The Bucharest city administration has announced the purchase of 22 new trolleybuses equipped with onboard batteries that allow them to travel at least 20 kilometres without connection to overhead lines, as the Romanian capital continues to modernise its public transport fleet.
Public transport operator Societatea de Transport București (STB) will begin extensive testing of the vehicles, followed by individual acceptance procedures, before launching them into passenger service in the spring, Romania Insider reported. The trolleybuses are scheduled to operate on line 86.
China’s Yutong has been selected to supply the vehicles. The 12-metre Yutong U12 trolleybuses can carry up to 93 passengers and include features such as air conditioning, passenger information displays, wheelchair access ramps and tinted windows designed to help maintain a comfortable interior temperature.
The total value of the order is 70.4 million Romanian lei (about 13.8 million euros), fully financed through the European Union’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan, according to Romania Insider. To support the expanding electric bus fleet, Bucharest plans to install 100 charging stations by the end of this year, with the vehicles operating from the Bucureștii Noi depot.
The purchase follows earlier investments by the city, including the acquisition of 100 battery-electric buses from Turkey’s Karsan. City authorities have also announced plans to procure an additional 100 trolleybuses under a separate contract valued at about 73.8 million euros, with 52 million euros coming from non-reimbursable EU funds, Romania Insider said.
