A hop from Volvos to Marcopolos?

A hop from Volvos to Marcopolos?
Cost And Fuel-Efficiency Could Swing The Deal
Anil Kumar M | TNN

Bangalore: In the next few months, procurement of Swedish-made Volvo public transport buses in Bangalore could end to give way to indigenous world-class luxury buses.
The transport department is thinking of stopping further procurement of Volvos and choosing Tata’s Marcopolo buses instead for BMTC operations. “We are thinking of ending an agreement with manufacturers of Volvo buses and go in for buses which are much cheaper, fuel efficient and suitable for city roads,” transport minister R Ashok told TOI.
The bus built by Tatas in collaboration with Marcopolo of Brazil has luxury features of international standards and is priced between Rs 35 lakh and Rs 40 lakh, while a Volvo bus costs nearly Rs 75 lakh. “Maintenance of Volvos is done by the company itself under the annual maintenance contract, which is an expensive affair,’’ a senior transport department official said.
The state government signed an agreement with Volvo Bus Body India Technology Pvt Ltd in 2005 to procure 130 high-end buses. Currently, 130 buses, including 40 Vayu Vajras, are operating in the city.
As the Centre reduced excise duty from 16 per cent to 12 per cent, the transport department recently signed up to buy 200 more Volvos. “This will be the last set of Volvos buses we will procure,’’ sources said.
Two models of the Tata-Marcopolo — a green coloured non-airconditioned and a red coloured air-conditioned — have been deployed in New Delhi. The New Delhi administration, in view of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, has introduced more than 400 buses.
Ashok, currently in New Delhi for the all-India transport ministers’ conference on speed governors, is expected to have first-hand experience of travelling in a Tata-Marcopolo bus.
While the AC version has a 225 hp engine, the non-AC has a 200 hp engine. In comparison, the Volvo has a 290 hp engine. The passenger capacity of both is 80. “More the engine size, more the fuel consumption. When the agreement was signed with Volvo, the company was exempted from tax provisions. Now, there is no such exemption. But, there is no tax element while buying indigenously manufactured vehicles,’’ Ashok said.
Under the infrastructure development scheme, the BMTC can purchase 1,000 buses. As an agreement has been signed for 330 Volvos, the transport department can buy 670 high-end buses.
Volvo unaware
Reacting to the transport ministry’s plan to buy world-class buses, the Volvo Buses India said it wasn’t aware of any move to stop further orders for Volvo buses for the BMTC. “We have had a positive dialogue with the new government and had discussions for supplying 1,000 buses,” said MD of the company Akash Passey.
He said a new Volvo bus facility was set up in Karnataka earlier this year, despite good sops from other states, because of the commitments given by the Karnataka government.
Passey said in Pune, where Volvos run together with other luxury bus brands, passengers often wait for the Volvo buses. “Even in Bangalore, it has been a success and was able to win so much advertising because of the quality of the buses,” he said. Passey also questioned whether other bus brands can survive for 10-12 years that the Volvos can.