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us body. All three of them<br />
gave us grief and the common<br />
denominator was the bus body<br />
in this instance,” he explained.<br />
“It is important that the bus<br />
body and chassis complement<br />
each other and we have seen<br />
many instances where that was<br />
not the case. What that equated<br />
to is time off the road and<br />
expensive repairs.<br />
“Unnecessary ongoing<br />
maintenance over the life of<br />
the bus does not go down well,<br />
especially when you know that<br />
you will be stuck with the bus for<br />
some 25 years,” he said.<br />
MINUTE DETAILS<br />
Dion points out that the<br />
engagement with Volgren has<br />
enabled him to address minute<br />
details such as positioning of the<br />
Consat screen and other control<br />
By replacing two standard buses with<br />
accessible buses we are now in a position to be<br />
able to provide 100 per cent accessible buses<br />
to all of our scheduled passenger services.<br />
switches and devices affecting<br />
the driver.<br />
“Previously, it was a bit of a<br />
lottery with where some of the<br />
controls and switches would end<br />
up,” he stated.<br />
“With the demand of Panel 3<br />
there were some limitations on<br />
product patterns such as seating.<br />
Instead of simply progressing<br />
with the most convenient style,<br />
Volgren made certain that we<br />
understood the limitations and<br />
were still happy with the colour<br />
scheme that was provided.”<br />
Today, the majority of Dion’s<br />
fleet comprises Volvo buses and<br />
about 80 per cent have Volgren<br />
bodies. He says his company<br />
has confidence that the Panel<br />
3 version of the Volvo-Volgren<br />
combination will perform well –<br />
and in great part that confidence<br />
comes down to the engagement.<br />
“Working with Volgren on<br />
Panel 3 is a totally different<br />
procurement process [to what<br />
has occurred before]. And<br />
because there’s a lot more<br />
required of manufactures there’s<br />
been a lot more engagement in<br />
terms of what’s going in the bus,<br />
Above:<br />
All new buses<br />
travelling in New<br />
South Wales<br />
must meet<br />
passenger safety<br />
improvement<br />
measures,<br />
including<br />
stringent new<br />
fire-mitigation<br />
specifications.<br />
Opposite, Below:<br />
Les Dion with two<br />
Volvo/Volgrenbodied<br />
buses<br />
(Illawarra Mercury,<br />
2017. Image:<br />
Sylvia Liber).<br />
busnews.com.au November 2020 <strong>ABC</strong><br />
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