Netherlands to roll out Europe's largest electric bus fleet

The Dutch provinces of Overijssel, Flevoland and Gelderland have contracted Keolis with the operation and maintenance of 300 electric buses over a 10-year period.

With this new €900m contract, Keolis said it is introducing its largest ever single fleet of electric vehicles operating across a single network in the world.

Transition to greener mobility

The new electric buses will serve 53 stations in the east and central areas of the Netherlands and will carry 17 million passengers annually.

Keolis’ Dutch subsidiary will support the three transport authorities in the transition to greener mobility and will replace the existing diesel buses with 300 fully electric ones.

The deployment and operation of the e-buses will begin in December 2020 in Overijssel and Gelderland (east of the Netherlands) and from 2021 to 2023 in Flevoland (centre of the country).

The three provinces have more than 3.5 million inhabitants living in urban and rural areas, including several medium-sized cities (with 50,000 inhabitants or more), such as Zwolle, Deventer, Lelystad, Apeldoorn and Ede.

“The e-buses will significantly improve the public transport system’s environmental performance”

The 300 e-vehicles will run on the network that includes around 140 lines and serves 53 stations. More than 700 employees will operate the network with some 200 of these as new employees.

“The provinces of Gelderland and Overijssel, our partners for the past 10 years, and the province of Flevoland with which we are starting a new partnership can rest assured that we will bring our expertise in helping transport authorities transition to greener mobility, as we are doing in France, Norway, Sweden, the US and Canada,” said Bernard Tabary, international CEO, Keolis.

“The e-buses will significantly improve the public transport system’s environmental performance, which was a key aspect of the bid, as well as enhance the passenger experience on board clean, quiet and reliable vehicles.”

Keolis has been present in the Netherlands since 1999 providing regional train services as well as bus rapid transit (BRT), bus, on-demand transport and shared bicycle services.

You might also like:

• Shanghai Pudong airport begins operation of automated metro
• E-bus rapid transit line opens in the Basque country
• New tram service rolls out as part of Caen la Mer’s modernisation programme