Volvo Buses
Australia
With 142 buses across 2 depots, Kangaroo Bus Lines (KBL) is markedly one of the leading operators in Southeast Queensland. As the market continues to evolve rapidly, KBL identified a need to embrace the shifts with the industry – and the milestone handover of 10 city buses truly marks start of a whole fleet transition for KBL.
Until recently, the bulk of their route city buses were an American drive train, but KBL’s Chief Executive Officer Darren Webster says the transition to a European chassis (with Volvo), marks the start of a much bigger transition for the company. “Seeing that Volvo have a very steady product range in Euro 6, as well as Hybrid and Electric, really reiterated to us that they were the right choice for a long term business partner. As our industry evolves quickly, we knew we wanted to work closely with a manufacturer who could show their consistency in terms of product quality and service support”.
Following on from delivery of a range of Volvo B11R coaches over the past 2 years, KBL have been consistently impressed with the level of customer care shown by the Volvo team, who are headquartered close by in Brisbane. Says Webster, “We saw an opportunity to move to a Partner that could offer the full package – not only coaches, but the next generations of vehicles too. We could see through our experience working with Volvo on our coaches, that they had the product range and support services to really be good business partners”.
Local support means a lot to them too, demonstrating why local bodybuild partner Volgren was an obvious choice – to which Volvo agrees. Having partnered with the local team at Volgren Brisbane for years, delivering over a thousand buses as Partners, (including the Brisbane City Council contract), Volvo and Volgren knew that a quality, locally built product would be a solid solution for the KBL operations. “We’ve worked closely with the team at Volgren for several years now, and were confident in delivering a quality product to KBL in the Volvo-Volgren low-bodied units”, says Mitch Peden, General Manager at Volvo Bus Australia.
Reflecting further on the partnership, Peden is obviously quite proud of the work they’ve done with, and for, KBL. “Working closely with Kangaroo Bus Lines to truly understand their business needs has been an excellent experience for my team. We’ve been able to problem solve together, and show KBL that we’re in it for the long term – from service, to training, to bodybuild support – my team have been on the ground to work through this low floor transition with the KBL crew. Its another excellent example what true business partnership means to us here at Volvo Bus”.
Webster echoes these sentiments, saying that “the service & support we received on the coaches we took delivery of in 2021, and on every bus since, has just reconfirmed we have partnered with the right chassis provider. We have been so pleased with the support we’ve received from Volvo, and are really reassured we’ve chosen the right manufacturer for our ever-growing fleet”.
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