Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 415 i Australasian Bus & Coach

LOCAL ENERGY provider Energy Australia and ‘clean tech’ bus and transport solutions provider Nexport have ‘joined forces’ to, “… help public and private sector customers accelerate the uptake of zero-emission transport,” they recently announced. The pair’s ‘one stop shop – grid to road and beyond’ electrification offering is in the context of a 2021 report* from BusVic and Monash University finding that bus operators were, “…most concerned about establishing energy infrastructure; the cost and commercial viability of zero-emission buses [ZEB] technologies; and their own capabilities to successfully operate, charge and maintain ZEBs.” Energy Australia and Nexport jointly aim to, “…leverage their extensive expertise to enable the provision of bespoke end-to-end solutions to customers across the public/private/industrial transportation and employee mobility sector,” they state. Their work together also helps to, “…urgently…

IN RESPONSE to the disastrous volcanic eruption and subsequent tsunami that hit the Kingdom of Tonga in January, Queensland bus industry stalwart Del Cole is asking her peers and others for urgent help via her charity Someone Who Cares. On 15 January, 2022, the Kingdom of Tonga experienced a volcanic eruption and tsunami, with the volcanic ash covering all the islands of Tonga and the tsunami wiping out villages, damaging infrastructure and livestock, media reports indicated. Communications are minimal at this time and are undergoing repair, commentators confirm. “Our goal is to purchase and send a 40-foot shipping container full of essential items to Nuku Alofa, Tonga, to be received by HRH Queen of Tonga,” explained Del Cole. “This container will be filled with donated goods and distributed to those…

FOLLOWING Hino Motors Ltd in Japan revealing “falsification” of emissions and engine performance data on certain models of its engines, Hino Australia says there are no implications for the Australian market at this time, the company recently explained. On Friday, 4 March, 2022, Hino Motors, Ltd. (HML) announced it had suspended the sale of three engine models and their corresponding vehicles in Japan. This follows HML identifying past misconduct in relation to its applications for certification concerning the emissions and fuel economy performance of its engines for the Japanese market, it confirms. HML had identified misconduct concerning the “falsification” of engine performance data in emissions durability testing for one engine model and in the measurement of fuel economy performance in certification tests for two other engine models, it explains. Additionally,…

Successfully lifting a bus with a crane is a difficult task at the best of times, but after a recent US bridge collapse – near Frick Park, Pittsburgh, USA – the project was a little more complex, a leading American crane operator explains. The recovery of the bus was something admired by residents of Pittsburgh, making local news channels and showing the wider community the importance of the crane industry, says Allegheny Crane and Rigging (ACR) president Kyrk Pyros, who acknowledged the work of the rescue teams and his own team in the successful recovery of the bus. “It was a great collaboration between public and private partnerships in the City of Pittsburgh,” Pyros told ABC magazine’s sister title Cranes and Lifting, recently. “It was a true team effort from…

ANDRICH JOINED Volvo Bus in February, 1992, in NSW and he immediately became a valued member of the team, playing an integral role in forming key long-term relationships with customers and partners across the bus and coach industry, the company explains. Officially joining the team as a regional sales manager, in this role Andrich found his niche and passion and proudly maintained it over the years, VBA explains. Prior to this, Andrich began working for Suttons Volvo in July, 1984, which was a Volvo Bus dealership for NSW at the time. Before starting his three-decade journey with Volvo, Andrich originally began his career as an electrician, but had a long-held love of buses even before entering the industry, spending his weekends driving buses around Sydney with his friend, Volvo confirms.…

TO ACCOMMODATE the trial, Swan Transit (aka Transit Systems) – part of Kelsian Group Limited – modified its Joondalup bus depot to include high-voltage EV charging, marking a, “…major step forward in sustainable public transport technology,” the government explains. This high-voltage electric vehicle charging system will allow the Central Area Transit (CAT) electric buses to be recharged at the depot through a combination of the existing grid network and a 100 kilowatt solar power array connected to a large on-site battery storage system, the government explains. Powered by lithium-ion batteries with minimal greenhouse gas emissions, these particular e-buses are the first of a Volvo-chassis, Volgren light e-bus-bodied quartet being evaluated on a range of factors including: safety, reliability, efficiency, performance, downtime, emissions reductions, life-cycle costs and risks – with its…

THE 12m-LONG Cizaris EV will, according to the company, “…stimulate the market for zero-emission and at the same time affordable buses.” It is available in two- and three-door models with a total of nine interior layout options available, it confirms. Using “robust and reliable” lithium iron phosphate batteries – the packs of which are roof mounted (a maximum of six in the front and six in the rear depending on customer preference) – and “highly efficient” synchronous central motor from Dana/TM4, used in tens of thousands of buses for years thanks to Asian company EV Dynamics, Quantron explains, this combination has so far been rare in Europe, but represents, “…the optimal team for converting the energy on board into propulsion as safely and efficiently as possible.” With 242–424kWh of ‘selectable…

Coolum Coaches’ CEO Glynn Ross was a school teacher for 17 years before shifting gear to run a bus and coach company. While continuing to teach, Ross also drove buses for his father, Glynn Ross (whom he was obviously named after), who operated a school bus service in Toowoomba in the 1980s. Driving Leylands, Tiger Cubs and Comits for 12 years, as well as running the business with his father, Ross became so attached to the industry that he decided to quit teaching and run the company by himself. While he enjoyed working in the education sector, he realised that he loved to talk and to be on the road more than anything. Driving buses was the right combination of those two passions. The first few years he drove buses,…

WEST AUSTRALIAN operator Go West – now owned by the Kelsian Group Limited (KLS), which in turn includes public transport operator Transit Systems – has continued to bolster its bus offerings by securing four school bus services, for terms remarkably of up to 17 years, with the Public Transport Authority (PTA), the group has announced. Moving primary and secondary school children on a daily basis in the areas of Tom Price, Manea and Karratha, as well as offering school bus services for community events, Transit Systems chief operating officer Greg Balkin says the company was pleased to continue providing safe, reliable and convenient services. “We are proud to secure these new contracts on a long-term basis and look forward to continuing to delivering reliable services to the schooling communities.” “We…

TRANSPORT CANBERRA’S (TC’s) ageing bus fleet has taken a ‘major step forward’ in its transition to a zero-emissions future with 90 electric buses sought in a longer-term procurement. TC invited parties to register for procurement by 8 March, 2022. Respondents will be invited to participate in the request for proposal activity, it explains. This next tranche of electric buses follows its current low- to zero-emission bus initiatives, of which Yutong’s local distributor Vehicle Dealers International and Western Sydney-based Custom Denning – fresh from its $70 million NSW e-bus contract win – are key to Canberra’s initial e-bus fleet. PREFERRED SUPPLIERS According to TC, the first electric buses are on their way from its ‘current preferred suppliers’, which it identifies as VDI Australia and Custom Bus Group, to lease the ACT’s…

TAFE NSW – in partnership with Volvo Bus Australia – has launched an Electric Bus Micro Skills Course to the public, the entities jointly announced. After partnering with Volvo Bus Australia (VBA) earlier this year to develop a new range of specialised industry-based courses specific to the introduction of electric buses in Australia, the Electromobility Micro Skills Course has been designed to ensure the current and future workforce that’s driving, servicing and repairing e-buses in NSW and across Australia is ‘electric ready’, as the NSW bus fleet transitions to more than 8,000 zero-emission buses (ZEBs) by 2030. TAFE NSW industrial lead of its Supply Chain and E-Commerce Skills Team, Chris Greentree, says TAFE NSW has worked closely with bus manufacturers, operators and government agencies to develop a training solution that…

APPLE ISLE bus operator Metro Tasmania has appealed a Federal Court decision relating to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and payment of overtime to Burnie-based bus drivers between 2012 and 2020, the company confirmed recently. Metro Tasmania (Metro) CEO Katie Cooper says the company was disputing the decision for payment of rostered Saturday work at the Full Bench of the Federal Court. “It is Metro’s position that the payment of time and a half for the Saturday work between 2012 and 2020 was correct and in line with the MOU and the bus operator EAs [enterprise agreements] 2013 and 2016,” she said. In September last year, a Burnie bus driver filed an application in the Federal Court against Metro claiming that the company had paid him an incorrect rate of…

VOTING TOOK PLACE 7–18 March 2022 for the Queensland Bus Driver of the Year Awards, with the winners to be announced on 9 April. The awards are designed to acknowledge the important work that bus drivers do across the state, they explain. Head of Translink Sally Stannard confirmed that more than 1,200 nominations were received across the three award categories, recognising the vital role bus drivers continue to play in keeping Queenslanders moving and connected to work, study, essential services and each other. “We’re delighted to see the hard work of so many drivers acknowledged via a nomination and whittling the list of finalists down to just nine was incredibly tough,” Stannard said. “Frontline public transport staff, including hard-working bus drivers, really have been unsung heroes during Covid-19, which is…

MACQUARIE TELECOM – part of Macquarie Telecom Group – confirms it has signed a new multi-year, multi-million-dollar contract with Kelsian Group Limited, supporting the company’s drive to expand following its “transformative Transit Systems Acquisition”, with a simplified, robust cloud and telecoms network, they explain. Kelsian Group is Australia’s largest integrated land and marine, tourism, and public transport service provider, it states. It operates fleets throughout Australia, the UK and Singapore and moves more than 207 million people every year, it confirms. The current company was formed following a $635 million acquisition of Transit Systems before the pandemic; it now has its sights set on further expansion through major deals and other potential acquisitions, it says. PROVEN SKILLSET According to the telco, Macquarie Telecom had previously provided SD-WAN, mobile and cloud…

FOLLOWING a successful handover of the first Optimus-bodied Volvo BZL electric buses to WA’s Public Transport Authority (PTA) recently, they are now ready for local body assembly and delivery in 2022, the companies confirm. The hand-over of the first two of an initial four Optimus Volvo BZL Electric units took place at the Swan Transit Joondalup depot in Perth on 28 February. “It’s been an exciting electro-mobility journey for us over the years and we are very happy to have handed over our first Volvo BZL Electric unit to the PTA,” said Volvo Bus Australia general manager, Mitch Peden. “We’ve spent years planning, developing, testing and refining our electric chassis so that we could offer operators one of the safest, most responsive, and sustainable electric bus system in Australia.” Throughout…

Lazzerini’s group president and CEO Innocenzo Carbone completed a very long trip from Monsano, Italy, recently to arrive at a very wet Brisbane International Airport for his post-pandemic Styleride visit, spokespeople confirm. Carbone was the Australian bus seat specialist’s first international visitor for more than two years due to Covid restrictions, whereupon the Styleride leadership team presented and toured the new company premises with him located at 29-41 Lysaght St, Acacia Ridge, Queensland. Styleride managing director Garrin Angel was able to spend the week with Carbone, working closely with the greater team to finetune both near- and long-term business plans and review the detail of the relocation requirements. It also importantly was a time to discuss the development and enhancement of Styleride‘s manufacturing process focusing on ‘lean manufacturing’ methodology. This…

After January’s delivery total of 86 there was a welcome uptick to 97 in February. This was six units ahead of February 2021’s total of 91, and a positive start to this year. In the chassis sector, Volvo repeated January’s total of 20 and took the top spot from Yutong, which delivered 18. BCI’s 18 also earned it joint second place – not only a huge jump from January’s seven, but its best result since June 2021. Scania dropped one for a total of 10 compared to January, but King Long staked its claim with nine for February. MAN returned after a two-month absence with eight, while Mercedes-Benz dropped down the chart from January’s 14 to six units in February. I-Bus also reported its first deliveries of the year with…

A MUCH-NEEDED North Coast apprenticeships push to address a bus-industry skills shortage is being driven – in partnership with Volvo Bus Australia – via a recent Express Coach Builders (ECB) contract to further the supply of buses in regional NSW for operator Buslines, the companies announced recently. In order to boost the amount of qualified staff in the skills necessary for ECB bus body building operations, the company is heavily investing in apprenticeships to support its expanding operations and currently have more than 13 apprentices, which ECB is looking at increasing this year. The new major contract will ultimately support local jobs, training and manufacturing across the area. With a heavy focus on grassroots staff, ECB is being supported by local partners like Volvo Bus Australia which has been facilitating…

CHARGING SPECIALIST ABB has entered into an agreement with Scania Europe to provide a comprehensive range of robotic solutions for the bus and truck maker’s new 18,000m2 highly automated battery assembly plant in Sweden, the companies announced, recently. The new facility will be a key milestone on Scania’s journey towards the electrification of heavy vehicles, they explain. Scania will invest more than SEK 1 billion ($108 million) in the facility over several years and the new Södertälje plant is expected to be fully operational by 2023, they add. The advanced facility will be built next to Scania’s chassis assembly plant in Södertälje and will be highly automated, from goods reception through production to delivery, ABB says. It will assemble battery modules from cells supplied by Northvolt’s battery factory in Skellefteå,…

VOLVO BUS’s 200,000th chassis ever produced globally is a BZL Electric – from its Borås factory in Sweden – destined for Perth, Australia, the company confirms Following its successful local worldwide online launch from Brisbane last September, production of the BZL has been ramping up at the Borås factory, with chassis number 200,000 due to be handed over to the Public Transport Authority (PTA) of Western Australia later this year, according to Volvo Bus Australia. The handover will form part of the AUD$549 million bus-supply contract awarded in March, 2019, to Volvo Bus Australia in partnership with Volgren Australia, where Volvo Bus is to supply 90 buses per year for five years to the PTA – four of which will be Volvo BZL Electric units delivered this year, Volvo explains.…

A survey of more than 100 Metro Tasmania bus drivers has found that seven in 10 drivers have been threated while working on the job, and a staggering 98 per cent of drivers have been verbally abused, according to the Rail, Tram and Bus Union state branch. RTBU Tasmania secretary Ric Bean described the results of the survey as, “…shocking, but not surprising.” Other key points highlighted by the RBTU Tasmania branch survey include: • 67 per cent of operators believe Metro doesn’t take their safety seriously; • 91 per cent believe the safety culture has not improved in the past five years; • 50 per cent of drivers are either very likely, or somewhat likely, to resign; • Lifetime bans for repeat offenders (74 per cent), more transit officers…

CRAFTY COOPERATION A first-ever bus stop shelter made of recycled plastic waste collected from the streets has been commissioned at Dzorwulu Junction in Ghana’s capital Accra. Social enterprising company Mckingtorch Africa is behind the plastic waste innovations and installations project, which is intended to transform bus stops in the national capital. “The specific objective relates to designing, fabricating, and installing sustainable public space shelters from recycled materials to promote further research and investigate into plastic waste in Ghana,” says CEO Makafui Awuku, adding that the company also wanted to discover how these materials respond to adverse weather. COMPLETELY QUACKERS After Colin the Sheep’s escapades in a previous Wot?!? column, when this mention of the Vancouver Duck Lady popped up on Twitter we were intrigued. It turns out that she is…

WITH LOCAL manufacturing jobs clearly in focus, Custom Denning has been awarded a contract to design, manufacture and assemble 79 new electric buses, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet confirmed at Custom’s St Marysbased factory recently. Premier Perrottet and Minister for Transport and Veterans David Elliott toured the St Mary’s outlet this morning to inspect the production line and meet workers. “This is a true Western Sydney success story and our government is proud to have played a part in this business producing the first locally built electric bus,” Premier Perrottet said. “Custom Denning employs 160 workers at their St Marys factory and this investment will now provide more jobs to ensure our buses are built to the highest standard. “Our government is getting closer to securing a cleaner, healthier future for…

THE PROJECT will be built opposite Viva Energy’s petroleum refinery and incorporate a 2MW electrolyser along with hydrogen compression, storage and dispensing infrastructure, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) – on behalf of the Australian government – explains. The service station will also include 150kW electric vehicle (EV) charging facilities, it adds. ARENA’s funding will go towards both the renewable hydrogen and EV infrastructure, as well as to subsidise the purchase and operations of 15 hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) to help fast-track FCEV uptake, it explains. Its funding for the FCEVs will be paid upon the delivery of the vehicles, it confirms. Viva Energy’s $43.3 million project will allow for the procurement, delivery and operation of the hydrogen FCEVs to utilise renewable hydrogen from the New Energies Service…

The New Bus Generation range will feature low-emission, fuel-efficient five-cylinder 320hp (239kW) Euro 6 engines in both standard diesel and hybrid-electric powertrains for city bus operators, it explains. These hybrid-electric powertrains will be joined shortly by Scania’s battery-electric bus chassis, the first of which arrives in Australia soon, it confirms. In Europe, Scania’s battery-driven solution generates zero tailpipe emissions and is becoming well established within their operating environments. For Australia, Scania will soon receive the first examples of this battery-electric chassis to be fitted with local bodies, it says. Once built, they will be evaluated to determine how well they meet local requirements regarding range, driving performance, duty-cycles as well as coping with Australian road and climatic conditions. Running costs will also be analysed. “While we will be working hard…

Weather conditions and extremes have a lot to account for when it comes to helping or hindering our daily lives. And, in Australia, it would seem we have those extremes pretty much covered these days. Extreme heat? Sweltering transport, urban and rural droughts, or burning bushfires come to mind. Extreme rain? Muddy footy, cancelled cricket and ruined picnics are to be expected – and the horrible recent east-coast floods and the poor victims of it remind us just how tough things can get here. Yet, what we don’t really – well, not yet anyway – get is extreme cold and snow. But, if some of the latest theories become a reality then we’ll be ‘walkin’ in a winter wonderland’ some day soon while heading to the local shops in thongs…