Known as Hino Poncho, the low-floor 7-meter minibus will start its trial run within Johor Bahru area under the operation of Handal Indah.
Hino Malaysia & Handal Indah Sign MoU to Test Run Low-floor Mini Bus
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Hino Motors Sales (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd and Handal Indah Sdn Bhd to start a trial run of a low-floor mini bus in Johor Bahru.
Known as Hino Poncho, the low-floor 7-meter minibus will start its trial run within Johor Bahru area under the operation of Handal Indah, one of the largest bus providers operating in Johor and is also known as Causeway Link.
The trial run will cater to Route 10B which travels along route JB City, Pelangi, Sentosa, Pandan, Taman Daya, and Taman Setia Indah for one month, starting from 15 June to 12 July 2020.
In 2017, Hino Malaysia collaborated with Handal Indah to conduct a trial on Hino’s low floor 10.5 meter hybrid bus model.
“We have been working together on our past collaboration to run the first hybrid bus in Malaysia supporting economical and clean public transport system. It was an obvious choice to work with Handal Indah again for this Poncho trial in Johor and we are glad that they are as excited as we are to run this”, said Hino Malaysia Managing Director, Atsushi Uchiyama.
He added that Handal Indah is experienced and provides great insight on the public transportation needs here in Johor Bahru that is valuable in this trial.
Hino’s trial operation in Johor Bahru is in good timing as Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) is currently planning for the Iskandar Malaysia Bus Rapid Transit (IMBRT) project. The IMBRT project aims to transform the public transportation system here in Iskandar Malaysia.
Its services comprise three main lines running from Skudai, Tebrau and Iskandar Puteri to Johor Bahru city centre. This is further supported by direct and feeder routes, with a network of more than 1200km, covering 90 per cent of the populated areas of Iskandar Malaysia.
The IMBRT will consolidate some existing routes as well as opening new routes to serve the people of Johor better in terms of its public transportation needs.
Hino Poncho is a solution to enable expansion of new routes that were not accessible earlier due to unavailability of low floor mini buses. Its small size enables it to easily manoeuvre through narrow city roads and quieter residential areas while its low floor design makes it easier to board for senior citizens, children and wheelchair bound passengers.
