The Plaxton Elite is a coach body produced by the British bus and coach manufacturer Plaxton. It is primarily targeted at the premium touring market and went into production in late 2008, replacing Plaxton's pre-existing Paragon and Profile coach bodies.
Design
The Elite was first unveiled at the Euro Bus Expo at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham in November 2008 on Volvo B12BT tri-axle chassis, the first new Plaxton product since the company was purchased by Alexander Dennis. The body uniquely features a curved roof and windscreen, making use of glass fibre panels hiding an air conditioning unit as well as glazed windows around the front entrance of the coach; Elites on scheduled express routes have a low-level destination display mounted on a panel below the windscreen, resulting in a larger front windscreen than most comparable coaches. Seating capacity for the Elite upon launch was 59 seated or 55 with an optional in-coach toilet module fitted.[3][1]
Elite i
In 2012, Plaxton introduced a new "interdecker" version of the Elite named the Elite i, in which the passenger cabin extends above the driver's cab to span the full length of the vehicle; in addition there is a small lower saloon. The Elite i is 15 m long and 3.96 m high, and is built on Volvo B11RT chassis.[2][4]
Operators
Touring
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Elites were delivered to a large number of touring and coach hire operators across the United Kingdom, including Acklams Coaches, whose luxury tours arm "Elite Travel" took its name from the coach body.[5] The 100th Elite, built on Volvo B9R chassis, was delivered to Howard Snaith Coaches in 2011.[6]
The first two Elite is for an independent coach operator were delivered to New Adventure Travel of Cardiff in spring 2013.[7] Elite is were also delivered to Acklams Coaches for use primarily as sports team coaches.[8]
Eight Elites built on 13.5 metres (44 ft) Scania K440EB chassis were exported to New Zealand for use by Ritchies Transport in 2017, uniquely featuring a HVAC air conditioning system as well as single-glazed windows, including a split windscreen, to confirm with New Zealand's vehicle weight regulations.[9][10]
Plaxton Elites for intercity express coach services first entered service with National Express in early 2010, with seven operating between London and Liverpool, with a further 16 vehicles later procured to operate in Yorkshire, Oxford and Peterborough. Elites delivered to Stagecoach Yorkshire for National Express work have replaced Caetano Levantes on the long-distance 560 service to London.[11] A batch of 15-metre Elites on Volvo B13RT chassis later entered service with National Express in 2014.
Plaxton Elites are also operated on express services by some operations of the Stagecoach Group. A fleet of Elites entered service with Stagecoach West on the Oxford-CambridgeX5 service in 2015,[12][13] and Stagecoach West Scotland took delivery of four Elites in October 2017 for use on the X24 service between Dunfermline and Glasgow Airport.[14] The Elite i, meanwhile, was first commissioned by Stagecoach to be a standard vehicle operated on intercity Megabus services, with the first batch of eleven Elite is being delivered Stagecoach West Scotland for use on the network in December 2012.[15][4]
Elite is on Volvo B11RT chassis were first delivered to the Oxford Bus Company in November 2013 for dual-purpose use on the company's X90 service to Victoria Coach Station as well as its Airline network connecting Oxford with London Heathrow and Gatwick Airports.[16] These were later supplemented in early 2015 with the delivery of eight more Elite is exclusively for use on the X90.[17]
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