Optare Spectra

The Optare Spectra was a double-decker bus body built on the step-entrance DAF DB250 and later the low-floor DB250LF chassis between 1991 and 2006. It was a joint United Bus project between Optare and DAF, based on the Metro Cammell Weymann Metrobus design whose rights United Bus had bought in 1989, and was launched at the Coach and Bus 91 show in Birmingham. A recognisable feature was the lack of a lower deck rear window. The low-floor version from 1997 was the first low-floor double-decker in the United Kingdom. London Buses took 25 in 1992 and 1993 to replace Routemasters, and 31 left-hand drive examples went to Turkey. The last two were built in late 2006 for Anglian Bus.