The Ashok Leyland JanBus (people's bus), the Indian CV major's new city bus model, has been launched in Kolkata. The Hinduja Group company claims that the JanBus is the world's first bus to have a fully-flat floor, front engine, single step entry and air suspension, all in a single package.
The new passenger carrier is powered by a BS4 compliant common-rail diesel engine which puts out a healthy 225 bhp of power and is paired to a LeyMatic Automated Manual Transmission (AMT).
The JanBus low floor city bus has a uniform floor height of 650 mm throughout, making for a hassle-free boarding, alighting and movement inside. The wide and low entry is claimed to reduce stoppage time and is also friendly towards differently-abled persons.
The city bus comes packed with modern features like multiplexing, a vehicle tracking and infotainment system and a passenger information system. These features are in line with the Ministry of Urban Development's vision and meet the urban bus specifications.
The flexible JanBus offers multiple options for door placement and seating arrangements and can be specified in various configurations such as BRTS (Bus Rapid Transport System), airport tarmac and regular city bus applications with AC and non-AC versions.
The West Bengal government has ordered 449 units of the Ashok Leyland JanBus. The modern city bus would be inducted into service in various state transport organizations in due course.
Ashok Leyland has not revealed the cost of the JanBus but the fully loaded variant with AC is expected to significantly undercut the Volvo 8400 low-floor city bus that is being operated by several metro city transport departments. At the Bus and Utility Expo 2013, the company announced that it had already bagged 1,600 orders for the bus.
Ashok Leyland JanBus debuts in Kolkata - Press Release
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