Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 407 i Australasian Bus & Coach

FOLLOWING a competitive tender process for NZ national school transport services, Go Bus will more than double its contracted services after being selected as the preferred 12-year supplier for 679 school routes – including in the new regions of Manawatu, Wairarapa and Marlborough – the Kinetic-owned company announced recently. This expanded contract will see an additional 379 vehicles added to Go Bus’s school fleet, with services commencing in January, 2022, it confirms. As New Zealand’s leading passenger bus transport business, Go Bus is to expand its government-contracted school transport services after the New Zealand Ministry of Education re-selected it as a preferred supplier to deliver more bus services across the country for a further 12-year period. Go Bus – part of Australia and NZ’s biggest bus network Kinetic – currently…

DUE MID-2022, Hino Motors, Ltd. plans to launch the Hino Poncho Z EV light-duty electric vehicle (EV) in Japan, the company has announced. The Hino Poncho light-duty low-floor non-step diesel bus launched in 2002 has been widely adopted throughout Japan for community transportation purposes, and is a popular choice in Australia with on-demand services, it states. The new Poncho Z EV keeps the features of the Hino Poncho, including universal design that makes it user-friendly for everyone, and provides cleaner transportation through electrification, it explains. Its large full-flat area and low-floor non-step structure enables easier boarding and moving inside the bus, making it a user-friendly option for all passengers, including users of wheelchairs and prams, Hino says. It has a simple and appealingly rounded exterior, and being an EV means…

A red double decker hop-on/hop-off sightseeing bus has already been sold, with another five on the market, the company confirms. The fleet is not sustainable without international visitors and domestic tour and coach company Fantastic Aussie Tours (FAT), which owns them, cannot afford to maintain the fleet without government help, it explains. FAT managing director Jason Cronshaw said the indefinite closure of Blue Mountains Explorer Bus followed several closures during the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2019–20 bushfires before that. Cronshaw – who also owned international tour company Christian Fellowship Tours – said the fleet had become untenable. “While, of course, we’re thankful for the recent NSW government rescue package, it won’t save us,” Cronshaw said. “Without international tourists it’s just not viable. “We’re running a 77-seater bus with one or…

More than just a fleet management tool, Scania’s data collection delivers a powerful competitive advantage to its customers when they are negotiating for new business, the company explains. A decade ago, Scania took the lead by introducing a communication device as standard in all its vehicles, it says. This enabled customers to achieve improved uptime, performance and efficiency across their operations, and for Scania to collect scientific data about product use, as well as analysing logistics patterns, it explains. Scania’s lead product manager for Fleet Management Services, Venugopal Gangaiah, says the importance of having large numbers of vehicles connected cannot be over-stated, and considers this to be an important milestone for Scania. “It is vital in our journey towards becoming a sustainable end-to-end solution provider of transport,” Gangaiah said. “Scania…

Dogs are strange creatures. Cute and fluffy and cheeky and crazy mostly, but if you’ve ever watched different ones in a big park over time, you’ll note when it comes to ‘doing the business’ that the varied strategy and timeframes involved for successful ‘poopies’ seem as wildly unique and idiosyncratic for each pooch. Or is it? Some do it quickly while others take much longer; some sniff every tree while others can’t be bothered. Add in whether a dog starts to circle first, or selectively does a few figure eights (highbrow, very upperclass), or merely ‘opens the bomb bay doors’ straight away - and you would be forgiven for thinking you were reading way much too into these things and it wasn’t worth further investigation. Yet what if there really…

Having teased triple figures throughout the year, bus and coach deliveries have finally smashed that mark during the end of financial year. June 2021’s tally of 114 is the highest for exactly a year, with June 2020 the last time deliveries surpassed a century, and well above this calendar year’s best of 99 in January. Scania led the way in the chassis sector with 44 deliveries; also its highest number in a year. Volvo followed on 29, with a 12-unit delivery to Busways helping it near its average of 30 in 2021. BCI came roaring back after no deliveries in May to notch 21 in June; its highest number since February 2020. The good news continued to roll for BCI in the body-building sector, taking a rare monthly crown after…

SYDNEY REGION 6 bus fleet operator Transit Systems has added 10 ‘locally finished’ e-buses in collaboration with Transport for NSW, recently. The company says it is, “…very proud to be a local Australian company delivering innovative and more environmentally sustainable transport solutions, made possible by collaboration with the future-focused government agency Transport for NSW.” It adds: “We were pleased to accept delivery of 10 new electric buses increasing our electric fleet in New South Wales to 15 – we cannot wait to take delivery of the remaining buses,” it announced on social media. As Transit Systems explains, these latest 10 buses were finished locally in Australia – the seats, lights, and stanchions (grab rails) – with the company excited about the vision of Nexport to “… manufacture locally in the…

SEALINK TRAVEL GROUP LIMITED (SeaLink) has successfully acquired Go West Tours* for an enterprise value of $84.7 million** – plus an earn-out component of up to $25 million, the company has announced. Three strategic properties were also purchased for an additional $3.8 million, it confirms. SeaLink’s Group chief executive officer Clint Feuerherdt says the acquisition diversifies our portfolio and provides a platform for further growth into the attractive resources sector. “We welcome all of Go West’s employees to the Group and look forward to working together to continue delivering great services for Go West’s clients,” Feuerherdt stated. “Our focus remains on designing, delivering and operating world-class, innovative and sustainable transport solutions,” he added. NOTE: * SeaLink Travel Group Limited has acquired 100 per cent of the shares in S.V.Haoust Pty…

GERMAN global technology company Voith has released a new electrical drive system, touted as new engine option for lighter commercial vehicles, it announced recently. The new 260kW MD engine option is for use in single-deck/solo city buses and trucks up to 19 metric tons gross vehicle weight. It is an “integrated drive concept” for easy integration into vehicles and increased reliability of the system, says Voith, adding that it boasts easy retrofitting of existing vehicle fleets. With the new MD version, Voith is adding a second engine option, including the appropriate inverter, to its Voith Electrical Drive System (VEDS) portfolio, it explains. Since its introduction in 2019, the VEDS has already proven itself in various applications in public transport as an innovative solution for the shift towards e-mobility, the company…

AN EXTENSIVE celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and promotion of reconciliation took place via bus operator CDC Australia’s (CDC) state operations joining forces to promote NAIDOC Week 2021, on 4–11 July. The company (ComfortDelGro Corporation Australia) – which operates bus services in metropolitan and regional areas across the Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, and taxis in Western Australia–planned a diverse range of activities to tie in with the Heal Country theme of NAIDOC Week, 2021. According to its organisers, NAIDOC Week is an opportunity for all Australians to come together to celebrate the rich history, diverse culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This is part of the broader objective, “…to recognise, protect, and maintain all aspects of…

SCANIA AUSTRALIA is continuing its spare-parts investment in Australia as its business grows at record levels across all divisions, it reports. Following closely from the start of construction of a new company-owned sales and service branch at Eastern Creek, New South Wales, Scania is acquiring two new warehouses to provide a higher level of ‘first pick’ of spare and replacement parts, underpinning its promise of exceptional uptime for customers, it explains. The largest investment secures additional capacity for spare parts storage and dispatch at a new 9,000 square metre warehouse set to ‘come on stream’ in September, 2021, it states. Located close to the company’s Campbellfield, Victoria, headquarters, it is substantially bigger than the existing Scania National Parts Warehouse, which opened in 1992. WEST SIDE The second investment is in…

ZF’s NEW Energy Management System (EMS) software solution regulates the energy allocation for driveline and auxiliary units in electric buses and trucks, with benefits including higher energy efficiency, longer battery life and easier system integration, ZF says. It is available as an add-on to systems already in volume production, ZF confirms. With its new EMS software, ZF is providing another attractive proposal for the commercial vehicle market, it states. According to the company, the management now takes a central role in the electric or electrified driveline, as the ZF EMS can control all auxiliary units such as air compressors, steering pumps and thermal management, as well as coordinating the energy requirements of the driveline. This integrated approach can help make electrically driven commercial vehicles more efficient, ZF claims, saying that…

Baxter has been actively involved in the Australian bus and coach industry for more than four decades and is currently chairman of Coach New South Wales. After operating the successful Australian owned and run family bus and coach business for many years, he is now taking a step back to relish a more relaxed life. Baxter’s Bus Lines (also known as Baxter’s Coaches) is based in Girraween, Sydney. Baxter’s father, Roy, commenced operations of the current company when he purchased the business in 1981. Baxter managed the operations, along with wife, Susan, while Roy enjoyed driving and working behind the scene in the workshop. Today, the third generation of Baxters is managing different roles within the business as Baxter is phasing himself out of the day-to-day operations to, as he…

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN Liberal government is committing $17.3 million for expanded school bus services, in addition to $42 million for “urgent” capital works for specific schools, it announced recently. In the State Budget 2021–22, $17.3 million has been allocated for new and expanded Adelaide Metro bus services to cater for the significant number of extra students set to attend secondary schools due to the transition of Year 7 into high school and the opening of two new state schools in Aldinga and Angle Vale, the government explains. School bus funding includes: • $12 million over two years for 20 new school buses• $497,000 in 2021–22 increasing to $1 million per year from 2022–23 to operate new and expanded bus services to support the Year 7 transition to high school from…

TOUTED AS THE world’s first coach fleet of its type, Hyzon Motor’s ‘Road Warrior’ hydrogen-powered coaches passed durability testing for an Australian mining company, completing a 15,000-kilometre run before use in a harsh, remote region of Western Australia, Hyzon confirms. The achievement keeps delivery of 10 Hyzon coaches on schedule, with testing for Fortescue Metals Group showcasing capabilities of the zero-emission, hydrogen fuel-cell coach up to an 800km range, the company explains. Hyzon-Fortescue’s collaboration is the latest sign of increasing industrial, commercial support of hydrogen in anUS$87.5 billion (A$118.3 billion) global coach-bus market, Hyzon states. The completed 15,000km durability test of its mining transport coaches was a key tryout before one of the world’s largest iron-ore producers uses the vehicles in the remote WA Pilbara region, the company says. Hyzon…

DESPITE the impact of pandemic-induced lockdowns across Australia since early 2020, global interest in Australian domestic coach tourism routes has increased a massive 426 per cent, according to a leading German bus-travel booking and analysis site report, published recently. In its first edition on the Australian coach sector – published using www.CheckMyBus.com (CMB) data from 2019 and 2020 – CMB says that, while Australian-sourced searches for best travel routes often fluctuated or dropped, there was still high interest from a range of travellers worldwide. The 2020 Australian Coach Transport Market Report says that there was a 50.58 per cent decrease of interest within Australia when comparing 2019 and 2020 data, due to ongoing Covid lockdowns. Generally, the percentage of users from certain states remained the same, with notable exceptions being…

THE BUS – similar in specification to that already in service with a number of operators in Victoria and South Australia – offers fuel savings of between 25 and 35 per cent, as well as similar reductions in tailpipe emissions, plus benefits such as silent running mode for arrival and departures from bus stops, Scania says. “The Scania hybrid-electric city bus is a ‘here-and-now’ solution that can deliver solid, repeatable and reliable performance day-after-day,” said Scania Bus and Engines sales director Julian Gurney. “We have several years of in-service experience in Europe, as well as having these buses on the road in Australia for a meaningful period of time, clocking up thousands of commuter inner and outer suburban kilometres. “In real-world Australia testing we have seen the hybrid-electric city bus…

Recent European Volvo e-bus summer-operation trials in the Norwegian town of Bodø are the first to provide scheduled services north of the Arctic Circle. Simultaneously, Volvo is also testing its electric buses in warm climates as part of challenging test programs in Spain and Mexico, amongst other places, it confirms. “As one of the leading global suppliers of solutions for electric mobility, we must be able to meet our customers’ requirements and expectations regardless of where they operate,” said Marie Carlsson, director city mobility business development at Volvo Buses. “That applies not only to environmental considerations, but also availability, passenger comfort and safety. “We test our products together with our customers in Arctic conditions and in warm climates to ensure that we have the best solutions for a range of…

It’s a pleasure to interview someone who’s a self-confessed bus fan and Glenorie Coaches’ owner and operations manager Alan Ng’s path to today, and his love of buses, came from a driving history that began way before he could drive. “As a kid, I loved anything with an engine, I loved cars,” explained Ng of his bus beginnings. “When I started catching school buses, which [were run by] Harris Park Buses in this area, is probably when it started. “Then, when I was in high school, Clarke Coaches took us on all of our camps and I used to look at their vehicles and think they were just awesome – it kind of grew from there. “My first driving job was a part-time job in my university days. Once you…