TMB Barcelona to publish a tender for 29 electric buses

29 electric buses are due to operate in Barcelona following a call for tender that TMB is about to release. The procurement involves 23 articulated buses and 6 minibuses, all rigorously zero emission at the tailpipe. The Plan for the renewal of TMB bus fleet for the period 2019-21 contemplates an investment of 135 million euros.

Recently, the European Investment Bank (EIB) announced it is granting a 73.5 million euros loan to public transport company TMB. The money will be used to buy 254 new buses. 116 of them will be electric buses. The new vehicles will be delivered according to a timeline that should be concluded in 2021.

Between end of 2018 and beginning of 2019 TMB rolled out three articulated electric buses from Solaris and four units of ie tram supplied by Irizar.

Diesel and CNG buses to be replaced

Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) continues with its commitment to reducing emissions. The tender for the replacement of 29 diesel and compressed natural gas buses by electric buses with advanced technology and zero emission is on the stepping stone. Therefore TMB aims to renew the vehicles of the current fleet that have arrived at the end of their useful life after more than 15 years of service and to drastically reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the cause of global warming.

TMB will take delivery of the ebuses from end 2020

The procurement process of these buses consists of two tenders. The first corresponds to 23 articulated electric buses that will serve the high performance lines of the bus network, for a value of 22 million euros. The second tender refers to a batch of electric minibuses that will serve the Barri Bus lines, for a value of about 2 million euros. The vehicles will be manufactured during the year 2020 and will begin to run between the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021.

TMB Bus Fleet Renewal Plan. 135 million for 254 vehicles

The plan to improve the quality of the environment and achieve healthier cities is set out in the 2019-2021 Bus Fleet Renewal Plan, agreed with the Metropolitan Transport Authority (ATM). The programme involves an investment of 115 million euros and the acquisition of 254 vehicles. To this investment must be added the execution of the necessary works and infrastructures for the electric vehicles, which represent an additional 20 million euros. A total of 135 million, TMB points out.

TMB bus fleet towards the future

TMB’s bus fleet has already undergone a first environmental reconversion between 2011 and 2014, and this is why it currently doesn’t have any vehicle of environmental category lower than Euro 3.

Since 2012 the Barcelona buses have been at the forefront of Europe in terms of low levels of gas emissions and harmful particles for people’s health – thanks to the use of compressed natural gas and the massive installation of anti-pollution filters – and seek to further limit gas emissions that contribute to global warming through progressive electrification.

TMB’s fleet currently includes 351 hybrid vehicles and 9 electric buses. In addition, at the end of this year 105 buses will start to be delivered, of which 49 will be standard 12 metres equipped with state-of-the-art compressed natural gas engines, 26 will be articulated 18 metres long with the same technology and 30 will hybrid vehicles (to be precise, mild hybrids).

In this sense, the president of TMB, Rosa Alarcón has stated that “With this tender we reaffirm our commitment to make public surface transport a more sustainable transport for the whole city and that it must allow us to adapt to the new mobility needs posed by pollution and global warming. This is the great repetition we have over the years. We must contribute to making better, healthier, less polluted and better quality of life possible”.