The first edition of Busworld Central Asia was held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, during June 25 to 27. At the exhibition, 21 vehicles were presented inside and three were outside the venue. Since there is no actual production in Kazakhstan (assembling and distribution only), all the exhibitors came from abroad. Especially Turkey and China were well represented. Also companies from Russia, Tajikistan, Belarus and Uzbekistan made a trip to Kazakhstan with their vehicles.
The Busworld Academy congress held on the occasion, had 38 speakers from all over the world, touching local topics with a worldwide view. The attendance was very good at all the seminars. This showed that Kazakhstan can rely on the support from Busworld to help develop the bus and coach sector in the country.
Public transport in Kazakhstan is in full transition. Transport Holding of Almaty was represented with a booth dedicated to its state-of-the-art ticketing system called Onay. No less than 24 other cities were visited before creating the system. Fleet renewal and greater use of public transport are the two priorities on the agenda. Arranging financing of a new fleet is a big challenge, since the public transport is, next to one municipality operator, operated by 13 privately-owned companies. They started this renewal in 2016. The focus in 2019 is still on CNG, while some electric buses are being tested.
Here are the highlights from some of the key exhibitors at the show:
Anadolu Isuzu, Turkey
Anadolu Isuzu, one of the leading medium-sized bus and coach manufacturing companies in Europe, produces both city, intercity and coaches at its plant in Kocaeli, Turkey. It already exports to many countries and is planning to step up exports significantly. Kazakhstan is also on the agenda. They brought their Citiport CNG 12m because this vehicle would suit the Kazakh market very well. They already have a strong presence in Azerbaijan, of which a delegation visited them at Busworld Central Asia.
Astana Motors
This is a Kazakh distributor and assembler of, amongst other brands, Hyundai and Golden Dragon, the two brands presented at the exhibition. The Golden Dragon bus presented, the XML6125CLE, was an electric bus.
Belkommunmash, Belarus
Belkommunmash is a Belarusian manufacturer of electric buses and trolley buses. It is interested in exporting to Kazakhstan and also to Europe. That’s why it will be present at the Busworld exhibition in Brussels too. It only brought scale models to Kazakhstan. For Brussels it will make a serious effort to bring an actual vehicle.
SamAuto, Uzbekistan
Samarkand Automobile Factory or SamAuto is a well-known city and intercity bus body builder from Uzbekistan. The company’s dream is to become the leader in bus and truck body building among the CIS countries. Construction of the manufacturing plant started in 1997, and two years later the first two bus models rolled out of the production line.
SamAuto has evolved into one of the biggest body building companies in the region with dealerships in Uzbekistan as well as Kazakhstan, Georgia and Russia.
Currently, SamAuto has five types of buses – all with Isuzu engines. For them, Kazakhstan already is the most important destination, with 200 buses already exported. They have been active in Kazakhstan since 2010. The focus is on medium-sized buses only, because they are the perfect models for Kazakhstan which is mostly hilly.
Voith, Russia
Voith Russia, a subsidiary of the German company, has a history of 150 years. Focus on the exhibition was the Diwa.6 automatic transmission. In Astana 100% of the buses use Voith transmissions in the Iveco and Maz buses. That’s why they can almost taste the potential of Almaty, being bigger than Astana. They come well prepared. Their transmissions can be used in CNG buses and BRT systems – Almaty’s main focus at the moment – and they have an already developed service network.
Busworld Academy
Busworld Academy’s congress “Futuristic Transportation Solutions for Central Asia” proved to be just what the Kazakh bus and coach professionals needed. It was all about shaping tomorrow’s public transport in Central Asian countries.
The Academy hosted presentations by a number of experts with knowledge of the Kazakh and regional markets, complemented with international best cases. The event was supported by the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Mayorate of Almaty.
The Mayor himself opened the exhibition and conference on the first day with an impressive speech about the ambitious plans for making buses and coaches in Almaty.