Transdev wins contract to run 160 electric buses in Gothenburg

Transdev Sweden announced that it has won the bus market in Gothenburg, Sweden’s second largest city, for a total value of €757 million ($855.41) from Västtrafik, the transit authority in the Västra Götaland region.

With these five new contracts, Transdev will become the main bus operator in Gothenburg and its region, covering Gothenburg, Frölunda, Mölndal, Partille and all express bus lines, and will carry more than 71 million passengers annually. These new 10-year contracts will start in December 2020.

Under these contracts, Transdev will operate 370 buses and will commission 160 new zero-emission electric buses. The other 210 buses will operate without fossil fuels and will run exclusively on biofuels. Transdev already operates nearly 60 electric buses in Sweden, in particular in Umeå, Eskilstuna, Stockholm and Gothenburg. In December 2020, Transdev will be operating 220 electric buses, the largest fleet of electric buses in Sweden.

“For Transdev, the energy transition is a commitment to quickly convert our vehicle fleet to a growing proportion of low-emission and zero-emission vehicles. Reducing economic and energy dependence on fossil fuels is also a priority for Transdev and for Europe in order to ensure a real transformation of our economic model towards ever cleaner sustainable mobility,” said Thierry Mallet, Chairman and CEO of Transdev Group.

“We are very proud of Västtrafik's renewed trust. We already operate many urban, interurban and regional contracts with public transit authorities and are thus consolidating our Swedish operations. The Transdev Group is also a leading regional rail operator in Sweden, as well as one of the leaders in ferry operations,” said Christian Schreyer, CEO of Northern and Central Europe of Transdev Group.

The transition to zero-emission solutions for Transdev, and for the public transportation sector, is a major concern; the transportation industry accounts for around 22% of global energy-related CO2 emissions.

At the end of 2018, Transdev already operated more than 600 electric buses and minibuses at 30 sites in 7 countries and should reach 700 by the end of 2019. In addition, thanks to the operational commitments made in the context of ongoing contracts and calls for tenders, Transdev plans to operate more than 1,500 electric buses by 2024.

In addition to battery-powered buses, Transdev has chosen to actively explore hydrogen and fuel cell electric buses, a very promising technology for the future, with projects in the Netherlands and France. This summer, Transdev will operate France's first hydrogen electric bus line in commercial service, on the Tadao network in the Lens conurbation.