Quote:
Originally Posted by Piotrsko
Having learned to drive on a manual 6 speed schoolbus: the stop and go on a loaded clutch kills them really fast, particularly on a multiple driver set up. Bus companies feel the reduced maintenance outweighs any economic advantage.
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Considering that an overwhelming majority of Brazilian urban transit buses would be considered somewhat underpowered by American standards, and even though an automatic could be more suitable to cope with the hilly terrain in the outskirts of some cities, manuals are still more common due to the lower purchase cost and fuel costs. Hilly terrain and traffic jams in many cities make it sound quite a bad decision from a management standpoint. Well, there were times when maintenance for automatic transmissions was not so great here, so it did surprise me around 16 years ago when I saw for the first time a bus with automatic transmission going through the street where the house of an uncle of mine is located, but the availability of this service has improved a lot in the meantime, not to mention some newer automatic transmissions are better suited to local conditions than previous generations. AFAIK that very same bus had its stock automatic transmission replaced by a manual one before it went to scrap, and I have already seen other buses going through the same procedure.