Visitors

Mir Avtobusov 2012

 Key points

Guests

More than 3,000 guests - transport specialists from throughout Russia and abroad as well as ordinary peery citizens - visited Mir Avtobusov in these two festival days. A large percent of expert visitors were represented by transport operators from Moscow, Tver and Yaroslavl regions, Vladivostok, Tatarstan, Belorussia, and the Republic of Mari El etc.

In the opening day (April, 25) special guests visited the festival: Transport Minister of the Moscow Region Government Pyotr Katsyv, Minister of Property Relations of the Moscow Region Government Valentin Vitrinski, Chairlady of the Regional trade union committee for road transport and facilities personnel Lyudmila Belousova, President of the Russian Road Transport Union Kirill Bestsenko, Mostransavto Director General Nikolai Grivas and many others. Among foreign guests were EvoBus Gmbh Export Director Michael Frei who visited Mir Avtobusov on numerous occasions before, and Setra Chief Lotar Holder who got to our place for the first time. And, of course, Didier Ramoudt was present here – the founder and - once again - President of Busworld. At the opening Didier announced that once we were lucky to have such wonderful weather and it was 20 degrees warmer at the festival over against the previous year, his speech would consequently be longer for 20 minutes. Of course, it was a joke, but in every joke... Indeed, many things were to be mentioned: Busworld has finished in Istanbul recently; now it is imminent in Nizhny Novgorod. Didier counted exhibits of open festival areas with great deliberation - 75 pieces - and asked: "Are we going to have the same number in Nizhny?" Mir Avtobusov providers expressed their genuine doubts.

Mir Avtobusov welcomed more than 1,000 children - school pupils and students (the 1st and 9th forms), students of vocational schools, and our wards from the orphan asylum. Little fellows were invited just to watch, and senior students, along with students from vocational schools - in order to get some career guidance.

 

   

            Business

In the first festival day, Solaris Bus & Coach S.A. and Solaris-Vostok PLC signed the statement of intent concerning purchase of Solaris InterUrbino buses. The Russians were also interested in a gas-powered city bus. An attractive and efficient one. There is only one hitch: our country is not ready for compressed gas filling yet. We did not manage to fill the vehicle at the only Gazprom gas filling station "Solaris" located in Kolomna suburbs as there was no suitable adapter. The existing adapters were designed for old models. Let's hope that demand will stimulate supply.

 Rusbusinessauto sold a new bus Higer KLQ 6928 Q; there is an agreement on selling one more Higer. 

Hyundai СomTrans Rus signed the distributive contract with Hyundai Motor Ukraine concerning a new Hyundai  Bogdan bus based on Hyundai assembly.

Avtokolonna 1417 signed the contract with Maxa Russia concerning the delivery of equipment for bus servicing.

The letter of intent was signed between EvoBus GmbH (the designated representative is EvoBus Russland) and Avtokolonna 1417. It refers to a new model - Setra S419 GT-HD, which differs from its predecessors by its truly aircraft cabin - the kitchen, toilet room and hostess seat are situated aft of the bus, so that the whole cabin is kept under control. We are going to purchase these buses, but - in a definite set: AK1417 expressed its will to integrate the Funtoro multimedia system, so favoured by the passengers, into the bus.

             The auction initiated by MOSTRANSAVTO State Unitary Enterprise of Moscow region took place on April, 26.  33 out of 40 lots were sold. With the aggregate starting price of 15 million rubles, the final price amounted to 20 million, i.e. the articles got up for about 30 %! The bidders were especially interested in Sprinter minibuses (2005) assembled by Avtokolonna 1417. The vehicles had been used as fixed-route taxi-vans but they were in an excellent state at the auction. So they were sold for 40 % of their initial value.

Show

The opening of the festival was, as usual, very inventive. Mir Avtobusov kind of went down from the sky: Aerograd Kolomna parachutists landed right in the centre of the ring formed by spectators. The audience were elated, no harm was done. Cyclists and BMX-sportsmen appeared before the public throughout the festival. This show was taken from another Avtokolonna project which was presented a little bit later, on April, 26, at the festival go-cart track. Alexei Naumov's motorcycle school is at the edge of new educatees' intake; let us remind that Alexei participated in the Dakar motor rally and now he has got into the superfinal of Zhestokiye Igry (TV program). And for the time being the spectators could see the bus which had been especially prepared for the event and posted with thematic broad sheets, the collection of racing motorcycles, and the educatees' achievements. All children's guided tours were intentionally started at the motor field in order to encourage the young generation with sports prospects. However, according to the racer, he didn't see distinct enthusiasm in the eyes of nowaday children, and the three most frequent children's questions were the following: "How much does it cost to ride a motorcycle?", "What is the maximum speed?" and "What parts of your body have you broken?” Parents, you shouldn't allow your children to get too much of the computer!!!

            Yet another festival specialty was Bavaria Route. A 28-year-old Mercedes, which not so long ago had carried German children, was turned into a mobile cafe decorated in the fusion spirit - a bit of techno, a bit of the Bavarian province, a bit of vintage. But the resulting article looked very stylish. A wooden swing mounted in Avtokolonna according to the Finnish technique was situated nearby. Girls in Bavarian dresses - from the AK 1417 accounting and personnel departments, the barmen - from the maintenance department. But sausages with beer were genuinely Bavarian, in Erhard Willumeit's hand. The route was so popular that Bavarian sausages meant for three days ran out already in the first day. The cafe bus will continue its work near the bus column and, perhaps, will also leave on orders.

The carting tournament between amateur teams (Co-organizers - Avtokolonna 1417, Kolomna Administration and Castrol Company) was a great success. . For the first time the unprecedented number of teams - 42(!), took part in the tournament. Timing was supported by electronic devices so falsity was completely excluded. Everything was transparent. And Avtokolonna 1417 fairly won the 1st position in the team placing. The team composition: Alexandr Umyarov (AK chief engineer), Nikita Umyarov, Roman Chuvaev, and Ilya Silchev. In the overall standings the first position was taken by very young Maxim Kapustin from the Naro-Fominsk PATP team. Prizes from Castrol and Avtokolonna 1417 - to the studio!

 

Fires

The Russian companies "Epotos" and "NPG Granit-Salamandra" presented dry chemical and aerosol local application extinguishing systems for buses. The fire was repeatedly simulated and promptly brought under control in the engine area of the bus for two days, and the cabin was set on fire and put out only once. But it was this show that provoked the greatest excitement due to its staginess. NPG Granit-Salamandra put out the cabin with the help of the fire-extinguishing aerosol generator AGS-5 of operational application. The generator was thrown by the driver into the bus cabin after simulated passenger evacuation. None of factitious passengers got hurt. ))

The only certified fire-extinguishing aerosol system in Russia developed by NPG Granit-Salamandra was also presented at the festival for the last generation of buses manufactured by Pavlovsky Avtobus OJSC.

 

             Tourism

On April, 26 the panel discussion on coach tourism was arranged with the participation of representatives of the Moscow Region Government, the Russian Union of Travel Industry, Mostransavto, and Avtokolonna 1417.  

This event stands apart in the range of conferences and panel discussions arranged in the context of the festival as the following problem actually exists - the coach tourism in Russia is in the embryo state, though it may be quite an independent branch, profitable and interesting for the consumer. To be more precise - for consumers of different income levels. The tour operator "World of Buses 1417" has 10-year successful experience in this sphere - we have something to share, something to say on topics of the branch. The problems are primarily connected with bad roads and absence of infrastructure as well as with the fact that owners of filling stations are unwilling to arrange this infrastructure (according to the following principle: the fewer the tourists are, the less the dirt is).  There are no officially registered coach routes: the latest routes were plotted under routine operation in Soviet times. The majority of tour operators do not possess good modern safe coaches. Moreover, they do not seem willing to buy such coaches as they won't immediately pay back (I remember once I witnessed the following situation - a crowd of sweaty tourists popped out from the "southern" coach, an old Ikarus, they were followed with their bales... we can't call it good rest!). The problems are numerous. That is why it was decided to arrange cooperation with the Union of Travel Industry on development of coach tourism regulations and an appeal to the supreme authorities containing the description of topics and suggestions on progressive evolvement of this tourism field. And the perspectives are evident - comfortable tourism "from the doorstep to the sights" and "from the doorstep to the beach" is in great favour in Kolomna, Moscow, Ryazan, and Saint-Petersburg (these are the cities which are the main suppliers of customers for Mir Avtobusov 1417). The summer is only on the verge, and the tours are practically bought up.

 

April, 27, the final

This day the Trojan elephant was driven up almost to the festival stage. What is the Trojan elephant? We may call it a sequel of the last year tidbit - Isolde, the ship-bus. Offbeat guys from Izhevsk TV Dacha, with the help of rod-type framing and a canvas cover, turned the Mercedes Sprinter body into an elephant. There was hay inside. Infant sightseers willingly responded on the appeal "Let's roll on the elephant!" and pulled it by the ropes. Right there the performance with creatures from outer space spread out: the main heroes were represented by two cone structures with boxes on their tops and by a strange creature with the roller-skates and in white garments. Grown-ups couldn't understand the action but, nevertheless, they were all eyes. Children seemed to understand the Izhevsk guys on the subconscious level.

Also this day was marked by the final of the poster contest "We choose the bus!". The first two prizes in the senior nomination were taken by Mocovites, Irina Selyutina and Sergei Pleshkov ("Mosgortrans") - they were awarded with a bicycle and a tourist tent. The Kolomna resident Oleg Nezelennikov won the third prize and got a yearlong subscription from the contest partner, the Union Fitness villa. In the infant nomination the prizes were distributed as follows: 9-year-old Sasha Razgonyayev got the first prize and certificate for a jaunt to the beach; Katya Rodicheva got a Stels Pilot bicycle with a complete kit, and a scooter went to a young Moscovite, 6-year-old Lina Yemeliyanenko.

And, last but not least, the contest "The Best in Mir Avtobusov":

The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter by Mercedes-Benz Russia was recognized as the best minibus;

MAN Lion’s City by MAN Truck & Bus Rus became the best public transport bus;

The common project of Nizhegorodets and Chrysler Russia CJSC was announced the best mount.

And the best coach prize was given to Setra S419 GT-HD by EvoBus Russland Company.

 

 


• The Program
• Exhibition plan