• 31 Jan 2019

On 22 January 2019, the Board of Directors of the public transport company Tper SpA (Trasporto Passeggeri Emilia-Romagna) decided to award two important tenders for a total of forty-six new liquid methane (LNG) buses.

The auction concerned two distinct tender lots: the first, relating to fifteen vehicles, was awarded to Scania, while the second, concerning thirty-one new vehicles, was awarded to Industria Italiana Autobus; jointly, the two contracts will amount to a total investment of 11.5 million Euros.

The first fifteen long-distance vehicles, that will be supplied by Scania at the end of the current year, are an absolute first in the field of interurban sustainability. In fact, the final award was the first Italian and European tender for buses powered by LNG technology, which has the advantage of increasing the autonomy of the buses, making them more suitable for routes outside the urban area. (read more HERE)

The second lot, relating to thirty-one new buses fuelled with liquid methane, was awarded to Industria Italiana Autobus; the new Citymood buses, in the LNG version with a metropolitan vocation, should be delivered by the construction company IIA by Spring 2020.

Controlled by Emilia-Romagna Region with 46% shareholding and participated by various municipalities of  the Region, Tper is the only Italian public transport company owning three fast-charge plants for the supply of methane; in consideration of its new assets, it will activate in its warehouse in Bologna a new LNG refueling station, with an investment of 1.6 million euro.

Tper SpA - which counts more than 2,500 employees - was born in  2012 from the merger of the transport branches of ATC, the Bologna and Ferrara road transport company, and the regional railway company ERF. By turnover it is ranked sixth among passenger transport operators in Italy and is the largest company in Emilia-Romagna in the public transport sector.

With its 1,200 buses, the company records an annual journey of around 50 million kilometers and transports more than 340,000 passengers every day on buses or trolleybuses.

Source: Metanoauto