The mayor of Santa Cruz, José Manuel Bermúdez, reported yesterday that “it is expected that in the next municipal plenary session this month a budget item will be approved to cover the purchase of 19 new buses that will be used for the urban public transport service in the town”.
To which he added that “the planned investment for these new units is 7,151,077.50 euros, to which another 13 vehicles will be added for the different lines that cover the routes in this capital, which will mean the incorporation of 32 units , with a total investment that is close to 14 million euros”.
Bermúdez explained that “this is the roadmap on which we have been working to promote public transport in the municipality, while we are renewing the fleet for a more efficient and sustainable one.” In addition, he argued that “we must take into account that the City Council allocates more than 13 million annually to urban passenger transport, the second most important budget item, only behind that allocated to street cleaning and solid waste collection” .
The Councilor for Mobility, Evelyn Alonso, stressed that “to this annual contribution in terms of public transport we must add the purchase of these 19 buses, last July, which allows us to have them in the month of December” and valued that “of the 32 new buses that will be incorporated into the urban service, 21 of them are plug-in hybrids and 11 electric.” Regarding the 100% discount planned for the beginning of the year, Alonso explained that “there will be an increase in vehicles assigned efficiently to the lines with the highest demand, with the specification of frequencies, more drivers, more maintenance operations, more surface parking, etc. In short, a plan that we are already working on”.