Dane Posted December 23, 2010 Report Share Posted December 23, 2010 Here are some photos, I will follow with discussion in a few days. Tour Buses Long Distance Transit Buses Transit Buses in Havanna Other ... more to follow, I think! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enviro 500 Posted December 23, 2010 Report Share Posted December 23, 2010 Here are some photos, I will follow with discussion in a few days. Seems like all the newer buses were made in China, while the older transit buses are perhaps from.........former Soviet Union? Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmc12 Posted December 23, 2010 Report Share Posted December 23, 2010 Looks like they updated the rollsigns on those double-deckers since I was there in 2009: I also noted a whole bunch of these things in Varadero. Can anyone identify them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BCT-3122-D800-10240 Posted December 23, 2010 Report Share Posted December 23, 2010 I also noted a whole bunch of these things in Varadero. Can anyone identify them? Saviem? I recognize them, but I forget who builds those. I have seen images of those before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IRT_BMT_IND Posted December 23, 2010 Report Share Posted December 23, 2010 The last bus is built by DAF. The Dutch government donated old city buses to Cuba a while back IIRC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stm_5307N Posted December 24, 2010 Report Share Posted December 24, 2010 It would be interesting to know if New Looks were running in Cuba still. A girl that works with me saw some ex-Montreal New Looks still active in Varadero last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BCT-3122-D800-10240 Posted December 24, 2010 Report Share Posted December 24, 2010 The last bus is built by DAF. The Dutch government donated old city buses to Cuba a while back IIRC. DAF!! Ah yes that's the name. Thanks for refreshing the memory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dane Posted December 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 25, 2010 The buses I observed fall into four broad catagories. 1 - tourist buses; these are all very new (2007-2009) and are all Chinese built, Cuban assembled. They are in generally good condition, although tghose double deckers in both Vardero and Havanna are looking far older than three years on the upper deck. 2 - long distance buses - made up of a huge assortment of vehicles; the largest single group is more Yutang. I am guessing they were perhaps 20% of the fleet. The other 80% ranges from trailers pulled by tractors to school buses to honestly I do not even know. 3 - yellow school buses. From Canada a few years ago there are a couple hundred of these on Cuba's roads. They were distributed to both the long distance carriers and the city transit agencies, so you see them everywhere. 4 - city transit buses. Predominantly Eastern European vehicles from Germany and former USSR states. Most carry the original destination signs, since Cuban bus routes (in cities) are numebered, not named. All buses run at extremely full capacity as there is a chronic fuel and capacity shortage in Cuba in addition to very few cars. Nasty combination of variables. It is almost impossible for locals to get on transit or long distance services, and it easily takes over an hour to get on any intercity or main intracity transit route. Reliability, aopparently, is generally poor by our standards and schedules are not clsely followed. Capacity is so stretched that tour buses (or any bus, for that matter) can never deadhead, and most offer a ride to people traveling in its direction of travel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feronista Posted January 18, 2011 Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 I was in Cuba in April 2005, just before the Chinese invasion. There has been a large influx of Chinese-built buses and coaches as part of a large trade deal with the Chinese (who are investing a lot of time and money in a great many Third World and other 'orphan' states). This was what it was like in 2005. The incoming tourism industry is serviced by four companies, Havanatur, Transtur, Transgaviota & Veracuba/Cubanican. Prior to the Chinese arrival their fleets were mainly made up of Brazilian-built Volvo - B7R, B12B (not the current model) and B12R - with Brazilian bodywork by Busscar and Marcopolo. Agrale and Volksbus - also Brazilian companies - supplied some minicoaches. Havanatur preferred Brazilian-built Mercedes O400RS with bodywork by yet another Brazilian builder, Comil, although some had Egyptian-built MCV bodywork. The choice of supplier would have been down to whatever trade deals were in place at the time. Prior to the Volvos there were second-hand imports, MCI from Canada and Bovas from the Netherlands, but these had been downgraded. Long-distance services were split between those aimed at locals and those at toursits. Cuba has a two-tier currency, with tourists expected to pay in a currency tied to the US dollar and locals using their own devalued version. Astro runs the services for locals, with a motley collection of older Giron and Mercedes O371 but with Korean-built Hyundai Aerocity 540 and Kia AM928 dating from 2003. Viazul runs the tourist routes with Mercedes O400RSE / Busscar, although the latest ones had MCV bodywork. Havana was still running the 'camels' when I was there, articulated truck-based things that looked like hell on wheels. Most service buses were second-hand imports from the Netherlands, France, Spain and Italy. There were also some Volvos built new in Cuba that were in Havana but nowhere else. The imports could be found everywhere, in various states of disrepair but still chugging along. As mentioned above, lack of transport is a serious problem in Cuba. Many lorries with seats were noted in the country as were some donkey carts. Many hotels and ministries had their own fleets, both Girons and second-hand imports, with the Dutch DAF's being the most common. I only saw one New Look in two weeks. A few Soviet-era Russian minibuses still survived as well, and many schools had Canadian-sourced yellow schoolbuses. Cuba did once have its own bus manufacturing industry, with a company that went by the name of Giron. Most of their designs were based on those of Hungarian builder Ikarus, either directly or by mixing up elements of different models. Giron models were numbered up in Roman numerals, an example being the Giron XXII, a long-distance coach that had had been used on tourist services when new but had latterly been transferred to Astro for long-distance work. Examples of most models were seen but most in very poor condition. There's a website that covers hem in some detail. If I ever go back I suspect that it'll be very different. The Chinese are here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAverageJoe Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 these shots are from my trip to Cuba last week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbs7207b Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 The blue and white bus in the 7th pic is a Scania N113 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom1122 Posted February 24, 2011 Report Share Posted February 24, 2011 Weren't some fishbowls sold to Cuban cities? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexLy Posted February 24, 2011 Report Share Posted February 24, 2011 Weren't some fishbowls sold to Cuban cities? Yes, but seems like they're quite rare now... I even think that they're retired, but I'm not sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAverageJoe Posted February 25, 2011 Report Share Posted February 25, 2011 Yes, but seems like they're quite rare now... I even think that they're retired, but I'm not sure. Im pretty sure they have all be retired for a few years now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom1122 Posted February 25, 2011 Report Share Posted February 25, 2011 Funny how they're retired in Cuba yet in Toronto there's still a few dozen running around! Im pretty sure they have all be retired for a few years now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj.surf.lfs Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 Some photos from my recent trip in Cuba: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dj_surf_lfs/s...57626053373275/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. McConnell Posted March 3, 2011 Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 these shots are from my trip to Cuba last week The pink bus in the 25th picture is a MAZ-103 from Belarus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G.A Posted March 4, 2011 Report Share Posted March 4, 2011 So the Orion 1's are gone I take it… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stm_5307N Posted April 13, 2011 Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 A gentlemen sent me these shots last year in Banes, Cuba that he took. He didn't mind that I'd share them on the net, so here they are. The fishbowl/truck conversion is very weird... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Board Admin A. Wong Posted April 13, 2011 Board Admin Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 That is one odd, and unsafe, trailer!! Though I think that style is pretty common there (being pulled by a semi tractor unit). ex-STM you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted April 13, 2011 Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 Â Â The pink bus in the 25th picture is a MAZ-103 from Belarus.Could be MAZ-107.065 which is the 15m long version. Can't tell from the picture is there is a double axle in the back or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stm_5307N Posted April 13, 2011 Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 ex-STM you think? No clue, could be but Cuba also had old STO fishbowls too at one point. Anyways, you can see that the fishbowl is way more than 40ft long! The bus was cut and a section was added over the rear wheels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexLy Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 No clue, could be but Cuba also had old STO fishbowls too at one point. Anyways, you can see that the fishbowl is way more than 40ft long! The bus was cut and a section was added over the rear wheels. Must be at least 53' long, like any other trucks with trailer IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enviro 500 Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 Must be at least 53' long, like any other trucks with trailer IMO. Wow, I am just wondering.........how the heck can you make turns with that Frankenstein-looking fishbowl trailer thing?! The distance between the rear end of the trailer and the rear axles are insanely far apart from each other! I can't imagine how that trailer can manage to turn without its rear end part kicking out and hitting surrounding cars / pedestrians along the process! I guess this is their next-gen Camel bus, with a converted fishbowl trailer attached to a tractor?! Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D40LF Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 Wow, I am just wondering.........how the heck can you make turns with that Frankenstein-looking fishbowl trailer thing?! The distance between the rear end of the trailer and the rear axles are insanely far apart from each other! I can't imagine how that trailer can manage to turn without its rear end part kicking out and hitting surrounding cars / pedestrians along the process! I guess this is their next-gen Camel bus, with a converted fishbowl trailer attached to a tractor?! Dave I don't think they will replace the camel bus with converted New Looks. The camels look alot newer than that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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