Busworld Kortrijk

The busworld exhibition in Kortrijk, Belgium is the largest exhibition worldwide within the bus industry, the exhibition is held every second year. In addition to this exhibition, busworld also have bi-yearly exhibitions in Istanbul, Beijing, Moscow and Bengaluru in India.

At this year’s exhibition in Kortrijk (16-21 of October) there was about 400 Exhibitors from more than 30 different countries presenting their products and solutions to bus companies, city official and other potential clients? In addition to the exhibition, the busworld Academy was holding various seminars and events related to the bus industry. Each evening Busworld host a “Friends meet” where exhibitors and visitors can meet and continue the talks in a relaxed atmosphere.

What will you find on the exhibition?

The busworld exhibition is 99% related to hardware, meaning finished buses and all kinds of separate parts for buses like, seatbelts, seats, windows, bi-cycle carriers, bus trailers, engine parts, air-condition and so one, literally you could find all parts of a bus necessary to build your own bus, starting from an empty chassis.

All the larger bus builders like Man, Neoplan, Setra, Volvo, King long and others presented their solution for electrical and alternatively fuelled buses which is beyond doubt the next big thing especially for the city bus traffic. The exhibition also included several solutions for fixed and wireless charging stations. Here you can see some of the buses presented.

Sileo Electrical bus

Irizar Electric bus

Solaris Electric bus

Yotung electrical bus

Vectia hybrid bus

Castrosua natural gas bus

Bus charging station

Another segment which was well represented on the exhibition was specialized midi and minibuses, a vast number of builders had specialized buses for transport of disabled persons, sightseeing convertibles and VIP vehicles. Here you can see some of the minibuses which we saw on the exhibition.

Busworld VIP Midibus

Nice looking orange midibus

Cabriolet bus at Busworld

Busworld minibus handicap with ramp

Of course the main bus builders also presented there next generation of coaches for long distance and tour operators, trend here is fuel efficiency and luxury equipment, below you can see a collection of the coaches presented at this year’s exhibition.

Vehicle Information, entertainment systems and solutions for fleet management, also seems to be one of the bigger trends in the industry, all of the main bus builders, had solutions with in this area.

Bus software and ticketing system:

What supprised us the most, was that there was very few builder independend software solutions presented on the exhibition, we had expected that there would have been several companies with solutions with in the area of ticketing, mobil ticketing and software solutions to manage a private bus company, but there was even one exhibitor with solution within this area.

Bus builders present at the exhibition:

• Kinglong, China (http://www.king-long.com/)
• UNVI, Spain (http://www.unvibusandcoach.co.uk/)
• BEULAS, Spain, (http://www.beulas.net/)
• Solaris, Poland (https://www.solarisbus.com/)
• Irizar, Spain (http://www.irizar.co.uk/)
• Mercedes-Benz, Germany (https://www.mercedes-benz.com)
• Setra, Germany (https://www.setra.de/en/home.html)
• Volvo, Sweden (http://www.volvobuses.com/)
• Iveco bus, Italy (http://www.iveco.com/)
• Otokar, Turkey (http://www.otokar.com/)
• Man, Germany  (http://www.corporate.man.eu/)
• Neoplan, Germany (http://www.neoplan-bus.com/)
• Andolu Isuzu, Turkey (http://www.isuzu.com.tr/)
• Van hool, Belgium (http://www.vanhool.be/)
• Scandia, Sweden (http://www.scania.com/)
• Temsa, Turkey  (http://www.temsa.com/)
• Yutung, China, (http://en.yutong.com/)
• And others..

Beautiful stand in Kortrijk

Iveco stand Kortrijk

King Long bus Kortrijk

Scandia busworld Kortrijk

VDL stand Busworld Kortrijk

Volvo stand Busworld kortrijk

Who should visit the busworld exhibition?

The targeted audience for the busworld is bus company owners, city bus / public transportation decision makers, but of course the venue is also a great place to visit for anybody who is fascinated by buses. The entrance fee (Ticket valid for all 5 days) to the venue is only 15 Euro and on one day during the week (this year on Sunday), the exhibition can be visited for free.

Practical information for visitor:

As always when there is a venue in town, hotel and accommodation prices increases, so if you plan to visit the next Busworld in Kortrijk in 2017 make sure to book your hotel in due time. If you do no mind driving to the exhibition every day, we can recommend you stay in Lille, which is only about 20-30 minutes from the venue location.

The venue offers a free mobile app, whit exhibitor map and all other relevant information, you can download it onside using the free WIFI provide by busworld.

There is plenty of parking available by the XPO, all within walking distance of the main entrance.