Solaris Urbino 9 is a series of

buses 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 ...

from the Solaris Urbino series, designed for public transport, produced by the Polish company Neoplan Polska, then

Solaris Bus & Coach Solaris Bus & Coach sp z o.o. is a Polish manufacturer of public transport vehicles (buses, trolleybuses and trams), with its headquarters in Bolechowo-Osiedle near Poznań. It is a subsidiary of Spanish rolling stock manufacturer Construcciones ...

in Bolechowo near

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. Solaris Urbino 9 is the smallest vehicle from the Solaris Urbino family series.

History

Neoplan Polska

On 2 August 1994, ''Neoplan Polska'' company was established in

. 5 September of the same year, the first low-floor buses Neoplan N4020 (15 metre long) were ordered by

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

. 5 October 1995, the day after signing the contract for the supply of buses to

, it was decided to build a factory in Bolechowo near Poznań. Between 1996 and 2000 ''Neoplan Polska'' built the Neoplan N4000-series buses. In 1999, the company even as ''Neoplan Polska'' started to independently produce buses under the brand ''Solaris'', but the offer was not yet available for the short 9 or 10 metre buses. Therefore, the Neoplan K4010TD low-entry midibus with two doors was built with a length of 9.5 metres. However, only 3 were built and all were sold to

Świdnica Świdnica (; ; ) is a city on the Bystrzyca (Oder), Bystrzyca River in south-western Poland in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. As of 2021, it has a population of 55,413 inhabitants. It is the seat of Świdnica County, and also of the smaller dis ...

. The Solaris Urbino 9 replaced three of the shortest in the Neoplan N4000-series: N4007, N4009 and N4010. In 2001

Neoplan Neoplan Bus GmbH is a German automotive company that manufactures buses, trolleybuses and coaches. It became a subsidiary of MAN Truck & Bus SE in 2001. History Early days The company was founded by (1903–1993) in Stuttgart in 19 ...

was taken over by

MAN A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy. Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the f ...

, but ''Neoplan Polska'' became a separate company as

, which has preserved the company tradition and assets - including models of the buses - of the Polish branch of Neoplan.

Solaris Urbino 9

In 2000 ''Neoplan Poslka'' completed its Solaris Urbino family with a midibus. They had produced a total of 21 of the 9-metre buses, which were all sold to small Polish towns. The largest quantity of the vehicle was purchased by

Ostrołęka Ostrołęka (; ) is a small city in northeastern Poland on the Narew river, about northeast of Warsaw, with a population of 51,012 (2021) and an area of . It is the capital of both Ostrołęka County and Ostrołęka City County in the Masovian V ...

, which forms most of the local MZK public transportation bus fleet in the city. Due to the lack of a third door, this model was not very useful for public transportation services. Another reason for the failure of the model was the high price compared to other vehicles of this size. For this reason, the bus was extended by a metre and had an added back door. The new vehicle, which began production in 2003, was named the Solaris Urbino 10. In 2006,

released the Solaris Alpino bus, which is about 75 cm shorter and 15 cm narrower than the Solaris Urbino 9. Due to the narrower body structure the Solaris Alpino has a different seating arrangement.

Solaris Urbino 9 in Poland

References

{{Reflist 9 Low-floor buses Vehicles introduced in 2000