Ashok Leyland eyes DTC tender for low floor buses

New Delhi, Jan 13 (UNI) Country's second largest commercial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland Ltd said it hopes to bag the next tender for low-floor buses in the capital from DTC.

''We are ready with the products and have even demonstrated the it a few weeks ago. We will participate in the tender and with our superior product, are hoping to win the same,'' company MD R Seshasayee told reporters on the sidelines of a conference at the 9th Auto Expo here.

The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) plans to add an estimated 8,000 buses to its fleet before the Commonwealth Games 2010 and is likely to spend Rs 4,000 crore on the project.

Ashok Leyland, which launched its feature filled concept intra-city 'iBUS' today, will expect to take the second and third tender from DTC of about 3,500 buses.

''We expect to sell 100-150 iBUS in 2008-09, with a total potential of 1000 units'' Mr R Seshasayee said.

The AC bus, priced at about Rs 60 lakhs, has 42 seats and can accommodate 30 people in standing, comes with several intelligent features like ABS, WiFi connectivity, closed circuit television capable of running advertisements adding to the revenue of the fleet operator.

Mr R Seshasayee said that every state is going through a new wave of providing better transport facilities to the public, also the upcoming Commonwealth Games will add to already existing huge demand in this segement.

Tata Motors Ltd won the first tender to supply 500 buses to DTC last year.

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