Busworld Turkey highlights manufacturer product moves to low floor and CNG

摘要

Turkey - The biennial show of Busworld Turkey in Istanbul last month, organised by Busworld Kortrijk of Belgium and local partner, HKF Fuarcilik AS, highlighted Turkish bus builder moves towards low entry and low floor DDA compliant designs as well as fitment of Euro 5/EEV compliant diesel and CNG engines in bus and coach. Discussions with the various manufacturers and engine suppliers with Truck and Bus Builder at the show unveiled an emerging trend in the Turkish market place towards more accessible and cleaner (less polluting) vehicles. January 2009 saw Turkey move to Euro 4 emission standards; but this was with a very long derogation (relaxation of the time line for compliance) period of two years, which has allowed for the continuation of Euro 1 and Euro 2 engine fitments in vehicles up to the end of 2010; this is subject to the engine being registered for use prior to the legislation coming into effect. It was apparent that there is certainly rising interest in CNG powered vehicles, particularly from municipalities for use in city bus operations. Cummins Turkey explained at the show that the Turkish Government has an agreement with Russia and the Ukraine for the monthly supply of natural gas for aflat fee; this fee remains the same whether the gas is used or not. So, together with the availability of supply and the fact that CNG allows vehicles to meet EEV emissions standards, CNG is also gaining increased appeal with Turkey's municipalities as it offers a revenue earning opportunity in the form of local taxation. Ankara initiated the move to CNG a few years ago with the installation of CNG fuelling stations and two large tenders for low floor city buses with CNG engines; these, in the main, were supplied by MAN Turkey. Last year, BMC won a tender for 191 units of its 12m Belde CNG bus from the Kayseri municipality. This year, it seems, is the turn of the transportation authority of Istanbul, IETT (Istanbul Elektrik Tramvay ve Ttinel Isltmeleri), which is working on a tender document for some 500 low floor city buses consisting of 200 solo CNG units, 200 solo diesels and 100 diesel articulated units. All the vehicles are expected to have air conditioning and heating systems. In addition to this, IETT Istanbul is proposing to contract out a further 1,500 city buses under private proposals, which, potentially, would see the removal of the Dolmus system that uses thousands of privately owned minibuses. (The Dolmus system dates back to the Balkan War of 1909, when all public transport vehicles went to mobilise troops for the war effort leaving Istanbul without public transportation vehicles. This led to the Dolmus system being created, which gave private licences to operators to run public transport on specific routes using minivans). Today there are more than 5,000 such licences and the proposals being put forward are that rather than having these 5,000 plus individual operators they would be encouraged to join together to buy a number of pre-specified 9m or 12m super low floor buses for operating on contracted service lines throughout Istanbul. It is understood the OEMs supplying the Dolmus minibuses are trying to oppose the move.