[Buses in Beijing]大金龙 King Long XMQ6125G (2nd batch) 北京公交集团 BPT #53218 Front-right at Dawang Bridge

A King Long built XMQ6125G 12m low floor diesel bus, the third batch in BPT

 

King Long is all the time a satisfying partner of BPT, and no wonder the company won big orders for vehicles before the Olympics.

 

Although carrying the same engine, a 225hp Cummins ISBe 225B Euro IV diesel engine, and the same gearbox, Allison T270R 6AT with integrated retarder, the second version features a very distinguishable exterior design from that of the first version, a model that only belongs to Division 4. Nearly all exterior components except the headlights are new designs, from fog lights to side information windows. The interior follows the BPT ordered design, making all models joining BPT in this period hard to be recogized inside. Interior quality is a little above the average, thanks to King Long's fairly strict quality standards, which, however, had no choice but to compromise with the the urgency of the order---the new units must be left enough run-in time before they served the Olympics. Both doors are still narrower than those on most other low floor buses, and the larger glass area did not help to offset the disadvantage.

 

XMQ6125G's mid floor counterpart, the third batch coming a few months after the low floor version, features the exactly same exterior and interior. The second batch XMQ6125Gs are originally designated in Division 4, 5, Trolley-buses, and Double-deckers. Trolley-bus division does not operate them anymore after transferring all to Division 5 and Division 6 received some from Double-deckers.

 

In the picture, Fleet No. 53218 (Division 5, diesel rigid bus, code 218) on Line 648 is passing Dawang Bridge on east extended Chang'an Avenue from west to east. Line 648 also connects east downtown Beijing to suburb district Tongzhou's polulated area. Unlike Line 667, Line 648 does not use Jingtong Expressway; it has more stops on Chaoyang Road and side road of Beijing-Harbin Expressway.

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