Excellent service from one Neoplan led Cambridge Tours to take another, a Tourliner P20 VIP
Soham operator Cambridge Tours has taken delivery of a tri-axle Neoplan Tourliner P20 VIP purchased on the back of 14 years’ excellent service from one of the Tourliner’s predecessors, a Euroliner.
The new coach is Cambridge Tours’ first Tourliner, and the decision to buy it was also influenced by a desire to enter the tour market.
It will split its time between private hire duties and tour work on behalf of a third party and it comes with 55 Kiel half-leather seats, USB and 240v charging points, an entertainment system with three monitors and a host of other luxury fittings.
“The Euroliner was a gorgeous old girl,” says Owner John Turnock. “We bought it when it was about two years old and it did us proud. The only major work it required was a gearbox rebuild at around 750,000km.”
With 1.5m km clocked up when retired by Cambridge Tours, the Euroliner has been exported to continue life in warmer climes in an indication of the model’s durability.
“I didn’t really want to part with it. We were looking at a Tourliner, and I thought that the Select version would probably have been sufficient for our needs. But when I saw the VIP variant, I decided that was the one we had to have.”
Cambridge Tours has six coaches, all of different capacities. It was founded as Anglian Travel in the early part of the millennium and is owned and operated by John, his wife Yvonne and their daughter Alison. The Tourliner joins a Yutong TC9 delivered new in 2016.
Matt Jacob, MAN Senior Sales Executive, says that Neoplan provides a comprehensive offering to the operator.
“All Tourliners come with a fleet management telematics package as standard, and I am sure that this will be of huge benefit in terms of driver training, operations and efficiency to the family-run firm.”
Cambridge Tours has always utilised tracking devices but the MAN installation allows it to expand on that, says John. “We can use it to monitor the vehicle closely and re-route drivers if necessary. It may be that we look to have the package installed on our other coaches, too.”
Ajaz Khan, MAN Deputy Head of Fleet Management Services, adds: “Our fleet management system can help operators across a number of platforms.
“Monitoring idle times, braking and acceleration, for example, can help identify areas to be addressed with driver training, providing the required reports to assist in maximising fuel efficiency and – equally importantly – promoting health and safety on the roads. The aim is to improve the customer experience.”
The new Tourliner VIP is powered by a 480bhp D2676 engine coupled to a 12-speed ZF AS-Tronic automated gearbox.
