- Belgian tour operator Voyages Léonard to use 12 new S 517 HD coaches on long-distance routes
- New customer Graf’s Reisen sending four S 516 HD coaches on European trips
- Footballers of SC Freiburg are now travelling in a S 517 HD coach
At Setra’s customer centre in Neu-Ulm, Belgian tour operator Voyages Léonard has taken delivery of twelve ComfortClass 500 coaches for use on long-distance routes. The S 517 HD models will be hitting the roads for long-distance provider Flibco, a company in the Sales-Lentz Group, based in Bascharage, Luxembourg. The 52-seater coaches will be used on routes within Belgium as well as for services to Luxembourg, Germany and Portugal. And as part of a regular shuttle service, they will cover the 50km route between Brussels and Charleroi, Belgium’s second biggest airport.
For managing director Marc Sales, the coach’s reliability, predictable running costs, comfort and proven low fuel consumption were the key factors in the purchasing decision: “In the fiercely contested market for long-distance coach travel you always have to keep an eye on costs. With the Setra ComfortClass 500 we are able to drive costs down without making any compromises in safety.” The S 517 HD models are fitted with the full assistance system package, which features the Active Brake Assist (ABA2), Adaptive Cruise Control (ART) with additional Stop&Go function, Lane Assist (SPA), Attention Assist (AtAs) and an electronic tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS).
The Sales-Lentz Group, which employs more than 1000 people, is a third-generation family company run by brothers Marc and Jos Sales. It is Luxembourg’s biggest coach operator and bought its first coach in 1948.
The Group has a number of subsidiaries in Luxembourg and in Belgium, including Voyages Léonard. Its wide-ranging product portfolio features long-distance tours, concert tours, golf tours, day trips and holidays focused on health and wellbeing.
S 516 HD for Graf’s Reisen with exclusive standing kitchen
Anton Graf GmbH is taking delivery of its first Setra coaches in the shape of four S 516 HD models. At the official handover at Anton Graf’s headquarters in Herne, Germany, the yellow twin-axle coaches made quite an impression on company officer Anja Graf, and not just from the outside: “The Setra ComfortClass 500 coaches combine fuel efficiency and green technology with power and performance and they meet the latest environmental protection standards. And not only that, they look smart too and offer our passengers an incomparable level of comfort.”
A key convenience is the standing kitchen, which has been specially tailored to the vehicle concept. The drivers, too, enjoy an unprecedented level of comfort and convenience in their new cockpit, which offers quick and easy access to the instrument cluster, an optimised driving position, suspended pedals for improved ergonomics and a better overview of the traffic situation.
As part of the handover, the company’s drivers were given comprehensive training in the theory and practice of using the assistance system package of the coach by visiting experts from the Omniplus service brand. Back in late 2014, four new double-decker Setras were delivered to this new German customer based in the Ruhr valley. These S 431 DT coaches are being used by the operator Mein Fernbus Flixbus on its Cologne-Berlin and Düsseldorf-Dresden routes.
Anton Graf GmbH Reisen & Spedition is a family-run company (second and third generation) and a leading haulage and tourism provider in Germany’s Ruhr valley. Its tour operator business runs its own fleet of coaches as well as a number of travel agents and is one of the largest private providers of coach services in Germany.
S 517 HD sporting the red and white of Freiburg
The footballers of SC Freiburg are now travelling in real style in a S 517 HD coach. Their new ComfortClass 500 team bus, driven by Winterhalter Reisen, is the exclusive means of transport for taking the team to Bundesliga matches and training camps.
Martin Rombach, owner of the Oberried-based coach operator, is in no doubt that the coach will be a reliable servant for this famous old club in south-west Germany.
“Even the exterior design with two clenched fists is symbolic of its power, dynamism and sportiness. In this Setra, the Bundesliga pros will not just be travelling safely, they’ll also be travelling in supreme comfort.”
The 32 electronically adjustable seats, for example, offer lower back support and have extended seat cushions to relieve strain on the thighs. The three-axle coach also boasts adjustable table/leg rests. At a total of three club tables in the rear and the front, the players can chat, talk tactics, or look back on the match they’re travelling home from. The S 517 HD can, after all, receive Sky TV, as well as offering plug sockets at every seat and wireless internet. In the kitchen, which can be underlit in the club colours of red and white, the players are able to get a cappuccino at the push of a button from the fully automatic coffee machine – perfect for warming tired bodies after a tough match.
Martin Rombach, whose company is a long-standing partner of SC Freiburg, configured the ultra-comfortable interior together with a team of experts from the Breisgau-based club: “Our objective was to offer the players and their entourage the very highest level of seating and travel comfort.”
