Regional and rural bus operators in New South Wales can now add single-door Volgren route buses to their fleets after the vehicle was added to Transport for New South Wales’ Bus Procurement Panel Three.
The popular Optimus-bodied, seatbelted route bus can be used for daily school services and standard route services throughout rural and regional NSW.
Yuri Tessari, Volgren’s Chief Commercial Officer, said the decision will be popular among operators and chassis OEMs and confirmed the first order has already been received through TfNSW’ s procurement portal.
“Optimus is a tried and tested bus that operators and OEMs know and trust. For those operators in NSW already operating two-door Optimus-bodied vehicles, adding a single door will give them commonality and peace of mind across their fleet.
“This decision also means that chassis OEMs will be able to access one of Australia’s most popular and long-lasting bus bodies.”
Yuri said the single-door format gives operators greater capacity for mixed-use.
“The one-door vehicle offers improved wheelchair accessibility thanks to a more spacious layout than its two-door sibling, which is an important difference for operators and passengers.
“The two wheelchair bays are very generous, making them easy to access for older passengers, parents with prams, those with mobility disadvantage and, of course, passengers using wheelchairs.”
Yuri said that the vehicles are built to the latest fire suppression standards and are supported by Volgren’s dedicated aftersales facility in Ingleburn, as well as two mobile service units.
Volgren’s major account manager for New South Wales, John Allen, said Volgren had already started the process of engaging operators on the single-door option.
“Volgren enjoys a great reputation among operators right across New South Wales. And that means our Optimus is a vehicle that passengers know well.
“We’re already in the process of delivering dedicated school buses in the state, too.”
John said in addition to communicating the Panel 3 inclusion, Volgren would continue to engage with New South Wales operators during scheduled information sessions, collecting vehicle feedback to constantly improve and “build better buses”.
“We’ve had some really good feedback through the seminars. Rather than build a bus and say ‘here it is’, we’ve started to get our customers sharing new ideas and involved in our planning. It’s important to get their feedback on what will work and what won’t work.”
John said the sessions were generating plenty of common themes and information. The responses from the sessions are evaluated, analysed and ultimately taken into consideration during future builds and modifications.
