(Finance) – The event ended with a +70% increase in attendance compared to 2021 third edition of IBE Driving Experience, the signature biennial event Italian Exhibition Group which on 24-25 October brought together the public and private passenger transport chain at the World Circuit Marco Simoncelli of Misano Adriatico between exclusive test drives and business, networking and training opportunities for industry professionals.
A number which – underlines IEG – decrees the success of an event which has become central for the bus industry community, unanimous in identifying the experiences offered by IBE Driving Experience as exclusive opportunities to involve global players and manufacturers, trade associations and public and private transport bus operators with unique opportunities in the sector panorama.
OVER 500 DRIVERS IN CIRCUIT TESTS – The test drives on 25 October on the 4,226 meters of the Misano Circuit saw the participation of over 500 driving professionals, who took to the track on one of the most iconic tracks in global motorsport to test the 15 latest generation vehicles made available by global players protagonists at the IBE Driving Experience. Among these, the IVECO BUS buses of the Electric Bus Driver Training program, the first theoretical and practical course – which recorded a sold-out debut – for bus drivers with a focus on electric buses promoted with the collaboration of ADDESTRA, Efficient Driving and Pullman magazine.
GLOBAL PLAYERS PROTAGONISTS – At IBE Driving Experience they presented their electric range IVECO BUS, MAN, ISUZU, KARSAN, PEPPERMOTION – ETROFIT and FOTON. The coach segment was instead represented by MAN with the updated version of the tourist Lion’s Coach, SCANIA, which took to the track with the new vehicle from the Touring range, VOLVO BUS with the premiere of the VOLVO 9700 Double Decker and IRIZAR which celebrated the first 30 years of Irizar Italia. Also present in the paddock are the OTOKARe KING LONG vehicles.
PROJECTION TO THE FUTURE WITH START ROMAGNA – During the event, the Open Day of “School’s out, Start your Future with IBE” was held, the innovative project developed together with Scuderia Start of Start Romagna, the public public transport company in Romagna, which saw the participation of 80 graduates from professional schools in Romagna. A process has therefore started from IBE Driving Experience which will also include visits to workplaces in the coming weeks, up to the selection of a group of candidates who will carry out a training internship at Start Romagna, aimed at hiring.
CONFERENCE APPOINTMENTS IN THE DIRECTION OF SUSTAINABILITY – Intense participation in conference events, starting with “Local and extra-urban public transport: public and private for intermobility in cities and tourism in villages”, the opening event on Tuesday 24 October which took stock of the challenges of intermobility in collective tourist transport in cities and villages. On the second day it was the turn of “Bus&Coach: new sources of traction, technologies and reorganization of industrial supply chains. Electric drives the repositioning of the bus industry”, which underlined the tendency of manufacturers to abandon the “one- stop-shop” to return to a more traditional business model where manufacturers entrust only the chassis to bodybuilder partners for the final bodywork. During the IBE Driving Experience, the AN.BTI – National Association of Italian Tourist Buses and the board of directors of ASSTRA – Transport Association were also held.
NEXT STOP: IBE INTERMOBILITY & BUS EXPO 2024 – IEG meets the bus industry community from 19 to 21 November 2024 at the Rimini fair with IBE Intermobiltity and Bus Expo, the leading sector exhibition event in the Mediterranean area and mother event of the IBE Driving Experience spin-off.