HINO Poncho, an ultra-low floor minibus to operate in Malaysia

The world’s first low floor minibus in 7-meter length, it is deemed to cater the narrow and busy road in the city and suburban area in Malaysia.

Petaling Jaya, 21 October 2019 – Hino Motors Sales (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (Hino Malaysia) introduced a low-floor minibus with the seven (7) meter length as the company sees the need of minibus in the country. Known as HINO Poncho, the trial run of the minibus was deemed to be under the operation project handle by Rapid Bus Sdn Bhd (Rapid Bus).
The trial run will cater to routes T784 LRT Taman Bahagia and T201 LRT Gombak for three (3) months starting from 20 October 2019 to 20 January 2020.
On the second day of the trial run (today), the Minister of Transport, YB Loke Siew Fook, took the minibus ride for about 15 minutes, hop on from the LRT Taman Bahagia to the bus stop station Damansara Uptown.

Enhancement of Greater Klang Valley stage bus network
HINO Poncho is the first low floor minibus with 7-meter length in the world. In Japan, there are more than 2,000 units of HINO Poncho manoeuvring within the busy cities and narrow road. It is designed to match the most innovative community transport solution and deemed as one of the solutions to cater to the first and last-mile travel for passengers.

Malaysia is chosen as the first country in Southeast Asia to have the HINO Poncho in its public transportation fleet. The low floor minibus is meant to complement the existing public transportation in the city and suburban area.
The trial run of HINO Poncho is an initiative for the development of an efficient intra-city bus service, which will shuttle passengers from transport hubs to their final destinations within the central business district and quieter residential area. Thousands of public transport users depend on the bus network to travel within the city area, and this initiative will enhance the bus network and be more convenient for commuters.

Small-sized and environmental friendly minibus.
Hino Malaysia sees the need in ‘first and last-mile travel’, meaning the first and last leg of a person’s travel within the city. The minibus has its advantages for narrow city residential and low ridership areas.
Its small size yet ample capacity makes HINO Poncho easier to manoeuvre through the busy city and narrow roads compared to the current buses now in operation which are approximately 10-12 meter length while HINO Poncho is only 7 meter in length. HINO Poncho has excellent accessibility that features an ultra-low floor with the kneeling function that can be further lowered down. This feature aids senior citizen and disable passengers on wheelchair.
Besides being equipped with flexibility for the special needs passengers, the minibus is able to cater up to 31 including standing passengers. Designed with a vehicle height adjusting system, this system performs vehicle height lowering and raising control. The height can be lowered down by 50mm which will enhance the boarding or alighting property at bus stops and with the raising control, the chassis is able to lifted up to 30mm higher to improve driveability on rough road.
Equipped with its five (5) liter Euro-V engine, common-rail fuel injection system and 5-speed fully automatic transmission, this minibus will help improve the operational cost as it is more fuel-efficient than current buses.

The Euro-V technologically-advanced diesel engine is to provide improved engine performance for acceleration, better fuel economy, and reduce harmful emissions, hence it is environmentally friendly. HINO Poncho with the Euro-V engine is equipped with Diesel Particulate Reduction (DPR) system; an after-treatment system that significantly reduces particulate matter. This feature differs to other current Euro-V vehicles where the HINO Poncho does not require any additional fluid such as AdBlue urea fluid, which eventually will save the operating cost and maintenance time for the customer.

The HINO Poncho trial run concludes and unites the objectives to providing the efficient public transport system that best serves the people as this innovation will enhance the public transport services which aimed at eliminating the first and last mile barrier.
 

Download press release PDF here for more detail