Parents, children and school managements can heave a sigh of relief as school buses with utmost safety and security features have finally arrived. The growing concern over safety and security of children travelling in school buses spurred the country’s one of the largest commercial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland of Hinduja Group to design next-gen buses equipped with a slew of features.
The buses were made considering the expectations of seven stake holders, including students, parents, drivers etc according to the company.
Meeting emerging demands
After launch of the bus, branded as Sunshine, in Vijayawada on Friday, T. Venkataraman, senior vice-president, global buses segment of the company, said the vehicle caters to the needs of the emerging demands in the market.
“Going by the estimates, we plan to make about 3,500 buses this fiscal. Our Alwal facility in Hyderabad will be the primary manufacturing facility for the purpose,” he said. Rollover compliant design and frontal crash protection are the two important features specific to these buses which make them unique as per the company.
Besides safety, the bus is equipped with anti-bacterial interiors, anti-skid flooring, fire retardant interiors, i- ALERT system with GPS, surveillance camera, SMS alert etc. The 40-50 seater bus costs about Rs 16.5 lakh.
Manufacturing in Vijayawada
The emerging base capital Vijayawada will soon have a manufacturing facility for the buses, according to the company’s Managing Director Vinod K. Dasari. “As it was already known, we plan to establish a manufacturing facility in Vijayawada. These buses can be made here very soon,” Mr. Vinod said.
For record, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has got assurance from Hinduja Group to set up an assembling plant in Vijayawada during January this year.
