The process starts with a bus chassis – a bare steel frame with diesel engine and mechanical running gear, manufactured by overseas companies such as Scania, Volvo, Mercedes, MAN, Iveco or BYD.

Photo by Øyvind Berg, via Wikimedia Commons

They arrive in Melbourne onboard a roll-on/roll-off ship.

Then driven down to the wharf.

And transported on the back of a truck to the Volgren factory at Dandenong.

There they fabricate aluminium.

Australasian Bus and Coach photo

To form the floor, walls and roof of a bus.

Volgren photo

Then add fiberglass front fairings.

Rear ones.

And larger modules like air conditioning units.

Put them all together.

Then add seats and everything else passengers need inside.

Australasian Bus and Coach photo

And you have what we recognise as a bus.

Footnote: but can you take them for a drive?

Yes, you can actually take a bare diesel bus chassis for a drive.

But the chassis for electric buses are more complicated with their roof mounted batteries.

BYD photo

So they get imported as a wrapped up package that needs to be towed around.

Footnote: Gemilang Australia

Gemilang Australia is another company that has built buses for Melbourne, as a joint venture between Malaysian bus builder Gemilang, and OzPress Industries of Ballarat. Their “locally built” buses are imported as knock-down kit, then finished here.

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