*new* Bratislava EMS Ford Transit ambulance + hospital Mercedes Sprinter ambulance [CZ | 25.5.2019]

Seen here is a Bratislava (capital of Slovakia) based hospital (Nemocnica Svätého Michala) Mercedes Sprinter ambulance (not new) and a new Bratislava EMS Ford Transit ambulance driving with lights & sirens for demonstration purposes. **More information below.**
This video was taken in Czechia during the Rallye Rejviz - an international EMS competition. Read more about RR in the description of my parade video: • International EMS para...
Disclaimer:
I'm not too familiar with the Slovakian EMS. I may miss some background information about their units, history, funding and so on. I've never been to Slovakia but I've seen and read quite some stuff from over there.
Note that the term "Bratislava EMS" used in this description does not include hospital (and therefore it does not include the Sprinter).
HISTORY
Bratislava EMS uses a lot of Volkswagen T5 (van or box units) and VW Crafter box ambulance. The T5 can be seen this video (those are not from Bratislava but look just like them): • International EMS/ amb... & at 10:45 in the same video
According to one news article most of them were purchased between 2008 and 2010. Most of these units already underwent some major repair work (e.g. complete engine renewals; exchanged vital parts like transmissions, etc.).
Source: bratislava.dnes24.sk/paciento...
Bratislava EMS currently has a mix of type 2 (van) and type 3 (box on van chassis) ambulances. Not sure if they want to keep a mixed fleet or if they completely switch over to type 2 ambulances. That's a question to my Slovakian friends ;)
THE NEW FORD TRANSIT AMBULANCES
From what I know this is the first time that Bratislava EMS uses Ford (Transits). Personally I'm a Ford fan so it's nice to see them. The Transits were converted into ambulances by the German manufacturer AmbulanzMobile (abbreviation: AMS) which is know for their cheap and standard (barely/ non-customizable) EMS vehicles.
The graphics package was entirely redesigned. (You can see the previous units in the link above.)
The Transits came in a yellow color and feature a nice and mostly red graphics package. Even though I don't like battenburgs I must give them some props that they at least integrated them into their graphics package instead for going battenburgs only (like other agencies/ countries that just put useless battenburgs on the lower sides and nothing else). Overall a nice and unique looking graphics package :)
The lights and sirens package features some standard AMS design lights (in the top) which are very weak. Nothing I would ever want on an emergency vehicle. The front and each of the left and right side features 2 small LED's which don't grab drivers attention at all (again some lights I'd absolutely not recommend).
The toy siren and the speakers are from the German company Hänsch and they're - again - just the standard stuff on all AMS units. The siren appears loud when the vehicle is next to you but it absolutely lacks the proper warning in the distance (that's the advantage of good Whelen or FedSig 2 x 100W [200W] speakers - their siren noise travels much further even though Hänsch is saying the exact opposite [lmfao]).
The opinions: Since the new Transit ambulances were so new when I saw them at the Rallye Rejviz event the crew of another unit couldn't really tell how well they like the Transits and what good or bad experiences they made with them. One considered them to be nice while another employee didn't like the interior in the back.
I'm curious to hear about the experiences from my Slovakian friends again :) Those can be experiences about the lights & sirens from anyone or workers experiences about working with the units.
From what I've noticed some Slovakian authorities are currently under (heavy) criticism because they paid way too much for the new Transit ambulances. One newspaper calculated that one of those AMS standard Transit ambulance cost the Bratislava EMS around €203,000. At the same time Prague (CZ) EMS paid around €157,000 per customized box ambulance.
Source and more information (you can translate the page, works good on Google Chrome): hlavne.sk/domace/cesi-tiez-na...
Prague's EMS ambulances just so you get a visual: • *new* Prague EMS ambul...
Kouty nad Desnou, Olomoucký kraj (Olomouc Region), Czechia, May 25, 2019.

[@matejvylicil8437]

Very nice!

[@Rummeltobi]

Thank you

[@OdesaRescue]

This two tone awesome

[@adamdalmation1865]

why was the back door open?:D

[@Rummeltobi]

Not sure why exactly but this was just a few hours before the Rallye Rejviz parade (link in the description). They were on their way to a different town where the RR winners are announced. Most crews shortly turn on the site with lights & sirens when leaving the hotel area (private property) and turn them off before reaching the public roads. It could be that they also closed the rear doors before the hit public roads.

[@hvymtal8566]

HALLELUJAH the Czechs have done what no other continental European nation seems capable of and discovered _low-level lighting on the sides_
/s xD

[@Rummeltobi]

I've seen low level side lighting in quite a few European places already. I wouldn't call it common but it has been done in other places already. Definitely more useful than useless battenburgs (I cannot understand why on earth some believe that graphics make a bigger difference than lights).
Both units are from Slovakia btw. It's new for the Slovaks but some Czech Regions already had low-level side lighting. Side facing lights in the front (intersection lights) are already common. One and probably the first Czech Region which installed a 2nd side facing light in the rear is the Liberec Region. They did that on all their ambulances since quite some years as you can see here:
- Volkswagen T5 czcams.com/video/O-nvEzCBB3E/video.html
- VW T5 facelift czcams.com/video/_iK_fn8_CsQ/video.html (with super bad and outdated Federal Signal Vama lights in the grill & at the sides as you can see)
- 2016 Sprinters czcams.com/video/oQeZ--dPkhY/video.html (on which they went for around 20 Whelen LINZ6, definitely a nice package).
Personally I would place the low-level side light from the rear to the center of the side but that's just me.^^

[@Moscow-we1je]

Nice Transit! However short wheelbase is not so good for an ambulance.

[@hvymtal8566]

HALLELUJAH the Czechs have done what no other European nation seems capable of and discovered _low-level lighting that isn't on the grille_
/s xD

[@liborjancik1182]

This is Slovakia

[@Rummeltobi]

Yep, this is a Slovakian unit. But the Czechs have had low level side lighting for around a decade as well.