Volvo Bus has announced it has delivered its first low floor bus with fully accessible inbuilt wheelchair spaces to Cowra Bus Services.
The company says the newly delivered bus will not only provide an additional mode of transport to school students and the general public, but will also now allow wheelchair reliant Cowra High School students to catch the bus to school.
This bus is scheduled to provide morning and afternoon transport to and from school for Cowra Students and will also offer a town transport service to the public throughout the day and will provide additional transport freedoms to Cowra based students and the general public.
The newly purchased B8RLE will be of significant value to the Saxby family, in particular for brother and sister, Justin and Sophie, who are Cowra High School students and rely on wheelchair friendly modes of transport. Until now, Justin and Sophie relied on their mother, Cindy to transport them to and from school in their family car – which took close to half an hour travel time each way.
The addition of Cowra Bus Services’ new DDA compliant B8RLE, will eliminate the need for this, as Sophie and Justin can now enjoy a wheelchair friendly bus ride to school with their friends, without the need to leave their wheelchairs.
Volvo Bus regional sales manager, Stuart Woodward, delivering the new bus in Cowra and caught up with Sophie and her family.
Sophie, 12, is very eager to start catching the bus to school.
“I’m so happy that I get to go to school with my friends now,” says Sophie.
“While I am in my chair, they can sit facing me and we can spend more time together. I can now also go on all the excursions with them too!”
Cindy Saxby said the new Volvo B8RLE will improve social inclusion for her children, as they will now be able to travel to and from school just like their friends. The positive impact the B8RLE will have on the Saxby family, Cowra High School students and the wider community, makes Volvo Bus Australia delighted to have played a part.
“We are really proud to have this new Volvo bus that will not only make school trips and commuting more accessible, but will also give those who are reliant on a wheelchair, more autonomy when travelling,” says Jeff Brown, Manager at Cowra Bus Services. “After having several Volvo buses in the fleet for years now, we knew the Volvo B8RLE was the right choice for us, it’s a superior product, and we have local support with a dealer in town”.
“At Volvo Bus Australia, we have always taken pride in the quality that we are able to continuously deliver to our valued customers. We are again thrilled that we could deliver on our promise of value and quality when supplying the Volvo B8LRE to the Cowra Bus Service. The team have done a great job in managing the customisation of the B8LRE on a Volgren body to suit the needs of our customer and their community”, says Stuart Woodward, regional sales manager for Volvo Bus in NSW.
In addition to providing more accessible public transport to the Cowra community, the new bus will also deliver strong fuel efficiency, increased versatility, improved driver performance and versatility, as well as integral after sales support according to Volvo.
