The sides and back end of the body, however, followed the styling of other Optare products at that time, such as the Delta and Vecta.

[3] Capable of seating up to 54 passengers, to meet Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DiPTAC) accessibility recommendations, the Prisma has a 320 millimetres (13 in) step at the entrance door, capable of being reduced to 240 millimetres (9.4 in) with a kneeling front air suspension.

[5] After the company had rebranded to FirstBus, subsidiaries First Midland Bluebird and Lowland took further deliveries of Prismas.

[6] Another large operator was North East Bus subsidiary Tees & District, who took delivery of 25 Prismas in late 1995,[2] followed by East Yorkshire Motor Services, who took delivery of 16 Prismas between 1996 and 1998;[7][8] three delivered to the operator from stock in 1998 were the last Optare Primsas produced.

[9] Smaller operators of Prismas included Sargeants of Kingston upon Thames, the first new full-size bus delivered to the company since World War II,[10] Black Prince Buses of Morley,[11] the Tillingbourne Bus Company of Cranleigh,[12] MacEwan of Dumfries,[8] and Rhondda Buses.