear axle, however, the PR180 featured two driving axles - centre and rear.

Australia

ACTION

ACTION Action may refer to: * Action (philosophy), something which is done by a person * Action principles the heart of fundamental physics * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video gam ...

purchased 34 PR180.2 buses between 1987 and 1993. These buses were badged as Macks and bodied by

Ansair Ansair was an Australian bus bodybuilder owned by Ansett Transport Industries and later the Clifford Corporation. History Ansair was founded by Reg Ansett in 1945 at Tullamarine, to make bodies for his Ansett Pioneer coaches, as well as ma ...

Tullamarine Tullamarine ( ) is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Brimbank, Hume and Merri-bek local government areas. Tullamarine recorded a population of 6,7 ...

. The first batch of 27 buses was delivered to ACTION from 1988 to 1989 with some equipped with a centre door which was later removed. A second batch of 7 buses was delivered in 1993.

Transperth

Transperth Transperth is the public transport system for Perth and surrounding areas in Western Australia. It is managed by the Public Transport Authority (PTA), a state government organisation, and consists of train, bus and ferry services. Bus operat ...

purchased 65 PR180.2 buses from 1988 until 1989. These were badged as Renaults and bodied by JW Bolton. All retained the PR100 front-end.

Heuliez GX 237

A bi-articulated version of the PR180.2 known as the "Mégabus" was developed by

Heuliez Bus Heuliez Bus is a French limited company, former part of Heuliez. It was formed in 1979. It is an Iveco subsidiary and specialised in manufacturing buses and coaches. History Heuliez Bus has developed many types of public transport vehicles an ...

and

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

in the 1980s. Ten were purchased by CGFTE in 1989 which was used in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

until the tram network was opened in 2004.

References

External links

* * {{Renault Trucks, state=collapsed Renault buses, PR180.2 Articulated buses Step-entrance buses Tri-axle buses