Volvo receives order for 187 BRT buses to Colombia

Volvo receives order for 187 BRT buses to Colombia

Volvo Buses has received an order for 187 buses to the first phase of the Bus
Rapid Transit (BRT) system in Santiago de Cali, Colombia. The buses will be
delivered in autumn 2007.

“The population density in our cities is rising at an increasingly faster pace,
resulting in untenable situations with regard to congestion, environment and
diminishing quality of life”, says Håkan Karlsson, President of Volvo Buses.
“Cities that succeed in changing their infrastructure and establishing effective
transit systems will increase their attractiveness.”

A growing number of cities in the world are choosing to build intelligent
transit systems based on bus traffic, so-called BRT systems. The Transmilenio
BRT system in Colombia's capital city, Bogotá, is the world's largest and most
efficient. It has substantially improved the traffic situation in the city,
reduced the number of accidents and contributed to a considerably improved air
quality.

Now when Santiago de Cali in southwestern Colombia, a city with 2.8 million
inhabitants, starts its BRT system, Mio, there are many similarities with the
system in Bogotá. This mainly involves the large cross-city lines with separate
bus lanes and raised stations for rapid loading and exiting. The main lines are
complemented with feeder lines.

Flexibility is a strength
“Although there are many similarities with the system in Bogotá, Mio is entirely
designed for the conditions applicable in Santiago de Cali,” says Miquel Arrata,
responsible for BRT systems at Volvo Buses in Latin America. ”This flexibility
is one of the strengths of a BRT system.”
Volvo Buses has received an order for 187 buses for the first phase of
implementing the BRT system. This involves 57 18-meter articulated buses, Volvo
B12MAs, and 130 12-meter buses, Volvo B7Rs. The order comes from the customers
Grupo Integrado de Transporte Masivo S.A and Blanco y Negro Masivo S.A. The
buses will be delivered from August through November 2007.  

The bus chassis will be built in Bogotá, Colombia from assembly kits packed in
Volvo Buses' plants in Borås, Sweden and Curitiba, Brazil. The bodies will be
built by Marcopolo, also located in Bogotá.

The next phase of the build out of the BRT system in Santiago de Cali starts in
2008 and the operator will need about the same number of buses as this time. 

”We are proud at Volvo Buses to be involved when another BRT system starts up in
the world,” says Håkan Karlsson. ”We are convinced that an intelligent transport
system based on bus traffic is the best way to deal with the growing traffic
problems in cities and at the same time contributed to the necessary limiting of
carbon dioxide emissions.”

Volvo Buses is the world's leading manufacturer of buses for BRT systems. In
addition to the two systems in Colombia, Volvo has delivered buses to BRT
systems in Curitiba, Brazil, Mexico City and León, Mexico, Santiago, Chile,
Göteborg, Sweden, Helsinki, Finland and other cities.

May 21, 2007

For further information, please contact Per-Martin Johansson, press officer, +46
31 322 52 00, per-martin.johansson@volvo.com


Volvo Bus Corporation is the world's second-largest manufacturer of large buses
and coaches. The range comprises complete vehicles, chassis, bus bodies,
transport system solutions for metropolitan traffic, leasing, financing and
service contract maintenance. Volvo Bus Corporation is part of the Volvo Group,
one of the world's leading manufacturers of trucks, buses and construction
equipment, drive systems for marine and industrial applications, aerospace
components and services. The Group also provides complete solutions for
financing and service.