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GREYHOUND ORDERS 3D VoLVoSVOlVO BUSAUSTRALIAhas beenawarded an order for 30 new Irizar-bodied coaches in Greyhound Australia'snational Express fleet. The new long-distance coaches will begin operations inDecember 2013.

The order for the new Volvo B13Rcoaches comes as a result of theoperator's decision to upgrade its fleetto improve its offering to the market andmeet its environmental standards byminimising emissions, it's claimed.

"Our coaches are some of the hardestworking in the country, often coveringmore than 300,000 kilometres each year.We needed to partner with a supplier thatcould offer us a high quality and safeproduct, with proven reliability, all backedup with a national service network.Volvo was the supplier that could offerall of that to Greyhound," said Melinda

by providing recllnlnq leather seats andUSBcharging for phones and tablets,as well as on-board Wi-Fi. We believeour coaches will offer our customers themost reliable and comfortable way to getout and see Australia."

So far, the first Volvo coaches arebeing used to train about 200 Greyhounddrivers, covering most of the operator'sbases on the east coast of Australia.The rest of the order is expected to berunning in the Express fleet by the firstquarter of 2014.

"Volvo has supported us with asignificant training programme for ourdrivers, which is important as, ultimately.it is our drivers who will ensure we getthe best performance on the road out ofthe new coaches. Our drivers have beenvery excited about the new Volvos cominginto our tleet over the next few months."

RiCh,general manager - Procurement ofGreyhound Australia.

Reaching the entire continent,GreyhoundAustralia's network coversalmost 20 million kilometres carrying,on average, more than three millionpassengers each year. From mountainsto open plains, the coaches are requiredto run in a range of different geographiesand often harsh conditions.

"Our coaches cover a lot of land anddiverse terrain. The technology offeredby the Volvo engine and chassis allowsus to Significantly improve fuel efficiencyand lower carbon emissions of our fleet,making it more sustainable."

The decision for the fleet upgrade is inline with Greyhound's high commitmentto environmentally friendly travelalternatives by ensuring continuousimprovements in fuel efficiency and the

delivery of lower carbon emissions."When choosing the supplier, we were

particularly interested in the balancebetween performance and fuel economy,so we trialled coaches in a range ofshort-haul and long-haul duties in ourExpress network. In the end, it was theB13R coach that offered us the bestcombination of power and performance,while offering good fuel economy."

The B13R uses the same verticallyinstalled 13-1itre engine (D13C) that hasbeen used by VolvoTrucks for severalyears. It is, thus, one of the world's most-sold heavy diesel engines.

"We expect our customers to love thereliability and comfort offered by the newcoaches in our Express fleet. Beyondthe obvious benefits of a reliable andefficient chassis from Volvo, we have alsoinvested heavily in the body of the coach