PUBLIC PROCUREMENT NEWS

  

Deep dive

8 August 2019

Barcelona tenders towards a sustainable bus fleet

Last year, the City of Barcelona won the 2018 Procura+ Award in the category ‘Procurement Initiative of the Year’. The Award recognized the ambitious agenda to implement city-wide compulsory sustainable procurement. This has an effect on more than 50,000 tenders annually, covering a spend of €1.1bn.

Looking at public transport as an example of sustainable procurement, recent purchasing activities of the Procura+ Participant show that the initiative of sustainable procurement bears fruit. Earlier this month the TMB published a tender for 23 e-buses and 6 minibuses, all rigorously zero-emission.

The tender is part of a bigger agenda namely to improve the quality of the environment and achieve healthier cities as set out in the 2019-2021 Bus Fleet Renewal Plan. The programme involves an investment of 115 million euros and the acquisition of 254 new buses of which 116 will be electric buses. Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) aims to renew the vehicles of the current fleet that have arrived at the end of their useful life after more than 15 years of service. The new vehicles will be delivered according to a timeline that should be concluded in 2021.

Rosa Alarcón, President of TMB, has stated that “With this tender, we reaffirm our commitment to make public surface transport a more sustainable transport for the whole city and that it must allow us to adapt to the new mobility needs posed by pollution and global warming.”

Learn more about the Procura+ Network and how to get involved.