Written By Marc Nkwame
Swedish Vehicle manufacturer, Scania is in testing special Marcopolo Viale city buses in Brazil that are set to be deployed into the new fleets of Dar Rapid Transport project in Tanzania.
Scania Tanzania has announced on its page that the newly anticipated Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) buses for the Dar es Salaam Urban Rapid Transport (DART) will be the articulated Marcopolo Viale equipment powered by Scania.
“The new buses are powered by Scania and are currently in Brazil. The vehicles with three to four axles have been customized according to the Dar es Salaam Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) infrastructures
According to Scania, it should be remembered that, currently the Second and Third Phases of Dar Rapid Transport roads and docking stations are still under construction in Tanzania’s port and commercial city.
Apparently, the first phase of the Dar Rapid Transport, which was flagged off in 2015, is still deploying the rear-engine, Cummins-powered Golden Dragon buses that were previously imported from China.
Dar Rapid Transport started with a capital of 305 Chinese buses. It is not known how many are still operating today.
Now Scania is working to take over the two new phases of the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) project in Dar-es-Salaam with the new Marcopolo Viale buses, believed to be much stronger than the Chinese buses that were usually susceptible to breakdowns.
But while they may look good and possibly more comfortable, the new Scania Buses could be more expensive to both purchase and maintain.
That is especially because the Marcopolo Viale BRT will feature totally sealed windows, meaning the vehicle must rely on air-conditioning 24/7.
A city of nearly 6 million residents, the scramble for Dar Rapid Buses during rush hours can be a major challenge for the fully sealed Viales.
The daily passenger traffic on the BRT lanes in the city, is estimated to be 300,000 people.
Scania has however not yet revealed how many buses will be delivered to Dar-es-salaam for the two new BRT phases in the City.
But unlike their Chinese counterparts, Scania city buses had previously been tried and tested throughout the country, proving to be more than reliable.
The city buses from Scania that were previously used in Tanzania are the Marcopolo Torino.
The now folded up Hood Bus Company used the Scania Marcopolo Torino City Buses in their fleet.
But despite being designed for city transportation, Hood used the Scania Marcopolo Torino buses for long distance passenger transportation, linking Dar-es-salaam with upcountry regions of Arusha, Morogoro, Dodoma, Mbeya and Tunduma.
The fact that the Marcopolo Torino vehicles could traverse over 1200 kilometers return trips across the country, meant the city buses were more than able to handle all tasks thrown at them with grace.
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