Scania has won the tender to supply a minimum of 340 Euro 6 compliant city buses over ten years to the South Australian Government’s Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure.
The buses will be supplied as chassis and will be fitted with locally manufactured bodies and will deliver greater fuel efficiency and lower emissions with the first bus set to be delivered in January next year and continuing through to 2030.
It has also been announced that Scania will supply a diesel-electric hybrid bus to DPTI for evaluation in late 2020, and says the hybrid will reduce exhaust emissions by between 19-24 per cent with no loss of dynamic performance.
“Scania is very pleased to have been selected as the supplier of this new fleet of buses to the South Australian government,” said Mikael Jansson, Managing Director of Scania Australia. “The 340 new buses will join the more than 600 Scania buses currently in operation.
“Our company-owned branch in Wingfield will continue to add more job opportunities within the workshop and technical functions in order to service this contract over the next 10 years.
“Since the start of 2018, Scania Wingfield has increased staffing levels by 50%, with further new hires expected in 2020. This new DPTI contract will help to underpin this employment growth and enhance job stability for our technicians.
“The addition of 340 new, clean Euro 6 buses over the next 10 years will replace older, dirtier vehicles as well as increase the total number of buses and bus services. In turn this should encourage more customers to leave the car at home and take the bus, compounding the benefit of reduced exhaust emissions via the use of Euro 6-compliant buses,” Mr Jansson said.
“Our unique Scania Driver Training programme will also help to provide a smoother, safer ride for passengers, as well as helping to reduce fuel use and emissions at the same time.
“Globally, Scania is driving the shift towards a sustainable transport solution, and here in South Australia the government is onboard with us, by unilaterally specifying Euro 6 emission standards, the cleanest available.
“Scania has been delivering clean and fuel-efficient Euro 6 emission compliant city buses into Australia since 2014 in a bid to help improve urban air quality.
“Continuing this theme, we are very pleased to be able to supply a diesel-electric hybrid powered evaluation vehicle to DPTI next year, technology that has already been proven a success in Europe,” Mr Jansson said.
Scania’s factory owned Wingfield dealership operation, which will provide back up for the major bus contract, has experienced strong year-on-year growth with staff levels rising from 27 to 40 since January last year, with the number of technicians increasing by 50 per cent up from 14 to 21. The company projects that this will rise by another 17.5 per cent by September 2020 with billable workshop hours rising by 18 per cent in the past 18 months. The company has added a second shift to allow the workshop to operate from 7am to 11pm on weekdays.
