NEARLY SIX MONTHS after the TRANSMILENIO BRT bus network - in the Columbian capital city Bogotá - announced ordering more than 1400 gas and diesel articulated buses from Volvo and Scania, it’s now announced a tender to add 594 electric city buses to its fleet by 2020.
According to The City Paper Bogota (www.thecitypaperbogota.com) and other local media, the major announcement from Bogotá’s mayor Enrique Peñalosa confirmed the bidding process for the purchase of 594 electric buses to be incorporated into the TransMilenio fleet by next year.
The bid to upgrade the TransMilenio into an environmentally friendly mass transit system has been in motion since 2018 and consists two phases. First will be the initial 594 electric city buses and the second involves, “…other low emission technologies to complete a total fleet of 2,700 vehicles.”
It’s claimed after the first phase, Bogotá will have the largest electric bus fleet in Latin America, a move that should dramatically improve the city’s air quality.
BID SHORTLIST
The report further outlines that the TM buses that service Suba Centro, Fontibón, Perdomo and Usme will be given priority with all-electric transportation. It also cites a list of international bus manufacturers that have so far made the short-list for the Bogotá bid: BYD, Miysui – Caetano, Siemens, Sunwin, Yutong, Yinlong, Dongfeng, Sinotruck, Foton, and Zhongtong.
Further, the TM buses will have a capacity to transport an average of 80 passengers with the smaller SITP Busetón equipped for 50 and Buseta for 40 passengers. The buses will all be powered in operation yards and the suppliers have a concession contract for 15 years, it states.
WHY THAT LIST?
As The City Paper Bogota explains, during the announcement Peñalosa remarked that no manufacturer currently makes a high-floor electric articulated bus and, therefore, clean transportation technologies will be used for replacing the outdated SITP system.
María Consuelo Araujo, director of TransMilenio stressed that as soon the 594 electric buses are operating in Bogotá, customer service will also improve. Apparently, this issue is very much at the heart of the commuting public given that TransMilenio, according to the Bogota Chamber of Commerce’s Security and Perception Index, is considered by 60 per cent of the public to be unsafe.