The DAF DB250 was launched in October 1991 and originally only available with Optare Spectra bodywork with 260 built, mainly for operators in the United Kingdom.[1][2]
25 DAF DB250s with Optare Spectra bodywork were delivered to London Buses in 1992, with all but one delivered to the London Central subsidiary with a single door arrangement;[3]Metroline received a single dual door example for evaluating replacements for MCW Metrobuses on route 16.[4]Capital Logistics also received a delayed order of six dual door Spectras in 1999 for their operation of route 60.
31 left-hand drive examples were exported to Turkey in 1994, with 26 being delivered to IETT in Istanbul and the remaining five being delivered to İzulaş in İzmir.[5][6]
The DB250LF, the low-floor version of the DB250, was the first low-floordouble-decker bus chassis available in the United Kingdom. The DB250LF is readily identified by the centrally-exiting exhaust at the rear, which can cause problems with extreme changes of slope. A revised version of DB250LF was launched in 2004 as the DB250+. The design has received a number of modifications, one of which is the use of independent front suspension.
The first DB250LFs received Optare Spectra body, which was sold exclusively on the DB250. The first low-floor variant entered service on 4 February 1998 with Abus of Bristol, narrowly beating a Travel West Midlands DB250LF to operate the first low floor double-decker bus service in the UK.[10][better source needed] Travel West Midlands would later go on to order 20 more Spectras in 1999.[11] Additional operators of the DB250LF with Optare Spectra bodywork included Reading Buses, who purchased 26, and Wilts & Dorset, who purchased 78.[1]
Arriva London purchased and acquired 632 DB250s between 1998 and 2005 with Alexander ALX400 (389), Plaxton President (110) and Wright Pulsar Gemini (133) bodywork.[13][14]Arriva Midlands and Arriva Yorkshire also purchased examples.
Production of the DB250 ended in 2006, although examples continued entering service until 2008. Its successor, the Wright Gemini 2 integral double decker with VDL chassis modules, was launched in November 2008.[16]