Multiple things
Ok, first I want to comment on that bus with the cargo box. I actually read the article where those photo's came from-very interesting...however it still leaves many questions unanswered...atleast to me it does.
"Our prototype has been on the road since January 2001."
Now tell me folks, the man/company wants to add 3,000 of these bus/cargo vehicles to the road...How many have you seen? I mean Panther has 800 trucks, Express-1 has 150 trucks, Swift has how many? I see more of them than I do of this outfit with the cargo bus. They've had about 3-4 years to grow-if anything big was gonna happen I should think it would by now...would be interesting to have a follow up article on this concept/company to see how they're doing now.
"The basic Neoplan Intermodal Coach still seats up to 35 passengers, but it is equipped with a 20 foot standardized container in the rear. The same container one sees on ships, trains or planes with 22,000 lbs. of cargo capability."
That's all fine & dandy, however if you look at the bus, where's the luggage bays??? from what I can see there may be only 2 bays, maybe...but I doubt it. I think they're using the cargo box to carry both freight & luggage. 35 people, if they're going on a cruise or multi-day tour of say 3 to 5 days plus are going to need more than 2 small bays for their luggage. What kind of freight does this box carry??? Where does the freight go? Do the passengers get to see loading docks & industrial areas of major cities as part of their tours? That coach may seat 35 people, but it's not going to be as comfortable as a regular coach that seats the same...think leg room people. I bet there's about 20-25 seats up top, with the rest sitting down below.
"This approximately $400,000 motorcoach captures a second stream of revenue" "by adding to the already active bus passenger business."
Already active huh? well what they're not telling you is that the bus industry is seasonal work...but when it's season is kicking, oh yes it is very much active. Maybe that is their idea-to use the coaches as freight movers when it's slow for the passenger sector? That makes sense if that truely is the case.
They say they've captured a 2nd stream of revenue, Greyhound has a package service they use on their busses-but they obviously haven't made a killing on it, otherwise I'd like to think they'd have done this many many years ago, as their package service has been going for a couple decades as far as I know.
"In our pricing of this vehicle, we referenced the price of the top of the line luxury coaches, which run around $450,000: we tried to keep our price at that level."
That's funny...ha, they didn't reference very much...I've seen new good charter busses "Top of the Line" for as much as $650,000. Entertainer coaches like the entertainment industry uses-new-they're going for $800,000 to a million plus. The typical run of the mill coach goes for new...$400,000 roughly.
INTERMODAL BUS SPECIFICATIONS
Length - 44 ft. 7 in.....that's a typical 45 footer coach.
Width - 102 in., typical width
Height - 13 ft. 5.5 in., much taller bus than normal...say goodbye to many tourist attractions that have entrance height restrictions, hotels that have canopy's, Tunnels? Servicing the bus at a bus facility may pose a problem too in some area's, as I've been to a few bus facilities with my busses that do not have room for something that tall in their bays. That 13 foot 5.5" is gonna hurt this passenger bus as far as accessibility to some area's. Many busses are under 12 foot.
Passenger Cabin - Overall Length - 21 ft. 8 in.
Standing Height - 69.5 in. for both upper and lower level.
Engine - Detroit Diesel Series 60, 12.7 litre, 430 HP
I do like the idea of having that Detroit 60 series in there & would expect nothing less-a bus will pick up her skirt & move right along for you with that detroit 60 series.
Transmission - Allison B 500R, typical transmission anymore for a bus is the 6 speed Allison automatic.
Vehicle empty weight(all components installed and full tank of fuel)- 37,600 lbs.
Neoplan is a decent bus, I prefer Prevost & Van Hools myself, the new MCI Renniassance is nice too. My concern though would be where am I putting the luggage, as most motorcoach drivers are the ones who move the luggage. Lumper is not a word found in the bus biz. Take a look folks at the back of the bus...the bumper in relation to the cargo box is offset, I don't see any bumpers for the loading docks...something I don't like. By the way, thats a good 4 to 5 feet from the ground to the bottom of those cargo box doors...how'd you like to load 35 peoples luggage that way? Personally, I don't see how this would work...carrying passengers & freight-no doubt each would have seperate destinations &/or schedules.
Come on people, you didn't think BigBus would let that go by untouched did you? lol
