Midwest Bus refurbishes the MBTA fleet By Carrie Rathbun Hawks The Massachusetts Bay Transpor-tation Authority (MBTA), better known as the “T,” has a 300-year tradition of innovation and progress with mass transportation services. MBTA remains the nation’s fifth-largest mass transit system, serving a population of more than 4.6 million in 175 municipalities covering 3,244 square […]
It had long been a dream of Dr. Ferdinand Piëch, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen, to create a European automotive giant, active in all products from cars through to heavy commercial vehicles.
Five years ago in BUSRide, I wrote on my visit to the Mercedes Benz plant in Hoşdere just west of Istanbul in the small part of Turkey that lies in Europe.
Headquartered in Södertälje, Sweden, Scania is one of the oldest and most respected brands in the European commercial vehicle industry. The company dates back to 1891 with the Vagnfabriks family who built railway carriages and wagons following the dramatic expansion of the Swedish railway network in 1880s.
Alexander Dennis (ADL), the largest bus builder in the United Kingdom, now has its eyes set on creating new sectors in markets with product gaps and opportunities, and need for shorter, genuine buses that offer reliability, durability and longevity. Chief Executive Colin Robertson believes North America could be such a target.
Busworld Asia is one of the great events on the annual exhibition calendar. This year in Shanghai, May 6-8, visitors had the opportunity to also take in the World Expo. At any exhibition one expects to see some new models and innovation. The pace of change and the variety of new vehicles and components coming out of the world’s largest bus and coach building industry marks the difference between Busworld Asia and other exhibitions.
Every two years I carry out much of the research and write a large part of a report which has become an industry standard; the latest edition of “The World Bus & Coach Manufacturing Industry” report is due to be published in June.
Busworld, the Belgian organizer of international bus and coach exhibitions, recently held its third edition of Busworld Turkey in Istanbul in conjunction with its local partners. A number of significant changes were evident this year.
Introduced at APTA Expo 2008, the Rotary Mach 4 is the company’s most recent iteration of its mobile column lift. Rotary sales manager Roger Perlstein says this product sets up fast and raises a vehicle 70 inches in 78 seconds. The company claims this is quicker than comparable lifts.
A standing joke at the headquarters of the Stagecoach Group, Perth, Scotland, is how the staff must be ready on Monday mornings to hear of some new project that co-founder and chief executive Brian Souter has dreamed up over the weekend. The man is always thinking of novel ideas to drive the company forward, and many of them have been very successful. Stagecoach is without doubt the most innovative bus operator in the United Kingdom.