Volgren’s New Artics for Perth

VOLGREN AND VOLVO LAUNCH NEW ARTIC BUSES FOR PTA IN PERTH
The first of 70 new Volgren-built articulated, low-floor buses are now serving the PTA’s busiest routes in Perth.
Western Australian State Transport Minister, the Hon. Dean Nalder officially launched the first buses at Volgren’s Malaga facility on Wednesday March 4 2015.
The 18-metre long buses, built on Volvo’s B8RLEA chassis with its low-emission Euro6 engine, are the first units in an order to be delivered to the PTA over the next five years.
Each bus can carry more than 100 passengers, with 57 seated. With step-less entry and flip-up seats in the front for flexibility, the new vehicles will be a boon for less mobile passengers.
They are being introduced to replace the Authority’s older articulated buses along its busiest routes in metro Perth.
They are just the latest in a long line to come out of Volgren’s Malaga plant. Volgren has partnered with the PTA building buses at Malaga in the 15 years since the plant was established in 1999.
In that time it has built 1400 buses. 1225 of those have been PTA diesel and CNG vehicles. But it has also built 21 TransWA coaches, 27 school buses to the PTA network – of which 23 have been built in WA and 150 other buses for export interstate and overseas – including double deck buses for Hong Kong.
Volgren is Australia’s largest bus body manufacturer, manufacturing 450 buses per year at three facilities, in Dandenong, Victoria; Brisbane and at Malaga, a dedicated and purpose-built manufacturing facility for PTA buses.
Volgren has the capacity to manufacture 150 buses a year at Malaga as well as capacity to refurbish 30 buses each year.
Volgren employs 75 people on site with a similar number employed in the local supply chain. Volgren’s Malaga operation has injected some $100 million into the local economy to date. 15 employees are now dedicated to the manufacture of the PTA articulated buses.
A $3 million factory expansion to build its articulated buses has provided:
• New paint facilities
• A new fabrication facility
• A re-layout of the original facility and set up of flow line, along Lean Manufacturing principles
• A 30 per cent expansion of under cover area, in a
• Total manufacturing and service site of 15,500 square metres.
This has meant the world-leading bodies on these new Volvo Euro 6 articulated buses have been built using Volgren’s unique bolted aluminium body structure.
These are light in weight, corrosion resistant and with a durability proven in service for 20 years and with a 15-year warranty on the life of the bus structure.
For the PTA – and the WA transport budget – this provides a high return on investment by reducing the total life cycle cost as well as delivering increased utilisation of each bus.