COMPANY PROFILE
2013
BUSCOR
The longest buses in Africa…
company report
The longest buses
in Africa…
Editorial – Joe Forshaw Production – Tonnie Geddes
If you ride the bus in Mpumalanga, chances are you use Buscor’s services on a regular basis. The transport specialists are committed to being inventive and embracing technology. IndustrySA looks at two major innovations that have been successful for Buscor in recent years.
In June 2012, Buscor, the leading transport provider in Mpumalanga, saw its new owners set out their plans to take the company to new heights after 32 years of successful operation and exponential growth since its inception in 1980. Mr Timothy Mathebula and Ms Norah Fakude bought majority shares in Buscor when longstanding MD and founder, Fred Kinnear, retired in April 2012. The pair immediately went about promoting their ambitious plans with the confidence that they had the backing of the former MD who said that the vast experience they had in this industry would help them steer the gigantic company to a much greater future.
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“We have more than 32 years’ experience in this industry and we have learnt all we could about the business. We are not going to change anything within this company, we will however, strive to improve every aspect of it,” Mathebula told looklocal. “We still have the same management team to guide and advise us as we tackle this head-on. We are fully aware of the responsibilities and the challenges that await us but we are ready. It will need a lot of hard work from all of us,” he added. Fakude, who also has extensive experience in the industry, said: “We are bold and confident about the future because of what we have learnt from the past leadership. Mr Kinnear taught us everything about this business.
buscor
“The core objective of highdensity passenger transport is moving more people efficiently, safely, affordably and comfortably”
Every passenger has a good hold on a MAN Lion’s City GL
“We have been part and parcel of the programmes and will continue to take collective decisions that will ensure the success of the company.” With more than 2000 employees and over 166,000 passengers carried every day, Buscor is an important part of the Lowveld community and economy. Its reach is widespread, from Hazyview in the north to Barberton in the south and from Ngodwana in the west to Komatipoort in the east, Buscor vehicles cover over 2.3 million km every month.
and performance enhancing, and in the last year the company has put this into practice by investing heavily in a new set of bi-articulated bustrains. A regular bus can seat around 70 people but Buscor’s bi-articulated bustrains can seat 137. At 27m long, these are the longest buses in Africa and Buscor is the first company to make concrete investments into the concept.
INNOVATIVE SERVICES At Buscor, it is company policy to embrace technology and applications which are cost saving
MAY 13 PAGE 3
company report
MAN Lion’s City testing in Sao Paulo
Buscor partnered with the Mpumalanga Department of Transport and MAN Truck and Bus SA to undertake a pilot scheme in 2011 with the purpose of establishing the suitability of the bi-articulated bus. Previous legislation had limited the length of a bus to 22m but the local government granted Buscor the right to operate the bustrains because of the reported benefits that they would bring to the transport system. At the Johannesburg International Motor Show in October 2011, Buscor ordered 40 bustrains and Fred Kinnear, MD at the time, said that the pilot project had proved helpful and thrown up no major problems. “Passengers using our existing bi-articulated buses love the ride comfort and the fact that seatbelts are provided. The engine speed is limited to 80km/h and the longer wheelbase makes it more stable, which adds to the feeling of safety for our passengers. It even boasts a better turning circle than a single-articulated bus. “The investment will help to reduce traffic congestion, road pavement damage and carbon emissions. The addition of 40 new bi-articulated bustrains to our fleet will significantly reduce the number of Buscor buses on Mpumalanga’s roads.” Single-articulated bustrains have a capacity of 115 seated passengers so the bi-articulated bustrains offer
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increased efficiency and better earning possibilities for Buscor. Ray Karshagen, deputy CEO, MAN Truck and Bus SA said: “This efficient solution results in very similar fixed operating costs compared to a single-articulated vehicle – one driver, one driveline, and four axles with the same number of wheels – but accommodating a greater number of seated passengers and therefore improved revenue for the bus operator. “The core objective of high-density passenger transport is moving more people efficiently, safely, affordably and comfortably. The MAN Lion’s Explorer bi-articulated bus meets all these criteria.” The bi-articulated bustrain is made up of a prime mover and two trailers and trailer and bodywork development was done at MAN Bus and Coach in Olifantsfontein, with the cooling trials were carried out by MAN in Pinetown. This was to ensure the cooling system could cope with South African conditions, especially in the Lowveld’s sub-tropical climate. To ensure the engine can cope with the extra capacity, MAN increased the power of the drivetrain. The development of the new prime mover chassis is being undertaken by MAN in Germany, which sees an increase in engine power from 257 kW to 287 kW (350 – 390 hp) on a HB3 4x2 chassis.
buscor
STRAPLINE
TICKETING TECHNOLOGY Buscor showed off its innovative side again in 2011 when it became one of the first African passenger bus operators to install a contactless ticketing system, with the help of business process and information technology services company Affiliated Computer Services (ACS). The ticket system, named the Atlas System, was installed on 400 Buscor buses and has provided added convenience for passengers and drivers.
Tanslucent folding bellows in the MAN Lion’s City GL
Knorr-Bremse is the world’s leading manufacturer of braking and control systems for commercial vehicles and supplies all the world’s leading commercial vehicle manufacturers. Apart from complete braking systems, its product range includes Driver Assistance System solutions all around the power train as well as associated aftermarket service. With its production, sales and service centres, the field of systems for commercial vehicles is represented in over 20 countries around the globe including South Africa.
Contact details: +27 11 961 7816
www.knorr-bremse.co.za PAGE 12 MAY 12
Super Brake is a family run AIRBRAKING & SERVICE CENTRE for KNORR BREMSE & WABCO SA. We specialize in fitting and fixing of off road and on road vehicles. Our services cover a vast variety of FLEET & BUS COMPANIES. We also offer the fixing and fitting of hydraulic brake systems / compressor remanufacturing, air brake valve remanufacturing, ABS, EBS, and all relevant electronic braking services.
Contact Details: +27 13 753 3464
supbrake@lantic.net www.superbrakeservices.co.za
WABCO Automotive South Africa distributes air brake components manufactured by WABCO to all the major vehicle manufacturers and distributors of automotive components in Southern Africa. In addition to product distribution, we provide the following product support services: Specialised training, testing equipment, technical information, system design, telephonic/field support, fleet surveys and support networks.
Contact Details: +27 11 450 2052
wabcosa@wabco.co.za
www.wabco.co.za
company report “The technology will help us lower costs in addition to helping control fraud by improved tracking of activities on the system,” said Johann Bester, IT manager at Buscor. With the contactless system in place, passengers pay for rides with the wave of a contactless fare card, which in turn relays real-time transaction information to Buscor. Following the successful roll out of the contactless ticketing system, Buscor worked with ACS to install touch-screen driver consoles – a first for the country. Driver consoles are used for printing paper tickets, validating contactless cards, and interfacing with the display announcement panel on the front of the bus. The consoles will also allow the driver to open and close their shift, upload all ticketing data to the central application, and can also be used for tracking and security purposes. ACS sees the venture with Buscor as a big investment with the possibility of increasing
buscor distribution of the technology in the South African market. “We see this as a viable solution for the South African market,” said Ken Ericson, director of corporate communications at ACS, “…as the ACS Atlas ticketing system is a multimodal solution, designed to cover public transportation systems including buses, metros, tramways or taxis.” It is innovative projects like these and the willingness to embrace technological advancements that make Buscor one of the industry leaders in transport, not only in Mpumalanga but across the whole country. After only a year at the helm of Buscor, Timothy Mathebula and Norah Fakude have faced big challenges but their unwavering pursuit of excellence, with passenger safety and comfort at the centre of everything they do, will undoubtedly see them grow the company even further and continue to dominate the market in the Lowveld.
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MAN Lion’s City CNG, driver station
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Transportation Components announce their new testing facilities With over 16 years on industry experience, Transportation Components is southern Africa’s master distributor of BorgWarner Thermal Systems. The company specialises in original product distributed through approved independent distributors. Transportation Components adheres to strict quality expectations of the end user and achieves this by partnering with the world’s best manufacturing plants. At Transportation Components we understand the balance between quality and cost, through experience we have learned that quality should never be sacrificed for a lower cost as this has always been proven the expensive route to follow. For this reason we have chosen to partner with companies with similar values. We attended the most recent Auto Mechanika in Germany and have formed great partnerships with BorgWarner, master distributors from the UK, Italy, Croatia, Russia, America and Romania. This translates into a fantastic knowledge base that would benefit all our valued customers in years to come. We are proud to announce that our new test facility shall be available on 2nd May 2013. We extend an invitation to all our valued clients as well as any of the original manufacturers that need to test if their viscous has failed. This facility would be the only one of its kind on the entire continent of Africa and we shall be glad to extend this service to anybody that suspects their viscous (mechanical clutch behind the fan) is the cause of overheating in their vehicle. This would save a lot of time and money on the part of our clients as they would not use trial and error to determine this failure. In the past a viscous would be purchased and installed, only for the customer to realise that the overheating in the vehicle has not been solved. This new facility shall stop all guess work. A further new development is that of tailor made matching of all those units that are not stocked in South Africa. With the aid of BorgWarner as well as engineers from Kit Master USA a scientific approach to this matching process has helped to solve 100% of our client’s needs.
12 REASONS TO REPLACE A FAULTY VISCOUS WITH BORGWARNER ORIGINAL PRODUCT 1.
More usable HP, quicker warm up, improved cab heating, less formation of oil sludge, increased belt life
2.
Reduction of fuel consumption under comparable operating conditions of 5/15%
3. Cab noise reduced by 2/10dB and overall external noise reduction of 10 dB 4. Viewed as an essential component to comply with drive by noise legislation 5.
More consistent engine operating temperature and reduced temperature fluctuation resulting in less gasket problems and cylinder head cracking
6. Optimum temperature for a greater part of operating life contributing to improved durability 7.
10 deg.C region temperature hysteresis for optimum operational characteristic
8. Fully modulating drives under development have shown up to 4% further improvement and reduced disengaged speed by attention to design 9. Fixed fans take typically 5% of engine output at full load but 10/15% at part load. A VFD only engages the fan when required, which may be as little as 2% of the vehicle operating life 10. No shock-loading for optimum cooling and top performance 11. No maintenance 12. Suitable for retrofitting to fixed fan vehicles for a significantly reduced cost of operation
www.buscor.co.za
(0)1603 618 000 info@industrysa.com East Coast Promotions Ltd, Ferndale Business Centre, 1 Exeter Street. Norwich, Norfolk NR2 4QB