Bus Stop challenges local market with new low-floor electric city bus

With the development of its first nine-metre low-floor electric urban city bus, Bus Stop Sales, in partnership with King Long, is challenging long-held assumptions about what the mid-size urban bus market in Australia should look like

For decades, the Australasian bus and coach industry has relied on a largely standardised vehicle format. Through changing regulations, operating models and powertrains, the 12-metre bus has remained the backbone of urban fleets. It has shaped procurement frameworks, fleet strategies and depot design, and continues to play a critical role across networks nationwide.

But as the industry transitions toward zero-emission transport, the question is no longer whether the 12-metre bus works—it’s whether it always fits the task.

Australia’s move to cleaner propulsion is accelerating. In 2025, around 350 zero-emission buses and coaches were delivered nationally, up from 208 the year before. While the uptake of new technology has been strong, vehicle size and deployment strategy have received far less scrutiny. For local supplier Bus Stop Sales, that disconnect presented an opportunity.

“Australia’s shift to zero-emission public transport is accelerating, but not all routes are suited to the same vehicles,” Bus Stop Sales director Pete White told ABC.

“That is where the real fleet challenge sits.”

At the same time, the operating environment for bus services is changing, with urban infill, expanding suburbs and new residential developments producing tighter street layouts, constrained intersections and more variable demand patterns. Yet fleet allocation has often defaulted to familiar choices – either a full-size 12-metre bus or a much smaller vehicle – neither of which consistently addresses these conditions.

“Across cities and growing suburbs, many services are becoming harder to operate,” White says.

“Street networks are tighter, intersections are more constrained and patronage can vary significantly by time of day or service model. Yet fleet deployment has often defaulted to familiar choices – either a full-size 12-metre bus or a much smaller vehicle – neither of which consistently fits these conditions.”

For suppliers, this reflects a deeper structural issue as 12-metre buses becoming the industry default have been effective on high-capacity trunk routes but are less suited to services where manoeuvrability, flexibility and whole-of-life efficiency matter more.

Identifying the issue was only the first step, as White says delivering a credible solution proved more challenging.

• Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter to receive the latest news and classifieds from Australasia’s bus and coach industry
• Don’t miss a second and subscribe to our monthly ABC magazine

That solution is the EVolution Midi – a brand-new, Australian-designed nine-metre low-floor electric city bus developed by Bus Stop Sales with King Long specifically for local operating conditions. While nine metres can sound substantial on paper, the vehicle has been engineered to operate comfortably through tight inner-city streets and newer residential areas where bus access has not been prioritised in street design.

Compact and agile by design, White says the EVolution Midi is engineered to operate confidently through tight streets and constrained urban environments.

Nine-metre buses themselves are not new to Australia – the format is well established in school bus and charter coach applications. What is new is Bus Stop Sales’ move to apply the platform to a fully accessible, low-floor urban configuration for the first time.

This shift from high-floor layouts to a low-entry city bus allows operators to retain the manoeuvrability and efficiency of the nine-metre format while meeting mainstream urban expectations for accessibility, circulation and passenger experience. To support different route profiles and operating models, the EVolution Midi is available in both one-door and two-door configurations, giving operators flexibility across feeder services, lower-demand routes and inner-urban applications.

That focus extended to energy storage when it came to specifying the battery system, as Bus Stop Sales made a deliberate whole-of-life decision by selecting CATL’s highest level of manufacturer-backed battery after-sales and warranty support rather than lower-tier or self-supported arrangements. The EVolution Midi is specified with CATL’s Tier-1 286 kWh BC5 battery platform, providing strong assurance around durability, thermal management and long-term support for demanding urban operations.

The nine-metre outcome was not accidental. Early in the program, Bus Stop Sales explored six-, seven- and eight-metre configurations in search of a compact solution for constrained routes. While each offered advantages in manoeuvrability, they also introduced trade-offs in passenger space, accessibility, flexibility and productivity.

“Importantly, the smaller formats did not materially reduce fixed operating costs such as driver wages, compliance or maintenance effort,” White says.

“That limited their effectiveness as long-term fleet solutions.”

Rather than focusing solely on length, the design brief shifted to achieving small-street manoeuvrability while maintaining a consistent, mainstream passenger experience. The result is a nine-metre bus that delivers agility where it is needed while retaining the space, layout and accessibility expected of a proper low-floor city bus.

Accessibility has been treated as a baseline requirement on the EVolution Midi – White says it’s a genuine DDA-compliant city bus, featuring front-door wheelchair access and a low-entry layout consistent with larger urban fleets, without alternative boarding procedures or special handling.

Inside, the two-door configuration provides 17 fixed seats, two wheelchair spaces or seven flip-down seats integrated into the wheelchair zones when not in use. Circulation supports efficient boarding and alighting, contributing to reliability on stop-start services and a calmer passenger environment.

Operationally, driver familiarity and fleet interchangeability were priorities for the Bus Stop team. The driver’s cabin mirrors the layout, sightlines and control logic of larger city buses, reducing training time and allowing drivers to move between vehicle sizes without adjustment, with eight large air outlets available to the driver.

Ride quality and passenger comfort are supported by a suite of world-class components selected for urban duty cycles. Climate control is provided by Spheros air-conditioning, delivering consistent performance in Australian conditions, while air suspension contributes to a stable ride quality for passengers and drivers alike. From a depot perspective, the bus uses systems and layouts already familiar to workshops, avoiding unnecessary complexity.

“What differentiates Bus Stop Sales is not a single vehicle or brand,” White says.

“But the way we approach meeting industry and customer needs from end to end.”

Bus Stop Sales general manager – national fleets Stephen Long says the project was driven by operational outcomes rather than category definitions.

“The starting point wasn’t size, it was what actually works in service,” Long told ABC.

“Once you accept that driver cost and fleet overheads are largely the same regardless of bus size, the solution has to deliver accessibility, passenger comfort and operational confidence without compromise.”

That thinking carried through to the manufacturing partnership with King Long. Harvey Zheng, country manager for King Long in Australia, says the brief was shaped squarely around local expectations.

“We worked closely with Bus Stop Sales to meet the operating needs and high service expectations of the Australian market,” Zheng says.

“The goal was to combine small-bus manoeuvrability with the passenger experience, accessibility and service standard people expect from a traditional 12-metre city bus.”

Bus Stop Sales is supporting the EVolution Midi with its national aftersales, parts supply and technical support network, recognising that long-term performance matters as much as initial deployment.

“The EVolution Midi doesn’t set out to redefine a category,” White says.

“It instead addresses a problem that has been evident on many routes for some time, offering an Australian-designed response that reflects local operating practice and evolving service demands.”

Image: Kinetic/Eugene Hyland/The Photo Pitch