In the Netherlands the province of Utrecht, in the centre of the country, the provincial government together with operator U-OV, the name transport company Qbuzz is working under, will expand its bus fleet with 70 buses and modernise 55 existing diesel buses. As part of this 55 articulated electric buses will be ordered. Also 15 diesel buses of 15 meter will be purchased.
After extensive testing, the 55 electric buses will be phased in for travellers in the spring of 2020. To make this investment in sustainable public transport possible, the Province of Utrecht is making a one-off contribution of 5 million euro for additional costs. The buses will be leased. Financing is through the contract, concession, which runs from 2013 to 2014. After this the new contractor will be obligated to keep using these buses. Coming March the U-OV en the Provincial Government will decide about the purchase of the buses, which brand, and the charging equipment.
U-OV will use 35 of these new electric buses for three city lines. The buses are charged at the terminus with fast chargers though a pantograph. In addition, 20 new electric buses will be operating around the city of Utrecht in regional service. These electric buses are charged at the depots in the cities Nieuwegein and Zeist and run throughout the day on several lines, especially in morning and evening peak hours.
U-OV will deploy 15 new buses of 15 meters on busy regional lines. These buses also offer extra space for the travellers. These 15 new U-OV buses will go in operation from December 2019.
This capacity expansion generates more than 1,000 extra seats every day. The province invests 1.3 million euro annually in these capacity-expanding measures with the use of longer buses. 55 buses of the current diesel Euro 6 fleet will be modernised through an extended maintenance contract.
To make the commissioning of electric buses possible, the province and U-OV work closely together with the municipality of Utrecht.
With the arrival of so many new electric buses, the Province of Utrecht is taking a big step towards the goal of completely clean public transport in 2028. At the same time, there is an urgent need for extra capacity, given the continuing growth of public transport with 4 to 5% over the last years. U-OV currently operates 11 electrical buses on lines 1 and 2 in the city of Utrecht.
Source: Busworld .org
