“We have a strong presence in Santiago. In 2005, when the integrated bus system was established, Volvo was the largest vehicle supplier. Our buses helped the city to take a leap in improvement of urban mobility, with benefits that are still felt today”, says Fabiano Todeschini, president of Volvo Buses Latin America.
With cutting edge technology, the Volvo B8R chassis features the state of the art in on-board electronics. The vehicle is equipped with electronic disk brake system, electronic suspension, the Volvo Fleet Management system and I-Coaching (virtual driver instructor). In addition, the units in Chile feature the Volvo automatic speed control system, a device that uses connectivity by GPS to identify critical stretches, with high accident rates, and limit the maximum speed regardless of the driver’s actions. Approved after a year in use in Curitiba (Brazil), where BRT bus collisions were reduced in 50%, this technology has now become a factory standard in all of the brand’s heavy-duty vehicles in the continent.
The 120 new Volvos are equipped with Euro VI emissions standards compliant engines, the strictest, in order to address the environmental requirements.
"Santiago is in a valley surrounded by mountains. The city has a major focus on reducing emissions, due to the topographic difficulty in dispersing particulate matter in the air", comments Alexandre Selski, Volvo Buses strategic sales director in Latin America.
Santiago’s current fleet has 6,700 buses, of which 2,800 are Volvo.
"Similar to other cities with planned urban transport systems, we are the leading brand in high capacity chassis also in Santiago”, states José Antonio Margalet, Volvo Chile commercial bus director. The new deliveries are all to Subus, one of the city’s largest operators, with a fleet of over 1300 vehicles. The vehicles received Marcopolo bodies, manufactured in Brazil.
One of the continent’s five largest metropolises in population, Santiago, capital and largest city of Chile boasts a very well structured public transportation solution. The Metropolitan Mobility Network (RED - Rede Metropolitana de Mobilidade – former Transantiago) integrates buses, subways and trains, enabling displacements among the city’s and metropolitan region’s 32 districts. The system carries close to 6.2 million users every day.
Gothenburg, January 21, 2020.
For more information, please contact: Marco Greiffo, Volvo Group Latin America, Press Officer, Tel: +55 41 3317-7830 or e-mail: marco.greiffo@volvo.com or Joakim Kenndal, Head of Mediarelations, Volvo Bus Corporation, phone +46 739 02 51 50 or e-mail joakim.kenndal@volvo.com.
