Titsa will buy 250 buses to renew the fleet that is more than a decade old and to expand its fleet. The Cabildo company approves the tender for the vehicles that it will acquire for 95 million euros and that it will receive in 2024 and 2025. Of these, 177 are hybrids. In this way, the announcement made before the Plenary by the insular Mobility Councilor and president of the company, Enrique Arriaga, is fulfilled, although the figures increase compared to what was said on November 25, when he spoke of 248 buses, 171 hybrids and 88 million investment.
The vehicles will be divided into six lots: 44 interurban buses of 15 meters; 125 units of 13 meters; 28 of 11 meters; 1 long-distance vehicle of 12 meters; 18 microbuses and 14 articulated buses 18 meters long.
The insular Government announced yesterday that during the year 2024 Titsa will receive 146 buses, among which there will be 24 interurban vehicles of 15 meters, 70 of 13 meters, 27 of 11 meters and 14 of 18 meter articulated vehicles. In addition, this lot will have 10 minibuses and a long-distance bus, 12 meters long. The order will be completed in 2025, when the company will have another 20 interurban vehicles of 15 meters, 55 of 13 meters, 21 of 11 meters and eight minibuses.
177
hybrid buses
Around 70% (177) of the buses that the Cabildo company will acquire are hybrid, which will lead to an average fuel consumption of 30%.
48.7
millions
More than half of the investment will correspond to interurban service buses as these are the routes that register the greatest increase in demand on the Island.
With this step of what the government group came to define as the Titsa Renewal Plan, the president of the Cabildo, Pedro Martín, pointed out that “advance is being made, in this way, to solve a serious problem derived from the availability of titsa». He thus alludes to the fact that the current island government “we found that the rental contract expired and the buses had to be returned.” Along these lines, he pointed out that the acquisition of this fleet “will renew the existing one and will reinforce the quality of the mobility offer on the Island.”
A necessary investment
In addition to being large (95 million euros), Pedro Martín considers that the item that will be used by the Cabildo de Tenerife in this operation it is “necessary”. In his opinion, “the situation of public transport on the Island demands it.” In fact, he recalled that the 2023 budget devotes special attention “to sustainable mobility, with significant financing for public transport of more than 110 million euros.” He stressed that, “in terms of Mobility, 101 million euros of the 2023 budget will go to subsidies for public transport and, in addition, it is planned to acquire 40 new buses, which will be added to the 130 that will arrive over the next year ».
“There is progress in solving the serious problem of bus availability”
The president of Tenerife Interurban Transport, Enrique Arriaga, confirms the use of some 95 million euros “to renew and expand the fleet, so that a quality service can continue to be provided.” But the also vice president of the Cabildo called attention to the fact that “the hybrid technology of many of these new vehicles (177 buses, that is, 70% of the new fleet) will mean a significant reduction in CO2 emissions (carbon dioxide carbon), in addition to considerable savings in the consumption of fossil fuel. Before the plenary he assured that Titsa will save 1.8 million liters of fuel a year and will avoid the emission of 4,000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere.
Arriaga explains that “a hybrid bus uses two types of energy to achieve its displacement: on the one hand, a engine internal combustion engine and, on the other, one or more electric motors. The estimated average consumption reduction “is 30%”.
“It will mean savings in emissions and fuel consumption”
José Alberto León, the company’s vice-president, specified that the 13-meter interurban buses “will be the ones that take up the largest part of the budget, specifically 48.7 million euros.” He justified his acquisition with the argument that “they are more necessary because they are used in the routes that have registered a greater increase in demand.” In this case, the south of the Island. Likewise, he agreed with the president of the Cabildo when assessing the importance of these buses for Titsa because “it will put aside the leasing regime that existed until now for many units of the fleet.”
