In November 2017, C40 FSCI hosted a five-day Study Tour for city officials from C40 cities with ambitions to electrify their municipal bus fleets. Delegates from Auckland, Buenos Aires, Durban, Los Angeles, Quito, Santiago and Tshwane took part in a number of workshop sessions and site visits as they travelled through Warsaw, Brussels, Namur, Paris and Barcelona to learn best practices first-hand from pioneering electric bus operations in Europe.
DAY 1: The delegation start the tour in Warsaw, where city officials and representatives from transit company MZA (Miejskie Zakłady Autobusowe w Warszawie) present information on their electric bus fleet, charging and garage infrastructure.
DAY 2: The delegation visits Namur to learn more about opportunity charging and innovative business models for electric bus procurement.
DAY 3: In Brussels, the group learn about real-world operation of electric buses from representations from Transdev and Volvo (left). Tom Cunnington (right) (Senior Commercial Development Manager – Transport for London) shares valuable experiences on developing a Zero Emissions Roadmap for London’s bus fleet.
DAY 4: RATP hosted the C40 group and provided a tour of their 'Lagny' Bus depot. Delegates toured the multi-story, underground facility, gaining vital knowledge on infrastructure requirements for fleet transition.
DAY 4: RATP representatives join the C40 group for a photo with one of their 100% electric buses.
DAY 5: For the final stop of the tour, the delegation visited Barcelona and were hosted by transit authority TMB (Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona). Topics addressed included the challenges of operating an electric bus fleet in a warmer climate, and Barcelona’s commitment to electrification as part of the C40 Fossil Free Streets Declaration.
C40 would like to thank the delegates of the FSCI Study Tour for their participation, as well as all who hosted the group and shared vital experience and knowledge.
The Financing Sustainable Cities Initiative (FSCI), funded by the Citi Foundation, is a partnership between the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities and C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group that helps cities accelerate and scale up investments in sustainable urban solutions. To learn more, visit www.financingsustainablecities.org.