The delivery of the first of 134 Euro V buses to the Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project this week was “only the beginning”, Mercedes-Benz South Africa (MBSA) VP for commercial vehicle sales and marketing Kobus van Zyl said on Thursday.

MBSA, part of the Daimler group of companies, supplied the modern buses for the Johannesburg-based Rea Vaya Phase 1B after being awarded the tender by the City of Johannesburg.

The company also plans to pitch its latest series of efficient buses to other emerging public transport projects.

South Africa currently has several BRT projects under way nationwide, including in regions such as Rustenburg, Pretoria and Cape Town.

“The system's use of state-of-the-art engine technology and its ability to keep buses moving rapidly regardless of stop-and-go traffic will play an important role in helping to substantially reduce carbon emissions,” said Van Zyl.

MBSA’s complement of Euro V city bus chassis, assembled at its plant in East London, was made up of 93 12 m feeder buses and 41 18 m, raised-floor articulated buses.

The vehicle manufacturer imported the major components for the chassis from the Mercedes-Benz plant in Brazil, but had “engineered its final assembly to maximise local content opportunities”, with tyres, wiring looms, piping, fuel tanks, driver and vehicle management systems and oils and lubricants sourced locally.

The group, which had over 17 000 Mercedes-Benz buses operating in more than 20 BRT systems worldwide, said that, while South African fuel was not compatible with the clean-burning Euro V engines, the City of Johannesburg had arranged to source the correct fuels for the network, Van Zyl said at the Truck and Bus Show, held at Nasrec.

The buses were expected to operate 24 hours a day over Rea Vaya’s Phase 1B network across ten stations, namely Noordgesig, New Canada, Pennyville, Bosmont, Coronationville, Newclare, Westbury, Westdene, Melville, Auckland Park and Parktown.

The R1.7-billion second phase of the Rea Vaya project kicked off earlier this week, while construction on the third, Phase 1C, was scheduled for next year.