Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times / Business

'Enviro buses' roll into town

Bay of Plenty Times
27 Jun, 2011 02:09 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The latest environmentally-friendly buses, each seating 37 passengers, are now rolling off the new Kiwi Bus Builders assembly plant in the Tauriko Business Estate.
The first of the Enviro200 buses, destined for Auckland, was unveiled yesterday by NZ Bus and the Minister of Transport Steven Joyce.
The mid-sized buses, ordered by NZ Bus
in a contract starting at $50 million, are designed and built in Scotland by Alexander Dennis, sent in kitset form to Tauranga, and assembled by Kiwi Bus Builders.
Mr Joyce said NZ Bus had made a significant investment and was leading the delivery of some of the most modern and safe buses available.
NZ Bus chief executive Zane Fulljames described it as a new era of bus travel in New Zealand.
"This is a really important day for us. The first bus off the production line represents a step change in public transport provision," he said.
The fully air-conditioned buses are the most lightweight, durable and fuel efficient in the world, said Colin Robertson, chief executive of Alexander Dennis, Britain's leading bus and coach manufacturer with staff of 2000.
Alexander Dennis has developed manufacturing partnerships in North America, Hong Kong, China and now New Zealand.
The Enviro200 buses are built to Euro 5+ emissions standard, being 90 per cent cleaner than the buses they are replacing here and reducing carbon emissions by about 2000 tonnes during their first year of operation.
Inside, the buses are simple but efficient for passengers. There is a step-free entrance and exit with a wheelchair ramp, large windows and bright lighting, and comfortable Italian-designed high-back seats with plenty of leg room.
NZ Bus, owned by public-listed utilities investment company Infratil, has initially ordered 118 new buses in the first stage of its fleet replacement programme. It runs 1100 urban buses in Auckland, Whangarei and Wellington.
Kiwi Bus Builders - it has two production lines for the NZ Bus contract - is now geared up to supply four buses in a week.
The Tauranga company, employing at peak 170 people, will be sending 30 buses to Auckland in good time for the Rugby World Cup, and it will complete the initial order by March 2012.
Mr Fulljames announced yesterday that his board of directors had just approved spending another $16 million for 40 more buses.
He said NZ Bus would probably end up placing an order for a further 250 buses, to be supplied over four years to the end of 2015. It would mean that 40 per cent of NZ Bus' fleet is modernised and the bus operator would have invested a total $200 million.
Mr Fulljames indicated that Kiwi Bus Builders would likely retain the contract. NZ Bus would also consider buying larger double decker, and diesel and electric hybrid buses. Kiwi Bus Builders' tie-up with NZ Bus and Alexander Dennis has provided a welcome boost to the company and local economy.
About a quarter of the bus components are locally sourced, producing projected revenue of $38 million over four years.
After winning the assembly contract, Kiwi Bus Builders increased its staff from 80 to 170 - representing an injection of more than $4 million worth of wages into the Tauranga economy.
Kiwi Bus Builders will hire another 20 people when it starts building the Enviro200 bus chassis later this year.
Richard Drummond, managing director of Kiwi Bus Builders, said the partnership (with Alexander Dennis and NZ Bus) showcased New Zealand as a country of "can-do people".
He said the first bus (prototype) took two months to assemble and paint. But now the turnaround was down to 20 days including painting, and there were 20 buses on the production lines at any one time, in various stages of completion.
Mr Fulljames said its new fleet programme was the single largest investment in the five-year history of NZ Bus, and represented a positive outlook in support of the Government's intentions to deliver public transport solutions based on long-term partnerships between public and private sectors.
NZ Bus provides the public transport services for the new council's Auckland Transport, and Greater Wellington Regional Council.
Auckland Transport is announcing, on August 22, new loop bus services for the city.
The buses will have different colours to identify the new services.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Business

Bay of Plenty Times

Median house price falls in Auckland, increases in regions

Bay of Plenty Times

Regional airline grounded for 10 days by Civil Aviation Authority

Premium
OpinionMark Lister

Opinion: Why Mary Meeker's latest AI insights can't be ignored


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Business

Median house price falls in Auckland, increases in regions
Bay of Plenty Times

Median house price falls in Auckland, increases in regions

Reinz report shows sales volumes below expected, more days to sell.

14 Jul 09:54 PM
Regional airline grounded for 10 days by Civil Aviation Authority
Bay of Plenty Times

Regional airline grounded for 10 days by Civil Aviation Authority

14 Jul 03:12 AM
Premium
Premium
Opinion: Why Mary Meeker's latest AI insights can't be ignored
OpinionMark Lister

Opinion: Why Mary Meeker's latest AI insights can't be ignored

13 Jul 05:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP