The birth of the standard inter-urban bus.

It was Hamburger Hochbahn AG that started the ball rolling on the instigation of its Technical Director O. W. O. Schulz. At the 1967 annual meeting of the Association of German Transport Operators (VÖV), this company was able to persuade the member organizations to issue recommended model specifications which would standardize city service buses. The fact that the members of the working group which produced this recommendation operated more than 70 percent of all city service buses in Germany gave the necessary weight to their demands. That same year Daimler-Benz, Magirus and Büssing presented prototypes of the standard city bus at the International Commercial Vehicle Show (IAA). They were received with some suspicion.

Mercedes-Benz O 307 standard regular service bus, 1970. Daimler-Benz presented a prototype at the "Rail and Road" exhibition in Essen.

At that time the German market was serviced by six bus manufacturers whose models with their chrome trim and comfortable, rounded contours were still very reminiscent of the 1950s. Indeed the rationalized, rectangular city bus, which had very little in common with its homely predecessors, was initially sneered at as a "people container". The manufacturers too did not always find it easy to adjust to the new concept, even though they made haste to meet the wishes of their customers. Until then they had all followed their own ideas with respect to dimensions, engines and appointments, and these were not always easy to reconcile with the new requirements.

The market leader Daimler-Benz had just presented the new O 302 model series in 1965. In view of the relatively low volumes for individual segments such as inter-urban services, the Mannheim plant planned to cater for the entire spectrum of operations, from the city bus to the comfortable touring coach, with a single model series. However this model was far from meeting the requirements which the Association announced two years later.

Moreover, at the turn of the year 1967/68 a further working group consisting of representatives of the German railway and postal services, as well as associations of passenger transport operators and private sector railways was formed. This working group undertook the task of developing its own guidelines for a standard inter-urban service bus along the lines of the standard city service bus. It presented its recommendations in 1969. The following year Daimler-Benz presented a prototype at the "Rail and Road" exhibition in Essen, and series production of the O 307 standard inter-urban service bus commenced in February 1973.

Mercedes-Benz standard regular service bus O 307, 1973: The luggage compartment.