The VanHool A300 Series of transit buses has seen great success in both European and American markets but however has seen difficulty in the latter. VanHool is better known for its well produced line of highway coaches produced in Europe and North America. A great handling and performing vehicle but isn't adaptable to certain enviroments. I drive one of these on a daily, to begin our vehicle profile series we start with the VanHool A300 Series.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overview: Often selected by transit agencies wishing to portray a more "upscale" or "premium" service vehicles of Non-American or Canadian origin are selected simply because they are different that what is commonly seen serving the public today. That being said the VanHool A300 Series use in North America is usually seen as a luxury as they are more expensive and difficult to maintain than domestically produced models.

 

 

 

 

Driving Experience: Driving a VanHool in comparison to a New Flyer or Orion model is like a BMW to a Chevrolet. European thinking is different than North American thinking. VanHool A300 Models are very different than their domestically produced rivals.

 

Firstly, it is a common European vehicle design practice to "streamline" everything on the dashboard. that being said the VanHool 300 series dash only has 4 Components, a speedometer, fuel gauge, a tachometer and a large information display screen which takes the place of all other gauges normally found on the dash. This is both a good idea and a very annoying design quirk. North American buses are often littered with gauges but the upside is information is readily available. In the VanHool information is provided on a view screen. The difficulty with this is the driver MUST learn what all of the various icons that appear on the view screen mean and if they mean something serious or not. Similar to the way BMW and Mercedes-Benz models are constructed. An abridged version of the owners manual is usually given to drivers of these buses to understand the icons and their meanings.

 

 

 

 

Other than the dashboard the control panel is very well designed an laid out. Buttons are large and their function is usually self explanatory. The biggest difference between these buses and their North American rivals is the slight added difficulty in handling. The VanHool A330 has an 11 ft Tail Swing one of the longest in the industry. This makes for difficult cornering and uncertainty on tight streets. They typically come with 3 passenger doors instead of two and for this reason they need more space to maneuver. A300K and A300L models were seen to perform better and as a result the A330 model was discontinued by VanHool USA. These buses also have very different seating arrangements also attributed to European design. North American buses often have wheelchair securement positions mounted at the front where these buses have them at the center. This means that the bus center door houses the wheelchair ramp. It also means that the bus has more standing than sitting room. Seats are mounted on platforms instead of the floor directly. this means that passengers sit much higher off of the ground while maintaining a low floor. European buses also do not have stop request "pullcords" but utilize buttons instead.

 

Often a nightmare for mechanics, these buses are often retrofitted with air conditioning as (apparently) it is not a standard feature in Europe. The compressors used for Air Conditioning that is often added later is usually not sufficient enough to cool the interior. Similarly the heating devices mounted are not adequate. This is usually attributed to the use of a third passenger door which lets all of the heat or cool air out when alighting.

 

These buses also utilize Disk Brakes instead of Drums. When debris (such as a small rock or snow salt) gets in between the pad and the brake rotor a groove is formed by the pad pushing the rock into the rotor. This has the same effect as a needle on a record. The brakes will squeak loudly until the pads or rotors are changed.

 

 

 

Another interesting fun European design quirk is the destination board. On most VanHool A300 Series models they can be programmed to display destinations in more than one color. Varying from Red to Blue to Purple and Green. On the plus side the windscreen is very large and easy to see out of with no split screen. A large sun visor comes standard. VanHool A300 Models have a Very cool sounding electric horn. Some are also equipped with a "plastic" steering wheel instead of a leather wrapped one. This is actually better when wearing driving gloves as it gives the driver better control. These buses are equipped with power heated mirrors as well operated by a control knob.

 

 

 

Summary: For people used to driving Orion, New Flyer or NABI any VanHool A300 Model will feel very different but on the whole perform similarly if not better. The use of the 300 Series however should be limited to smaller agencies with as the use of this bus in densely urban areas is better left to experienced drivers due to the very long tail swing.