infoTECH Feature

November 08, 2010

Unimetro from Columbia Deploys Allison Transmission Solution

Allison Transmission, Inc., a provider of commercial duty automatic transmissions and hybrid propulsion systems, has announced that Unimetro, a bus company from Columbia has deployed its solutions to support the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT (News - Alert)) system of Cali in the country. The company has deployed the solution in 51 buses until now, while a total of 100 International 3000RE buses with Allison transmissions will be operational as part of the MIO “Sistema (News - Alert) Integrado de Transporte Masivo” by 2011.

A major BRT system has been implemented within various cities of Columbia for the previous five years, one of which is Cali. The recent government legislation requires automatic transmissions in all buses, and a majority of the population in the Columbian capital of Bogotá asks for articulated buses, where Allison has already supplied transmissions. In Cali, medium buses fitted with Allison B300 transmissions are being deployed.

Unimetro is a transportation company in Colombia that owns a number of articulated buses and microbuses that are equipped with Allison transmissions. In the words of Fernando Gonzales from services section at Unimetro, the feedback on the integration of Allison transmissions has been very positive, as the maintenance was visibly made easier, with much less intervention and an extended time between fluid and filter changes. Gonzales continued that although the optimization aim is for the highest fuel economy possible, the daily routes continue to be traveled within the established performance goals, and all drivers are satisfied with the acceleration and easy operation of the bus due to the Allison automatic transmissions.

In order to fulfill the demands of local customers, Allison has been offering support in defining operating efficiency parameters for the buses, and a team of service engineers from Brazil collaborated with the local Allison distributor to develop optimized calibrations to achieve the best combination of operation, performance and fuel consumption. Additionally, a driver-enabled feature that has been designed to increase safety during braking, also known as the transmission’s retarder, had also been modified with an aim to yield best performance/fuel consumption, drivability and reliability according to local conditions.

According to João Renda from sales and services team for the Andean Countries, Central America and Caribbean at Allison Transmission, company’s experience in Colombia has been a rewarding one, and in addition to the progress in the functioning of its transmissions and customer satisfaction, Allison is consolidating its position in the country through its local dealer. Renda noted that the future plans of Colombian authorities point to a modern and rational transportation system around the country, which includes more buses, all equipped with automatic transmissions.

In May 2010, Allison Transmission Inc. announced the opening of a new multi-purpose operations facility which is located on the outskirts of Chennai in India. Members of Allison Transmission's senior leadership team traveled to India to join its local Indian workforce, government officials and representatives from neighboring business organizations for the opening ceremony of the new operations facility.


Raja Singh Chaudhary is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Raja's articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Tammy Wolf
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