Tender for buses fleet renewal in Athens and Thessaloniki to be split in 2 parts

The long-awaited tender for the renewal of Athens and Thessaloniki urban buses fleet, is being prepared to be launched in 2 ‘installments’. A total of 1,300 urban buses will be purchased in both phases to replace today’s obsolete fleet. The procurement concerns 1,000 buses for Athens 1,000 while the remaining 300 will be used in Thessaloniki.

According to secure information of ypodomes.com, the tender for the procurement of the first lot of 600 buses is under preparation and is expected to to be launched in the coming autumn.

The ‘blend’ that has been decided by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport is: 200 electric, 200 natural gas and 200 state-of-the-art diesel buses. The cost is estimated at 180-200m euros.

A tender with ‘safety valves’

The competition will have multiple safety valves to prevent it from being favorable towards a specific company. According to a source close to the subject, there will be a condition, according to which none of the participating companies will be able to supply more than 50% of the vehicles requested.

This means that there will be at least two contractors which will be able to supply up to 300 vehicles each. The final contractors could of course even more, as one could bid only for a specific category of buses e.g. electric ones. The target is for the competition to be completed in 2021 and 6 months after the signing of the contracts, the gradual arrival of the next generation of Athens and Thessaloniki urban buses to start.

In this first phase regarding the 600 buses, about 450 are destined for Athens and the remaining 150 for Thessaloniki. Project’s funding will be secured both EIB and the reallocation of NSRF 2014-2020 funds. It is noted that the tender is absolutely necessary as for example in Athens, by 2023, 80% of the fleet will have reached over 20 years of age.

The second tender

The second tender is expected to be launched in 2021 and will concern the procurement of an additional 750 city buses. At the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, it is believed that over time there a better image will be formed for the buses’ fuel mix, in the country’s two major cities. However, the basic idea is that in the second tender the electric buses share will be much larger.

Metro to define buses’ fleet size

Gradually, by 2023, Athens and Thessaloniki will add 21 kilometers of new Metro lines. In the meantime, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, in cooperation with OASA, will re-redesign the urban buses lines based on the Metro network. The last major line restructuring was implemented back in 2005. On this basis, the new requirements for the lines will be recorded and therefore for the necessary fleet of the two cities.

In Athens, the extension of the Metro to Piraeus will mean the closure of many bus lines that now reach the city center and the commencement of local lines that will be feeding the new Metro stations, as it has been the case in all network extensions.

In Thessaloniki, in addition to the intercity bus lines that cover regional routes, the operation of the new Metro network in 2023, will bring the closure of several bus lines and the launching of other local lines that will be directed to the new Metro stations, as it is the case in Athens. This will reduce the number of vehicles required and will mean better quality and more frequent services for the benefit of all passengers.