Florence – “2033 electric buses, 270 hybrid buses and 11 methane buses will arrive in Tuscany by 142. The electric buses will be divided between Florence, Prato, Lucca, Pisa, Empoli, Arezzo. The rest, the methane, will go between Livorno, Pistoia and Siena.
This way we will truly have a decarbonized fleet across the entire Tuscany region”. This is what the CEO of Autolinee toscane, Jean-Luc Laugaa, said in response to some questions from Dire on the state of the art of the ecological transition of local public transport, on the sidelines of the inauguration of the new electric buses in the Tuscan capital.
“Today we have an electric charging infrastructure and 37 electric buses in Florence,” adds Laugaa. “In Lucca we have 6 electric buses running and we are working to close the electric infrastructure. We also have 4 electric buses in Prato, 2 in Lucca, and 2 in Empoli. This step will lead to 2026 more electric buses in all of Tuscany by 100.”
Figures destined to rise: by 2033 Tuscany will have 5 charging infrastructures. The breakdown of electric buses will instead see the following distribution: 170 in Florence, 50 in Prato, 30 in Lucca, 20 in Pisa, 2 in Empoli, 2 in Arezzo.
With Ratp at the forefront of decarbonisation
Autolinee Toscane is at the forefront of the electric revolution, applied to local public transport. The investments it is making a vehicle for are important, also through the use of public funds, Pnrr first and foremost, equally important is the objective of making available the expertise of the parent company: the French group Ratp Dev.
Confirming this, speaking to Dire is the CEO of Autolinee, the sole manager of local public transport, Jean-Luc. For Autolinee Toscane it is a very important job - he highlights, on the sidelines of the presentation of 25 new electric buses in Florence - we are the implementing body of the various municipalities.
We take advantage of the know-how, of all the skills of our partner who truly has an international vision and we now have a very competent staff to carry out this transformation and decarbonisation”.
An ambition that pushes Laugaa to conclude with an appeal to users: “Take the bus”.
In Florence we are modernizing the service
“Today we are in Florence to inaugurate a plant, an electric charging infrastructure and new electric vehicles: it is the continuation of the work we have been doing for almost four years of industrialization and modernization of local public transport throughout Tuscany”.
The CEO of Autolinee toscane, Jean-Luc Laugaa, explained this to Dire on the sidelines of the press conference to present the charging station at the Peretola depot and 25 new electric vehicles, branded BYD, which are about to enter service in Florence. The investment, carried out by the Municipality of Florence through funds drawn from the Pnrr, will allow the 'zero emission' fleet of local public transport to be considerably expanded.
The project of electric buses in Tuscany is very interesting and useful for the environment. However, I hope that the charging infrastructure is sufficient and that there are no problems in their use, otherwise it is useless.