Mexico City authorities yesterday announced the opening of a new tender for 100 trolleybuses for the capital’s Electric Transport Service.

At the same time, eight more units were purchased, which will operate from Chapultepec to Rosario. In this way, trolleybuses dating back to 1983 were replaced with money from the Granadas colony developments.

«This is the first time such an acquisition has been made. However, it will not be the last because, with the real estate developments, the mobility impacts are aimed at improving mobility for the majority of people,» says Andrés Lajous, Mexico City’s Secretary of Mobility, at a press conference.

He then adds: «In this administration, after 22 years, we started to buy trolleybuses with the aim of reactivating the service on the nine existing lines and expanding it with the elevated trolleybus line».

In 2019, an investment of 456 million pesos was made to purchase 63 trolleybuses. In 2020, 130 units were added, with an investment of 1,271 million pesos.

This time, the Electric Transport System has been allocated 750 million pesos for 100 more.

Seven municipalities will benefit, especially those in the north. It will improve the waiting time, which will be only five minutes, in 150 kilometres of operation.

«The criteria for the tenders are the same as we have used in the past. The technical annex is drawn up, the competition is opened to all suppliers who are in a position to comply with it, and the best proposal is taken for its technical compliance and price,» says Lajous.

During this month, the technical visit and the declaration meeting will take place, while the proposals of the participants will be received so that on 20 May the formal delivery will take place. On 27 May, the winning supplier will be chosen.

The estimated manufacturing time for these 100 units will be four months. During the last quarter of the year, static and dynamic tests will be carried out to fine-tune the buses that will provide the service as of December.

«Our government is committed to electromobility and we decided to focus the segment on the recovery of trolleybuses in the city,» said Claudia Sheinbaum, head of the CDMX government.

She also announced that this week she will announce new developments regarding electric public transport, such as the progress in the construction of the elevated trolleybus.

Characteristics of the trolleybuses

The trolleybuses are 12-metre single units with a capacity for 85 passengers.

Each one must meet the following requirements: have security cameras, allow accessibility for all users, reduce travel time by 25%, meet the demand of 150,000 users, be equipped with GPS and have a range of 75 kilometres, among others.