Tata Motors bags Rs 900 crore STU order for over 5,000 buses

Tata Motors has received a large order for over 5,000 buses worth Rs 900 crore from State Transport Undertaking (STUs) this year. This constitutes one of the largest orders for Tata Motors in the past five years. Bus deliveries are slated to be completed before March 2017.  

The new business has come from 25 Indian states, including two large orders for 1,100 buses from Uttar Pradesh and 1,200 buses from Andhra Pradesh. Meanwhile, the BEST has ordered 300 buses, Uttarakhand 365 and Himachal Pradesh 300 units, along with smaller orders from other states.

The latest order marks an increase of nearly 80-85% over the previous fiscal year and is reflected in the company’s April-August 2016 sales where STU buses' sale is higher by 80-85% as compared to last year.

To facilitate improved commuter safety and connectivity, some of the buses are fully IT enabled to ensure trackability and traceability. These buses come equipped with GPS-enabled on-board ITS (Intelligent Transport System), public information systems via electronic destination boards, CCTV cameras, on-board wifi, smart multi-mode ticketing and on-board diagnostics systems.

Government focus on improved safety and comfort

Speaking to Autocar Professional about this large order for buses, Ravi Pisharody, executive director, commercial vehicles, Tata Motors, said: “STU buying has been far more sophisticated and the tender specifications are more progressive, which is similar to that of the private market. This makes the STU buying very significant this time.”

Elaborating on the order, Sandeep Kumar, business head (Commercial Vehicles – Passenger), Tata Motors, said: “After the last 4-5 years of subdued demand, over the past one-and-a-half years we are experiencing a change in the way the government is looking at public transport. The focus is on safety, comfort for the driver and passengers, and on features like air suspensions, Automatic Manual Transmission (AMT), air-conditioning / heating (HVAC), lower NVH Systems and adoption of bus body code practices during body fabrication.” 

The order includes 3,000-3,500 units of medium duty intercity or intra-state, 1,500-2,000 city, semi-urban and BRT and 700 small buses. The order includes 75% chassis and 25% fully built buses.

“The 25 percentage of fully built buses is substantially higher given that 2-3 years ago, barring JNNuRM buses, most STUs were buying chassis and fully built buses was close to zero. Therefore, from there to 25 % is quite a huge jump,” said Kumar.

“STUs are showing a mindset change while buying buses. Along with features like air suspension and AMT which are quite expensive, there is also growing demand for providing safe and comfortable buses not just for the passengers but for drivers too. These include things like IT-enablement which is about traceability and trackability, destination indicators. It’s a welcome change,” said Pisharody.

Deliveries have begun 

Considering the large 5,000 bus order, deliveries have already started. In August, a total of 1,200 buses were dispatched. The coming months should see similar if not higher deliveries.

While manufacturing capacity is not a constraint for Tata Motors, diverse specifications from various customers need engineering work and new vehicle combinations which pose a challenge. Nevertheless, the company says it has deployed its resources to clear the order at Tata Marcopolo (Dharwad and Lucknow) and ACGL, Goa.

Interestingly, this latest bus order also includes 25 units of hybrid diesel buses for MMRDA Mumbai and 25 articulated buses for Hubli-Dharwad. Thus far, articulated buses have not been used in India and this is a first for Tata Motors. These 18-metre-long buses carry a number of passengers and need special lanes, particular when it comes to turning. Hubli-Dharwad has built a dedicated network for these buses to ply. These buses will be delivered in the last quarter of FY2016-17.

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