Volvo Buses has received an order for 235 city buses to Sydney and Brisbane, Australia. In addition, there could be another 250 buses to Brisbane in the years ahead.
Volvo Buses holds a strong position in New South Wales in which Sydney, Australia’s largest city, is located. This is the sixth time since 2002 that Volvo has succeeded in public tenders to secure contracts with the customer State Transit Authority (STA).
The most recent order is for 150 18-meter articulated buses being built on the Volvo B12BLE chassis. When the most recent order is delivered, STA will have more than 700 buses rolling built on this Volvo chassis.
All 150 buses are equipped with Volvo’s 12-liter engine, which as a result of catalytic exhaust emission control, SCR, meets the most stringent exhaust standards in Europe today, EEV. This is a standard that will not officially come into effect in Australia for many years.
“The order from STA is yet again proof that Volvo has the market’s best articulated bus,” says David Mead, head of Volvo Bus Australia. “The selection by STA of the EEV emission standard shows the benefits of STA and Volvo working together on smart solutions and clearly illustrates both organizations share a passion for the management of a sustainable environment for Australia’s largest city.”
In Brisbane, the Brisbane City Council decided in a tender process that all diesel buses to be purchased in the next three years shall be Volvo buses. This could correspond to a total of up to 335 buses.
To date, the Brisbane City Council has signed contracts for 85 buses, the Volvo B7RLE, with Volvo’s 7-liter engine that meets the EEV emission standard.
The chassis will be manufactured in Volvo Buses’ plant in Borås, Sweden and the bodies will be produced by the Volgren company in Australia. The first chassis will be delivered in August 2009 and delivery of the completed buses starts at the end of 2009. Deliveries for the order to STA will continue through June 2011.