Metropolitan Expressway has seen the new patrol bike, the BMW F900XR. From medium-sized to large, with increased payload capacity, it protects the safety of the Yamanote Tunnel.

The Metropolitan Highway Patrol unveiled its newly introduced patrol bike, the BMW F900XR, on November 5.

The company has a motorcycle team that rushes to the Yamate Tunnel in the event of an accident or fire to check the situation, guide evacuation, control the entry of general vehicles upstream, and guide them out of the tunnel. The company owns a total of nine motorcycles, three of which have been replaced by Honda’s CB400 SUPER BOL D’OR, which has been in service since 2007, and is scheduled to be put into operation in early December.

The change from a naked road sport-type medium-sized motorcycle to an adventure sport-type large-sized motorcycle improves stability at low speeds and reduces the risk of overheating in the Yamanote Tunnel, which gets hot in the summer. The overall width is reduced from 91 cm to 86 cm, which also improves maneuverability.

The increased power generation has reduced the load on the power supplied by the radio and red rotating lights, and a sub-battery has also been installed to eliminate concerns about power supply during stops. In addition, the ETC and drive recorder, which used to be loaded on the side carrier, are now stored on the rear carrier, and smoke bombs and oral rehydration solution can be loaded on both side carriers. After the introduction of the new model, two units each will continue to be deployed at the Shimura, Ohashi, and Oi bases, as in the past, and will be available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Shinichiro Imaizumi, president of the Metropolitan Highway Patrol, took the stage at the presentation and said that because many members of the motorcycle squad ride motorcycles in their private lives, many of them have large licenses and the barrier to changing from medium to large was low, but motorcycle squad members train daily on training bikes.

In addition, BMW President Masatoshi Hasegawa said that the BMW Group would like to use this introduction as an opportunity to provide support not only for motorcycles but also for cars.

Mr. Takahiro Hara, Director General of Tokyo West Bureau, Metropolitan Expressway, also took the stage. He concluded by saying that he is concerned about the increasing trend of accidents on the Metropolitan Expressway and the high number of serious accidents involving motorcycles, and that he hopes to make the roads safer and more secure with the introduction of new motorcycles.

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