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VENTURA SCANIA
SLIDE-OUT WHEELCHAIR LIFT KEY Leading Victorian bus operator Ventura has added eight new Scania Touring school and charter coaches to its fleet, with a luggage-spacesaving slide-out wheelchair lift a highlight, the company has announced.
Above: Four of the vehicles will be based at Monbulk, near Melbourne’s Dandenong Ranges. Below: Long-serving driver Roy Beattie says the new Touring was very smooth to drive and the ZF automatic transmission provided a refined travelling experience. Opposite, Below: A benefit of the slideout wheelchair lift is not eat into luggage space.
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URCHASED for use from Ventura’s outerurban depots, four of the vehicles will be based at the hilly and picturesque village of Monbulk on the edge of Melbourne’s Dandenong Ranges, Scania confirms. The 57-seaters all feature powered wheelchair lifts above the rear wheels on the kerb-side, and a capacity for carrying two wheelchairs internally with the loss of four rows of seats on the left aisle, it explains. The seats, though, have been designed to be easily removed
and stored at the depot while a bespoke wheelchair-lashing system has been designed and the chairs’ occupants are secured with three-point seat belts for additional safety, Scania explains. Although freshly commissioned, the Touring coaches have been welcomed quickly into Ventura’s Monbulk fleet, it adds.
LUGGAGE CAPACITY Long-serving driver Roy Beattie says the new Touring was very smooth to drive and the ZF automatic transmission provided a refined travelling experience for the passengers. “It is more comfortable for drivers and passengers, and the braking system is very well calibrated, too. I recently did a school camp run and the luggage all fitted – and we had a lot of it,” he said of the Scania Touring’s 9 cubic metre luggage capacity. “The school kids were really
happy to be driven around in a new bus and one that’s smart and quiet,” he said. A benefit of the slide-out wheelchair lift design is that is does not eat into precious luggage space as previous lift mechanisms have, Scania explains.
LATEST TECH Further driver assistance technologies have also made a positive impression on Beattie, he says. “I was previously driving a 2000-model manual transmission Scania bus and the difference is significant. There’s so much more technology on these new vehicles, such as Lane Departure Warning and Adaptive Cruise Control, but also nice features such as a heated driver’s seat, which gets hot very quickly and no doubt will be very popular in the winter. “We also have a dual-radio system so we can have the passengers and driver listening to different stations, although I have made a playlist for my school run and play that through the system,” Beattie explained. “The new buses have plenty of power and, even when fully loaded, they are getting up the steep hills around here very easily. The bus also cruises at high speed very nicely. I took a charter to Philip Island recently and the bus sits very securely at 85–90km/h. “It’s a dream to drive. It’s like the bus becomes an extension of you; it’s very predictable,” Beattie said.
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DRIVER COMFORT
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Shaun Staggard has been driving for Ventura for nine years and says
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