In a statement published on its official website, the Brazilian company explains that the buses are Volksbus 17.210 model and that they already meet the safety standards against covid-19: "All units are equipped with Marcopolo Torino body, protection barriers for the driver and collector Marcopolo BioSafe. The flexible and modular solution can be installed on different bodies, reducing the possibility of contagion by reducing the exposure of professionals to possible droplets expelled during speech, coughing or sneezing".
The 130 buses exported to Angola are already "in action," says the document, noting that the fleet was distributed throughout the country's 18 provinces, with Luanda receiving the largest number of buses.
"Angola has an urban transport network still far below its needs. In Luanda, for example, there are 8 million inhabitants for just over 500 buses, covering only 15 percent of the province. That's why, even in times of pandemic, negotiations continued," revealed Geraldo Kulaif, director of Grupo Asperbras - the official representative of the Brazilian company in Angola.
In recent years, VW Trucks and Buses has been exporting several buses to Angola. A total of 568 Volksbus models that are part of the Regular Urban Passenger Transport Project (TURP) have already been exported.
Around 87 percent of Brazilian buses are used to transport passengers, 8 percent are used to transport "passengers connected to ministries, hospitals and social projects" and the remaining 5 percent "are dedicated to transporting passengers to higher education institutions", the note indicates.
VW Trucks and Buses was initially part of the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Group. In 2009, however, it became part of MAN SE, operating in Resende, Brazil, and manufacturing trucks and buses under the Volkswagen brand.
