New Swiss-made bus with German engine makes its debut

A new bus with a distinctive windscreen made its debut on the 1050 route to Oberägeri on Friday morning.
 
This bus, with its smart blue and white ZVB livery, is made by the Hess company of Bellach in the canton of Solothurn. It duly set off punctually at 10.55 am to take passengers to the Aegeri Valley.

While it is new to the canton of Zug, other buses of this type are already in service in other parts of Switzerland, for example in Urnäsch in the half-canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden.

Buses of this type come with a 394 horsepower (290 Kw) engine made by Mercedes. This 12-metre one costs CHF 450,000 and is the only one in the ZVB fleet so far.

One passer-by who noticed it said she thought that, from the front, it looked more like a tram than a bus. How long will it be before such buses are given a nick-name? This is quite a tradition in Germany, apparently.