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Paris orders 800 electric buses to fight air pollution in the city

The renewal of the RATP bus fleet with 100 per cent electric buses makes Paris a world leader in sustainable urban road transport.

Paris orders 800 electric buses to fight air pollution in the city

Paris’ transport operator, RATP (Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens), has ordered 800 electric buses to be in service by 2024. They will replace the current diesel buses in a bid to improve air quality in the French capital as part of a wider plan to clear up air pollution before the Paris 2024 Olympics.

The project is set to cost €400 million, which will be divided between  Heuliez Bus, Bolloré and Alstom in equal shares, who will manufacture the buses after winning a tender described as the biggest bus purchase of its kind in Europe.

RATP has ordered 200 12m electric buses, the first 150 of which are to be ordered as soon as possible and are expected to be delivered between the end of 2020 and 2022.

Catherine Guillouard, President and CEO of RATP, said: “This is a major step for RATP, the massive equipment of the park by electric buses being emblematic of its ambition to become a key player in the energy transition in the public transport sector. To welcome them, the company is mobilised to meet an industrial challenge in very tight deadlines, the adaptation of its 25 bus centres, of which 12 are already in transformation.”

The RATP fleet, consisting of 4700 buses, already includes 950 hybrid buses, 140 bioGNV buses and 83 electric buses. The RATP park in Île-de-France will increase by 77 electric buses and 50 bioGNV in 2019 alone, even before the new deliveries are made.

Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo has made tackling smog one of her main priorities and is planning on enforcing stricter rules aimed at phasing out diesel cars by 2024. Furthermore, she is also considering the idea of making public transport free, in a further bid to tackle the air quality of the city.