By IANS
New Delhi : With killer Blueline buses being phased out, the Delhi government is desperately searching for a safer public transport option. The low-floor intra-city buses currently on display at Auto Expo 2008 could provide that alternative not just in the capital but elsewhere too.
Sample the iBUS at the Ashok Leyland stall. What makes this big but elegant public transport vehicle smarter than the average bus is an advertisement mounted on one of its side panels.
Using GPS technology, the bus keeps changing user-friendly messages on the panel as it moves through different parts of the city.
That’s not all. The 1.5-metre low-floor bus, which Leyland officials claim to be the widest in the country, has a neatly designed VIP enclosure with Internet access.
Leyland plans to roll out its iBUS in the capital to help it tide over the public transportation crisis. The auto major hopes to bag the next tender for low-floor buses from the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC).
“We are banking on the iBUS,” company managing director R. Seshasayee said.
The DTC plans to add an estimated 8,000 buses to its fleet before the 2010 Commonwealth Games by spending Rs.40 billion.
Leyland is also expected to bid for the second and third tender of the DTC for about 3,500 buses. “We expect to sell 100-150 iBUS models in 2008-09, with a total potential of 1,000 units,” Seshasayee added.
A few blocks away at the Volvo Bus Body Technologies stall, an exhibitor explains to a curious visitor why 60-plus passengers are not a problem for its lightweight chassis.
“The Tata Nano is definitely going to change the way people look at the public transport system across the country. It is going to be the next big thing in India now,” says Amlan Sinha, regional sales manager for Volvo Bus Body Technologies, a joint venture of Volvo Bus Corp and Azad Group’s Jaico Automobiles.
It’s been a smooth ride for these manufacturers so far. But would their state-of-the-art buses survive the test of Indian potholes?
“We’ll have to come up with something called the ifix,” says a Leyland official. “The biggest impediment to doing business in India is the lack of basic infrastructure.”