MADE IN POLAND. MADE FOR EUROPE.SOLARIS BUS&COACH WINS TENDER TO SUPPLY 130 BUSES TO BERLIN CITY TRANSPORT COMPANY (BVG)

Solaris‘s successful tender bid to deliver 130 city buses to Berlin‘s BVG city transport company has now become fact, as the deadline for any protests and vetoes passed on 1st of October, with no protests being registered.

The tender announced by the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) is for the supply of 400 city buses of various types over the next three years. The biggest slice of the contract went to Solaris Bus & Coach, with the buses due to be built at the company‘s Bolechowo plant near Poznań in western Poland. A batch of 130 artics will be delivered next year, with the remainder to be supplied over the following two years, with 70 units due in 2006 and a final batch of 60 to be delivered in 2007.

"Winning such a big contract following our successful tender bid exceeds our greatest expectations," said Krzysztof Olszewski, Solaris Bus & Coach chairman. "However, we must not let euphoria set in as we have a massive job ahead of us. First and foremost, the BVG contract puts obligation and great responsibility upon us to meet the customer‘s expectations. The vote of confidence that BVG gave us, by placing such a big order with Solaris, is of course a great reason for joy and satisfaction. At the same time, we are well aware of the fact that our buses in Berlin will be under especially close scrutiny, as a showcase of Polish quality and Polish engineering expertise.

The 130-vehicle order for BVG is not the first Solaris Bus & Coach contract for the Berlin operator. The Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe already operates 16 Solaris Urbino buses. „We are perfectly aware of the expectations and requirements of our Berlin customer," said Krzysztof Olszewski - "We have four years of experience and co-operation behind us. BVG was the very first Solaris customer in the then European Union. We could say that this relationship "matured" over this period of time. Our buses clearly have passed the test with flying colours and convinced the Berlin operator about the quality".

In terms of numbers the BVG tender is the largest bus tender in Europe this year. Winning the tender by Solaris Bus & Coach was made possible by the high quality of the Solaris buses, with their lowest breakdown rate, aided by slightly lower price compared to competitors‘ entries. In the opinion of Thomas Necker, BVG chief executive, other bus manufacturers bidding for the BVG contract, did not offer competitive Polish prices for their products even though they also build buses in Poland.

Equally important was the flexibility shown by Solaris Bus & Coach in meeting the customer‘s needs. One of the tender conditions was the requirement to utilize the operator‘s own production capacity. In order to protect BVG jobs, the Berlin operator insisted that the final assembly and finishing operations be carried out at BVG own premises. Solaris Bus & Coach has considerable experience in CKD- and SKD-based manufacturing techniques - since the beginning of this year the Bolechowo-based company has been completing another such contract, jointly with another customer, Cracow‘s MPK city transport company. The entire manufacturing and assembly process and final quality issues are under supervision by experienced Solaris engineers. For BVG the involvement in the final stages of bus assembly will be the very first experience of this type. "Bus manufacturing which involves utilisation of the customer‘s own resources profits both, the manufacturer and the operator." - explains Solaris Bus & Coach chairman Krzysztof Olszewski. "BVG will be able to secure 35 jobs, while we gain extremely well skilled local workforce, whom we will use to complete the project."

Securing such a big order will also help to create extra jobs at the Solaris Bus & Coach plant in Bolechowo. Current estimates show that Solaris is likely to take on as many as 100 extra people. Even before the Berlin Contract was secured, the company decided to build a new 20.000 sq. metre production and assembly facility. In the middle of this year the need to increase production capacity became the necessity, and the company is already actively looking to employ fitters plus production and assembly workers.

All vehicles manufactured by Solaris Bus & Coach for BVG will be equipped with the so-called "Berlin pack" of features which includes air-conditioning for the passenger compartment, a CRT filter, two manually placed wheelchair access ramps (at the first and second door), small fridge for the driver, interior monitoring system as well as an advanced passenger information system. These comprehensive features constitute a standard for vehicles operated by BVG.

The Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) currently operates around 1,400 buses and boasts on of the most modern bus fleets in Europe. The purchase of 400 new buses over the next three years will speed up the BVG vehicle replacement programme. BVG chief executive, Thomas Necker, believes that the replacement of older vehicles and operating a fleet of buses that are maximum four years old will enable BVG to cut its costs considerably. These significant savings will come mainly through the reduction of spending related to costly servicing and repair operations.

The first batch of contracted Solaris Urbino 18 articulated buses will be delivered to Berlin 180 days after the signing of the contract.

Solaris Bus & Coach
Ul. Obornicka 1, Bolechowo
62-005 Owińska
POLAND