Following the huge success of the BRT bus routes in Göteborg, the city is now taking a further step by increasing bus capacity. Göteborgs Spårvägar has ordered an additional seven of Sweden’s longest buses, the Volvo 7500 bi-articulated bus with room for 165 passengers.
Increasing numbers of cities around the world are selecting intelligent bus-based systems for providing their inhabitants with well-functioning mass-transportation services. The major advantages of selecting buses rather than rail systems include much lower investment costs and a much shorter implementation period.
Göteborgs Spårvägar, Västtrafik and the Traffic Office in Göteborg decided to launch Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) routes with frequent departures. These routes are served by buses with a high passenger capacity, rapid boarding and alighting and, in certain cases, separated bus lanes. All of these factors contribute to enabling passengers to quickly and easily get to where they want to go.
BRT Route 16 serves passengers between, among other locations, central Göteborg and the former shipyard areas at Norra Älvstranden, where large companies and schools are currently established. The route became very popular right from the start and the capacity proved insufficient despite there being articulated bus departures every fifth minute. Accordingly, the operator, Göteborgs Spårvägar, decided to invest in four of Volvo Buses’ 24-meter-long bi-articulated buses, the Volvo 7500s, registered for 165 passengers.
The buses started to be used in traffic in early 2006, as an extra resource to cover the rush-hour period in the mornings and afternoons.
“Gratifyingly, however, the number of passengers has continued to increase,” says Pierre Modini, Head of the Buses business area at Göteborgs Spårvägar. “In addition, the times that schools start and finish for the day have become increasingly varied, resulting in high passenger pressure over a larger part of the day, compared with the past.”
Accordingly, Göteborgs Spårvägar has decided to purchase an additional seven bi-articulated buses from Volvo Buses. The buses will be delivered in the early autumn.
“We will then have 11 bi-articulated buses as our base for serving BRT Route 16, which will be supplemented by normal articulated buses during peak periods, which is the opposite to our current solution,” Pierre Modini adds.
The Volvo 7500 is available in both an articulated and a bi-articulated version. The bi-articulated bus is designed to accommodate up to 200 passengers. In certain markets, however, it would be fully possible to increase the capacity to 270 passengers.
The Volvo 7500’s floor level is low throughout the bus, making boarding and alighting quick and easy. The modern 9-liter, 340-HP engine is fitted at the side in the forward part of the bus, which means that it pulls the entire unit, rather than pushing it, which results in excellent drivability and good accessibility.
The chassis for the bi-articulated bus is built at Volvo Buses’ plant in Borås, Sweden, and the body is produced at the body plant in Säffle, Sweden.
Göteborgs Spårvägar has purchased a number of other Volvo buses during the year. A total of 11 Volvo 8500s were delivered during the spring and 15 articulated buses of the Volvo 7500 SLA type are delivered in May.
