Bangkok's bus fleet procurement: why Scania, Volvo opt out

[German Viking]

Not enough brown envelopes. Nothing to do with the best choice!

Yes caused in Scandinavian countries corruption is strikly prohibited by the sentence of death.

Let them buy some turkish or chinese crap.

Som nam na

[German Viking]

Scandia is a sore loser. They don't make the product Thailand is requesting, "Cng/NGV powered", so they trash the buyer. I wonder does Volvo make a Cng buss?

Use google before you making comments.

http://www.ngvjournal.com/scania-joins-belgian-manufacturer-to-launch-new-natural-gas-city-bus/

[German Viking]

Yes, those yellow Chinese buses on the streets now turned into rolling pieces of shit within a year. Loud and uncomfortable seats with the worst shocks of any bus I've ever been in. Shame that they are likely to buy more of them.

Caused this idiots never heard about LLC "Life cycle cost" or probably just don't care, caused they don't have to pay this from their own pockets, a private company would never buy this chinese scrap.

[neverdie]

It doesn't matter what bus they drive, it will still be the same psychopaths behind the steering wheel.

[CLW]

Maybe it will be a fleet of MB Citaro's

That would be great! Mercedes-Benz- best busses at all. But wait - who is going to sell you a brandnew western standard commuter-bus for as low as 3.5 or 4 Million Bath? They are sold around 8 Million. But wait - you can get them used for as low as 1.5Mio Baht (35 000.- €) - 10 years old, 1 Mio. kilometers. Still better than chinese crap and everything that is rolling on Bangkok-streets today:

http://suchen.mobile.de/lkw-inserat/mercedes-benz-o-530-citaro-315-4416-gr%C3%BCne-plakette-untersteinach-bei-kulmbach/203066936.html

That's an excellent idea! Like the SRT which bought the 2nd hand JR-West sleeper train car from Japan. Better than everything they had/have here and will get from China.

[CarlTyson]

A salesperson contacts the Thai buyer.

"We built in 20% for you" he tells the Thai.

"But the other guy offered me 30%"

"We can offer you 35% but our bid will be too high"

"No poblem, we will change the specifications so you win the contract"

[bendejo]

They may not be comfortable or environment-friendly, but I like those old buses with the wooden floors.

First time I came to Thailand in 1975 took one from the airport. Conductor used the same type cylindrical can to collect the fares.

All the same, I wouldn't like to ride one from downtown to Sai Tai Mai.

[greenchair]

You get what you pay for. This is typical in Thailand. Want pay the cheapest price, but get the best product. Look at the last bus deal that went sour. In the end they produced their own buses to save money. The buses barely lasted a couple of years before almost completely falling apart. I notice in my area they have resorted to using the old red buses. Same with the roads. Do it on the cheap.falling apart after 3 years. Must do again.

Thai should understand. You don't get your cake and eat it.

You cannot have military rule and a democracy at the same time.

You cannot have cheap prices and good quality at the same time

[bendejo]

You get what you pay for. This is typical in Thailand. Want pay the cheapest price, but get the best product. Look at the last bus deal that went sour. In the end they produced their own buses to save money. The buses barely lasted a couple of years before almost completely falling apart. I notice in my area they have resorted to using the old red buses. Same with the roads. Do it on the cheap.falling apart after 3 years. Must do again.

Thai should understand. You don't get your cake and eat it.

You cannot have military rule and a democracy at the same time.

You cannot have cheap prices and good quality at the same time

However, you can have a well-armed militia (not talking about pitchforks and sticks) led by an ex-military officer, guarding a group of demonstrators and the declare the demonstration a "Peaceful Protest," all you need to do is put up a sign declaring it such.

That's the way it is here -- it is what I say it is, and to challenge it is a personal insult.

Eh, what's that you say? "What about the insult to your intelligence?" What do you mean?

Thais make terrible liars, they should give up on it.

As for roads falling apart. About ten years ago I was living in Brazil not too far from a town that had gone from pretty much a fishing town that got a few vacationers to a booming tourist resort in a short amount of time. The main road connecting the town to the rest of the world was up an incline. Brazil has this thing about cobblestones, so the road was re-done with them. Looked very nice. Rainy season comes, and the first big storm washes out the road, causing all the stones to pile up at the bottom of the hill, the incline now a mess of sand and mud. Turned out after all the skimming of funds there wasn't enough money left for decent foundation materials ("hey, it's the stuff under the stones we're talking about, no one is going to see it!").

Maybe Zimbabwe has the right idea, just take the money and don't bother with the half-arsed attempts.

[tonbridgebrit]

People love to go on about the brown envelopes. Bit of a serious accusation.

And anyway, let's say brown envelopes were involved. Well, in that case, maybe Scania and Volvo should learn how to use the brown envelopes themselves.

How much money do the defense contractors (arms dealers) make selling arms to lots of nations ? Do they know how to use brown envelopes ? Come on Scania and Volvo, learn to use brown envelopes. Or, accept the fact that although your product is of good quality, well, your competitors sell a considerably cheaper product that is lower quality than yours. Just give a bigger discount.