The buses were purchased by Ruter in 2019 and presented with great festivity at Rådhusplassen in Oslo by the then red-green city council.
The Oslo buses go to tender, but there was a so-called change order during the tender period, says planning director Snorre Lægran in Ruter. The red-green city council at the time, led by environment and transport councilor Lan Marie Nguyen Berg, demanded that public transport was to become emission-free at a faster pace.
As a result, 70 electric buses were purchased for NOK 850 million. This is equivalent to NOK one billion in January 2024. These should go on schedule until the new round of contracts in 2023.
– Not suitable
According to Ruter, all 70 buses must be taken out of service. A total of 22 of the buses are parked in various garages. Snowed in. This is due to several factors, explains director of planning Lægran.
– 54 of the buses were considered to have such a short range that they are not suitable for today’s bus production in Ruter, this compared to battery development in recent years which has produced buses with a significantly greater range, says Lægran to Nettavisen.
In 2023, a new tender was established and new buses have been rolled out, and new electric buses have now been purchased in Oslo and Viken. These are the ones that have been difficult to drive when the snow settled over Oslo and the temperature dropped far below zero. Nettavisen has asked operators and Ruter what this purchase has cost, without getting an answer.
– But the buses have contributed to learning
Another reason why the buses have now been replaced is because the charging system has been changing.
– As mentioned, the buses from 2017/19 have several different charging systems. Since then, the market has moved towards a common solution, the CCS plug. However, the 22 buses have a charging system that is not compatible with the charging systems that the operators and bus facilities are now equipped with. This is part of the technological development that is necessary for the green shift.
– Parallel to the development in electric buses, there has also been development in traffic safety, including driver safety. The new safety requirements meant that these 70 electric buses were not suitable for ordinary operation in the new contracts, says Lægran to Nettavisen.
Ruter is working on reusing the buses, says Lægran.
– 13 of these 54 were purchased by Avinor in 2023 for use at airports, they do not need a long range. 41 buses were sold in 2023 to a Norwegian buyer who resells them to operators on the European market.
But the buses have contributed to learning, says Lægran.
Nettavisen has asked Ruter to present the total price of what the bus purchases have cost. Ruter has not responded to this.
READ ALSO: The electric version costs 50 percent more and cannot cope with the cold
– Should have spoken to the bus drivers
Bus driver Marit Sauge has been strongly critical of parts of the processes in the tender rounds. Sauge is also the leader of the bus club in Oslo Sporveiers Arbeiderforening.
She told Nettavisen earlier this week that Ruter’s planning has been poor. She tells Nettavisen that the municipality of Oslo and Ruter have been exemplary when it comes to testing new technologies and that this makes it attractive for manufacturers to start developing fossil-free solutions. But she believes that it would be smarter to phase in the buses little by little.
– The manufacturer launches a solution and it is difficult for the purchaser to say how it should be, says Sauge to Nettavisen.
She criticizes the fact that bus purchases are rigged in tender arrangements and believes that the bus companies are more competent to make decisions about what works in daily operations, and also innovative.
– Could have had them as a reserve
She recently told Nettavisen that the workers know how things fit together and how to solve practical problems.
– We could have kept the parked buses and had them as a reserve in the cold. They have heating with diesel which could go off in the cold. But in tenders, it would be competitive to provide a reserve fleet.
Sauge has also said that the bus drivers are not being heard.
– If Unibuss had presented all the tender criteria to the shop stewards for consultation, the result would have been different. But to win tenders, the solutions must be kept secret. There is no interest in discussing equipment and solutions that will obviously be rejected by shop stewards, if they do not contribute to winning tenders.
Sauge is, however, well satisfied that Ruter is open. The fact that safety has improved with the introduction of new buses in 2023 is also something she praises Ruter for.
Managing director Øystein Svendsen of Unibuss says safety is one of the evaluation criteria in the tender process. He also says that the company is in contact with the trade unions.
– Unibuss has close and good cooperation with YTF, the Swedish Confederation of Trade Unions and the security service. Here, other safety, driver’s seat design and other matters are discussed, says Svendsen to Nettavisen.
Poor environmental protection
– The intention is brilliant, but is not the same as taking the consequence that there are practical and pragmatic challenges. Whatever the intention, there are challenges that must be checked out, otherwise there will be poor environmental protection, says senior adviser Olaf Braastad in Bellona.
Brastad believes that Ruter leading the way and rolling out new technology is a good thing.
– The idea is fantastic and someone has to take the lead. It is not the same as being able to overlook significant practical challenges.
Ola Nilsen, Professor Ola Nilsen at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Oslo, researches batteries and says that bus batteries can be reused.
– I am not worried that the buses have been running for only three years as long as those taken can become part of another economic system and be upgraded. – There is a big focus on batteries being given new life and demand for this, says Nilsen.
City councilor for the environment and transport, Marit Vea (V), tells Nettavisen that there are clear requirements for the reuse of buses.
– The buses must be reused to the greatest extent possible after the contractual relationship with Ruter is over. Ruter sets requirements in its contracts for the reuse of both buses, tires and batteries and is continuously working on how buses that are being phased out from old contracts will still benefit themselves, but in other places, says Vea.
Nettavisen has asked then Environment and Transport Councilor Lan Marie Nguyen (MDG) for a comment. She has not responded to our inquiry.
2024-01-13 12:19:11
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