That is half the story.
The NBFL is a hybrid bus.
As far as costs are concerned, this IS the going price for hybrid
DDs in fact, albeit still slightly more.
In fact the main reason why the cost went up was probably
because only one manufacturer is creating the bus to fit the
specs.
Think market power.
This is the main reason why each bus type SBST purchases tends
to have differing gearboxes, bodies, etc. It is part of procurement
strategy to prevent OEMs from gaining too much leverage.
Regardless of NBfL being a hybrid bus or not, it is still by far
the only production RHD chassis till date in the world to be able
to accomodate a 3rd door without steps.
Remember that we are not trying to buy a hybrid DD, but
rather a RHD low floor bus
that has a door after the rear axle. The fact is that the NBfL is
still the only production ready example around and it costs
700k.
They could get one of the
chinese bus makers to design and make one cheaply based on pure
diesel tech. But till then, the price difference of a bus with that
door and without is just too big. This is the point i'm trying to
bring across.
However, i agree with you that for hybrid DDs, it is not
expensive at all to pay 700k although it is still 10% more than
competing hybrid DDs. This 10% gives you 1. airconditioning, 2. 3rd
rear door, 3. very customisable design, which is well worth the
money.
As for procurement strategy, i find it not so valid on our
public operators' case, since it is tender based instead of by
quotation. Also, it is also a double edged sword to take up too
much different bodyworks and chassis since it would be a
maintanence headache (look at tibs who simply went too far on
this).
