On December 5, 2011 the very first Mercedes-Benz Sprinter City 77 was delivered to Christian Winzenhöler, General Manager of the bus operator Winzenhöler. The Winzenhöler bus company has been under family management for three generations, employs around 50 personnel and has a fleet of 42 buses. The Winzenhöler bus company carries several thousand passengers in the Rhine-Main region for both regular routs and special excursions. Roland Sabais, Head of Sales at Mercedes-Benz Buses and Coaches Western Region, Oliver Schlamp sales department at Mercedes-Benz Buses, Western Region and Mark Freymüller, Head of Sales and Marketing at Mercedes-Benz Minibuses, handed over the symbolic key to Christian. Christian chose the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 77 because of its high passenger capacity despite its compact dimensions as well as choosing the Sprinter 77 for the added manoeuvrability and economic aspects.
Sprinter City 77: top-of-the-line city bus in the minibus range
With a length of 28.5 feet, the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter City 77 is the current top-of-the-line city bus in the Mercedes-Benz minibus range. Like the body of the Sprinter City 77, the low-floor chassis with a tandem rear axle is an exclusive in-house development by the Mercedes-Benz Minibus product unit. With a passenger capacity of up to 40, it closes the gap between the Sprinter City 65 and the 10.5 m long Citaro K. Compared to the previous top model in this vehicle series, the Sprinter City 65, the Sprinter City 77 has around one metre more length – all to the benefit of the passenger area – ten additional passenger spaces, a continuous, level low floor in the passenger area and a second wheelchair space. It has this high transport capacity thanks to a permissible gross vehicle weight of 6.8 t.
The chassis of the three-axle Sprinter City 77 has an independent suspension all-round and single tyres. Thanks to its comparatively short wheelbase and slim dimensions, even this largest model in the Mercedes-Benz city minibus range is ideal for narrow inner-city streets. In addition the Sprinter City 77 is highly suitable as a shuttle bus for airports and exhibitions, or for inter-urban operations.
Painted in arctic white, the Sprinter City 77 is powered by a 4-cylinder CDI diesel engine developing 120 kW (163 hp). A 5-speed automatic transmission is standard equipment. Meeting the Euro V and EEV emission standards (Enhanced Environmentally Friendly Vehicle), the Sprinter City 77 is set to be the most environmentally friendly bus in the Winzenhöler fleet. To cater for passengers with impaired mobility, a second wheelchair space with a folding ramp at door 2 was ordered in addition to the standard wheelchair space at door 1.
