Here comes Pacific’s gold buses
Pacific Transport secretary Sunil Maharaj shakes hands with Zhong Tong Bus technical consultant and quality control manager Gordon Bartlett and Lisa Lian, the sales manager for Zhong Tong Bus. Photo: RAMA
By ELLEN STOLZ
Pacific Transport Limited in partnership with Shreedhar Motors Limited and Zhong Tong Bus Company will be tomorrow launching eight new buses to add to their fleet.
The buses, which have been imported from China were cleared from Customs last week and have replaced older buses and are gold in colour.
They are from the same company that made the grey coaches that travel long distance for commuters in the West.
Pacific Transport secretary Sunil Maharaj said: “These buses will be used for supplementary trips to our main routes from Suva to Lautoka. Because of the demand we had to get more buses. The other four buses are allocated for Nadi to Lautoka trip runs and vice versa.”
Zhong Tong Bus Company technical consultant and quality control manager Gordon Bartlett first came to Fiji in 2011 to carry out a study on the standards of Fiji roads.
After doing this Mr Bartlett then returned to China to make changes to the buses that would be exported to Fiji to ensure that they were suited for our roads and lasted longer.
“These buses have been modified to handle Fiji’s rough road conditions and are equipped with the latest features to enhance safety and comfort as well,” Mr Bartlett said.
He is here to train engineers and drivers on these new features and said Fiji was the only country in the Pacific, apart from Australia and New Zealand, that imported such buses.
With about 38 years of experience in the bus industry, Mr Bartlett said the Zhong Tong Bus Company was one of the top five in China and has grown stronger over the years.
“The company used to produce 10,000 buses a year but that has now increased to 20,000 buses and these are supplied worldwide,” he said.
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