The mayor of Palma, José Hila, presented on Thursday the first new CNG 18 meter articulated bus. It is part of the 28 that will be added to the network of the Municipal Transport Company (EMT).
The City Council stated that the bus will work in tests with lines 15, 3 and later with lines 5, 7 and, later on line 8, with the goal of checking how this new model adapts to the different turning angles of the city.
It is the first of 28 articulated vehicles that the Scania brand has manufactured and goes into operation in Palma. This vehicle has 144 seats and, together with the other 28 new buses of the same dimensions and the 12 buses of 15 meters, will allow the EMT fleet to multiply by three the number of large capacity buses.
The 18-metre buses are equipped with four access doors to improve entrances and exits and have two on-board TVs with information for users.
Since last May, EMT has been adding gradually the 100 new buses powered by natural gas that the board of directors of the public company awarded to the companies Iveco España (12-meter bus), Man (15-meter bus) and Scania (18-meter articulated buses).
The forecast is that the arrival of new buses will be completed progressively until spring 2020. The 18-metre articulated vehicles were awarded for a price of EUR 11.22 million, at a unit cost of EUR 404,232.
The new buses run on compressed natural gas, have a photovoltaic blanket on the roof that powers interior equipment with solar energy, incorporate the reverse control camera system, an external speaker and six USB chargers.